“I am amazing, thank you so much for asking,” says Kirtika Walia, the winner of Ms Earth New Zealand 2023.
It was like a rendezvous with a radiant burst of energy as soon as she responded to my opening question. The energy in her speech seemed to be bolstered by the striking diamond crown on her head, completing the persona of a winner.
Like all winners, Kirtika has seen her fair share of ups and downs in her life. Her journey from moving to Aotearoa eight years ago to moving cities, and finally winning the beauty pageant has been a rollercoaster.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, to be honest. I came here as a student. After that, I moved cities, from Auckland to Rotorua, to Napier regarding work. I also had a tragedy happen in my life. I lost my husband in that tragedy.” she says.
Kirtika has always been curious and playful by nature. “I think every girl can relate to putting on mum’s makeup and dresses,” she says.
It was her curiosity that played a crucial role in her life. “I just felt right at this moment when I looked it [pageants] up on Facebook and put up a post saying, ‘Is there any pageant available in which I can participate or which I can represent internationally?’. Our director for the pageant reached out to me and I was selected, and the rest is just history,” she says.
“I’m always trying new things and one night I was sitting and [I thought] I might just do this.” Everything seemed to fall right into place in the run-up to her selection for the pageant.
“I actually never thought that [I would be selected for a pageant] because I did not even have any official photos of me and luckily, on that weekend, I had a friend who was starting out his photography journey and I just signed up to get my pictures taken, and I used those on my application form,” she says.
Her selection turned out to be the moment where she already achieved something extraordinary.
“When I got selected, you know, in the pageant world, in the beauty world, I always felt like the girls have to be tall, have to be a certain height.
“They’re put in a box and when I was selected, I thought yes, I can do it!” she says, as her excitement gets the better of the cheerful tone of her voice.
“I feel like that could be the platform for women whom I want to give hope to. I lost my husband and it's very hard for us women to build ourselves again after losing our significant other, and that’s why I wanted to empower women to have confidence…and just build yourself because life doesn’t stop. Just go for it,” she says.
Despite all her challenges, it was Kirtika’s mindset that failed to waiver. “I have this winner mindset, that I am the winner. It’s just…I know I can do it,” she says.