Shriya Bopanna: From Miss India America to Forbes 30 Under 30

(October 4, 2023) Miss India America 2020, Shriya Bopanna who is also an activist, author, and on-air personality has been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Austin list of 2023, “I am honestly still shocked and incredibly grateful for making to the list,” Shriya told Global Indian. “There is a certain amount of validity I feel in being authenticated and it has been a dream of mine to make it to Forbes 30 Under 30 since I was 16,” she added.

The multi-talented changemaker who also works as a project manager and business analyst at Accenture in the United States, looks at the Austin list as a stepping stone to eventually making to the entire North American list of Forbes.

Shriya Bopanna

In the world of pageantry

Right from her school days, Shriya Boppana had been passionate about advocacy, and deeply involved in raising awareness and funds for causes like anti-sex trafficking. She would do whatever it took to achieve her goal – show up at community events to hand out flyers, volunteer, do community service, and more. “Over time, these community spaces weren’t big enough for some of the initiatives and in college, I stepped on the Miss India DC stage as an ambassador for the Save our Stars Foundation to raise money for an HIV clinic in Nepal,” Shriya says. This turned out to be a great turning point in her life.

Little did she know that she would end up participating in the competition and also winning the first runner-up title. “After that, I had no plans of competing in the nationals of Miss India America 2020 until some friends encouraged me to show up. I won completely accidentally – no training, no planning, no preparation,” says the youngster. “That crown catapulted me and my advocacy into the media limelight overnight and I got featured everywhere from ABC to the Wall Street Journal,” she says.

Shriya Boppana

Opportunity to host her TV show  

After her win in the Miss India-America contest, Shriya’s popularity caught the eye of producers at Fox 5 Plus/GTV who offered the youngster her segment on-air, Becoming a Voice with Shriya Boppana.

“My show has hosted popular voices from political candidates such as Deja Foxx of the Kamala Harris Campaign to Maria Thattil, Miss Universe Australia, all the way to Jared Isaacman of SpaceX’s Inspiration4, and reached more than six million households. My efforts in educating the public on gender-based violence got hugely successful,” Shriya says.

After doing a season of the show the youngster stepped down to work for Nickelodeon and AwesomenessTV in talent casting. By that time, Shriya already had more than twelve years of experience in theatre acting under her belt.

“I guess the opportunities that I got after winning the crown were a ripple effect of my win. I had only planned to do two things in life – acting and advocacy,” she says. The unplanned foray into the world of pageantry and subsequent win turned out to be a game-changer, helping her reach her goals more easily both in advocacy and acting.

“I received a lot of love, support, and attention from the media and audiences. I cannot thank everyone enough for consistently believing in me and providing me opportunities to grow,” she adds.

These days, Shriya has a nine-to-five at Accenture, while continuing to film season 2 of her Fox 5 Plus show with GTV. “I have incredible guests lined up for the new season, it’s so exciting!” she shares

Acting – a passion   

As a schoolgirl, Shriya was deeply interested in theatrical arts, musical and films. She has won awards for her performances in short films like Love is Louder, which was a semi-finalist at the All-American High School Film Festival. Shriya was also cast in a full-length feature film, Water with a Slice of Lemon, which debuted in DC theatres in 2018. In 2020, she starred in the Chinmaya Mission-sponsored short film, ‘Been on Sale’.

Her interest in performing arts has led to several achievements in the sphere of dancing as well. Shriya has competed nationally for her premiere collegiate Bollywood fusion dance team – Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Sahara, winning multiple trophies for her alma mater. As much as she likes competing, the youngster loves to organise events. She has been the youngest board member of the National Bollywood Dance Championship, Legends in the US. Her academic training in marketing helped her in taking up the role of the Public Relations chair at the non-profit, Desi Dance Network Inc for two years where she raised awareness about South Asian performing arts.

The multifaceted beauty queen   

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Shriya majored in business administration with a double concentration in marketing, and leadership and organisational effectiveness with a minor in psychology.

At the CMU campus, her advocacy was in full swing. She worked for minority, religious, generational, and socioeconomically weaker communities to strive for equality on the campus against battles supporting sexual assault victims, LGBTQ+ members, immigrants, international students, and ‘everyone in-between’.

Shriya at one of the Carnegie Mellon University’s functions

Always a good student and multi-tasker, Shriya has represented CMU as the vice president of communications in their chapter of the American Marketing Association and volunteered as the vice president of marketing for the Carnegie Mellon Business Association, and vice president of internal affairs for CMU Women in Business.

“I am in the midst of applying for an MBA programme with the aim to elevate my social impact organisation – ‘Becoming A Voice’ into an official non-profit,” she shares.

Continually striving to achieve new milestones, Shriya is preparing to apply for the role of the 13th official US youth over server to the UN. “With all my work with the UN Foundation over the years, I aim to contribute in the national policymaking on child rights and sexual safety if appointed,” she remarks.

 Winning along the way  

The youngster loves participating in contests. In 2018 she won the Deloitte Start-Up Case competition bagging the third position. She was the only CMU freshman chosen to compete that year. Along with her team members, Shriya took her BusyBus business idea into the world of real-time technology and was even nominated for Forbes 30-under-30 in the consumer technology category.

The multifaceted beauty queen also dabbles in the freelance design and marketing world when time permits. “I kick-started my content creation career after winning Miss India America and have partnered with many incredible brands like Amazon Prime, Bumble, Handshake, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Adobe, Tangle Teezer, Mugler, and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few,” she says.

Shriya Bopanna

Love for India   

Shriya moved to the US with her parents when she was just five and a half years old, but her tie with India is strong. “I visit India at least once a year for a month at a time, minimum. It’s important for me to stay in touch with my extended family,” she says. “I was raised in Indian culture for a good portion of my developmental years and find joy in mixing both the American and Indian identities as much as possible. Whether it’s the clothes, the media, the food, or the religion, I partake in all aspects of my daily life to keep my roots strong and home-grown,” the youngster shares.

Significant collaborations and initiatives  

• In 2021 Shriya Boppana joined the Obama Foundation and Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance partnership.
• As STF Global Youth Ambassador advocating for girls’ rights, she teamed up with famous actress, Brooke Shields to raise awareness for sexual health education of girls for the #GirlsGetLoud campaign.
• She has partnered with the popular beauty brand, Bobbi Brown, for their ‘Pretty Powerful’ campaign.
• Shriya holds sexual assault clinics in partnership with Bachpan Save the Innocence in India. In their partnership, they have sensitized above 6000 individuals at more than 320 orphanages, schools, slums, and colleges with over 10 different programs like safe and unsafe touch, consent and puberty, digital safety, cybercrime, sexual abuse, and trafficking.
• The Indian American youngster conducted light-hearted discussions about mental health and relationships, and self-health as a radio jockey on Radio Zindagi, reaching more than one million listeners in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Indo-Caribbean community.

Follow Shriya Boppana on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and her website