A NEWTOWN girl is battling it out to win the prestigious title of Miss Bollywood 2010.
Melissa Nisamdeen, 23, from Newtown, will compete against 14 other girls in the final of the competition, which will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Birmingham, on October 23.
The final will feature 2,000 guests and a panel of celebrity judges, with the winner taking away a one-year modelling contract and a role in a Bollywood movie.
Melissa, who graduated from the University of Chester in 2009 with a First Class Honours degree in animal behaviour with psychology, said the competition had been a daunting experience.
After sending the organisers photos she was selected for the final 50 to take part in the semi-finals out of 1,000 entrants.
She said: “I went along to the semi-finals in Birmingham, still not expecting to get through but seeing it as a new experience as I’ve never done anything like this before.
“At the semi finals I was surrounded by beautiful, glamorous girls! I was interviewed by a panel of five judges and asked to talk in front of the camera for a link that would be put up onto a website called desitara.com; this was a very scary experience for me as I’d never talked in front of a camera before. At the end of the day I was informed that I had made it to the finals.”
Despite her success in the competition Melissa says her proudest achievements are her educational success.
She said: “This was one of my proudest achievements. Since then I have worked as a research assistant for the University of Chester under Dr John Cartwright. The research involved compiling a database for use in the teaching of statistics.
“My third year research project on human evolution is being considered for publication in a science journal. I plan to study for a masters degree in biomedical sciences starting this September.”
Since making it through to the final Melissa has been busy with many promotional events, including attending a press conference in London, being interviewed on camera for an Asian news network, invited to be lead model at a Shropshire Ladies Indulgence Evening and Fashion Show, and asked to co-host at a comedy club in South Wales.
Melissa said: “As I am a girl of Asian descent living in Wales, I never really got to learn about my Asian heritage. However, this competition has thrown me into the Asian world and has taught me a lot about my heritage in such a short time.”
Melissa added that the competition has allowed her to face her own fears and hopefully promote the issue of global conservation: “Winning this competition would mean a lot to me as it would help to give me the confidence I need to reach my full potential.
"As I am very passionate about the natural world, if I was to win Miss Bollywood UK, I would use my title to help raise awareness of global conservation issues.”
You can vote for Melissa to win by logging onto www.desitara.com