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Friday, October 31, 2008

Indian American beauty dons many hats

She is Miss India America 2007, hosts online South Asian video content website desiyou, is president of Riverside campus South Asian club of
Ridhi Patel
Ridhi Patel (TOI)
University of California, and is also part of a professional Bollywood dance team.

Wearing so many hats doesn’t bother Ridhi Patel. As the face of growing breed of "not confused" American-born desis, Ridhi knows how to blend the best of both cultures. A student of Business Economics, Law and Spanish and an aspiring lawyer, Ridhi grew up in a typical Gujarati household. Her father from Kenya and mother from Gujarat moved to the US in 1980 and run a family-owned print shop in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Unlike her American peers, she continues to stay with them even after joining college.

Browsing through the internet she ran across the pageant information and saw the opportunity as a way to add to her resume. Her parents though, in her own words "weren’t jumping with joy but were not unsupportive as well". "They have always said that I can do anything as long as I am consistent and give it my all. They did not see exactly why I needed to do the pageant and thought of it as a distraction to my studies but they did not forbid me to continue with it," she says.

Winning the pageant has kickstarted her modelling career and boosted her confidence too. "I do not have professional modelling experience but when I was younger I used to get involved in fashion shows for local Indian dress stores, which were displayed at large South Asian events. After the pageant began my real start in modeling, I never saw it in my reach until now," she says. Patel helps out in family business, is financially independent and is keen on taking up a career in law and business entertainment. "I eventually want to become a lawyer and have begun steps in that direction. But I see PR, marketing and entertainment more of my niche and look to expand myself in business entertainment," she says.

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