“All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”.
I am a woman with an attitude of Gratitude, youthful in spirit, full of dreams and aspirations and an ardent practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism Philosophy.
I am a certified Master Trainer, Healer, Ho’oponopono Practitioner, Aerobics Trainer, and a Corporate Coach. My Guiding philosophy in life is Nichiren Daishonin’s famous lines , “ It’s the HEART that is important.”
I believe that “It’s never too late, to establish oneself”. Born in India and brought up in Bhutan, since childhood I wanted to do something impactful in life and was inspired by these lines of famous Indian poet & musician, Rabindranath Tagore’s , “Where the mind is without fear”.
Coming from a middle-class family, I had to earn everything from scratch- be it name or fame. During my college days, along with my full-time Honors in English I juggled with part-time job as an Aerobics Instructor, a receptionist along with trying my luck in beauty pageants and tinsel town.
Behind every successful person is a group of people who believed in them. My parents, A.N. Thakur (Double Gold Medallist) & Indira Thakur (home-maker), have been my great pillar of support who believed in my abilities.
My passion for Aerobics can be attributed to a compassionate Armenian lady, Mrs. Reva Puri, who nurtured and guided me in this field. She was one of the first Reebok Certified Aerobics Trainer in Kolkata, india. Mrs Puri gave me a great platform to polish my Aerobics skills as I learnt the basics of Jane Fonda’s- body Basics, Step-Up, Cardio as well as structured Cool-Down exercises and started giving daily Aerobics classes twice daily. This was one of the secrets of my fit and a lean body.
I have been a strong follower of Nichiren Buddhism since 2007. Ingraining the life philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism has transformed me into a strong woman as before I was indecisive, had relationship issues and overall was not happy with myself.
20 years before, competing in pageants helped me to come out of my comfort zone. I always came in Top 5 but could never make it to the winning title. I remember, I would often come back and cry for not making it as a Winner. My pageant journey flourished in 1999 when I won the prestigious award of “Best Newcomer Model”. I bagged the offer of becoming a Regional Actress in Bengali Film, “Chandra Mallika” and was also featured as a Print Model, Femina International in 2000, Millennium Issue.
Each woman is unique, and we have a storehouse of amazing talents; all we need is a platform and faith in ourselves as then no one can stop our brilliance from shining!
I always wanted to make a place for myself in the Corporate World and wanted people to respect me for my brain rather than just beauty. So, I bid farewell to the tinsel town of beauty and tried to establish my career in hospitality industry. I had a successful full-time career with leading hospitality brands like Oberoi, Times of India, ITC Hotels & Landmark, Dubai. I Worked full-time for 11 years, travelled across, and ventured as an entrepreneur.
Persistence, Strong Determination, Creativity & Positivity has helped me to strike a balance between my personal life as a mother of 2 adorable daughters and professional life as a Founder & Core Consultant, iTrain Plus.
In 2018, I started re-visiting all the defining moments of my life, as if I was challenging myself in doing everything that I did 18 years before to see where I stood now. I was an Aerobics Instructor in 2000, and in 2018, I enrolled myself and became a certified Strong By Zumba Trainer. I was awarded Best Newcomer Model in 1999 and here I was participating in an International Beauty Contest, Singapolitan Worldwide in 2019.
In College, I participated in the beauty contests to explore my place in the world of Beauty; the reason for re-living these moments however were different now. I participated in the pageant after 20 years as I wanted to give a strong message to all the beautiful ladies in the entire world that Ms. or Mrs. Divorced or with children, beauty pageant can be an amazing platform to showcase individual as well as sublime beauty as beauty is deeply embedded.
We should be ‘Youthful in spirit’ as age is just a number if it is not coupled with life experiences and maturity. Every artist including our Creator, showcases beauty in its minutest form. What is important is to be beautiful within. One question to ponder upon, “If the thoughts and words that we spoke were visible as the dress that we wear to look beautiful, would we still claim ourselves to be beautiful ?
When I won the title of Elite Singapolitan Worldwide 2019/20 at Hilton Hotel, Singapore, I was overwhelmed with tears of Joy and mixed emotions, I felt as if everything had stopped for a moment, all my efforts back in India, my sacrifices (in terms of time, travel, effort and preparing myself for new situation daily had paid off). I felt proud when my name was announced and was addressed as Mrs. India.
In a single moment, I had lived so many lives of my dreams and aspirations. I had not only proved myself as an individual but also as a proud citizen of India. That was both a crowning moment as well as subliminal.
I am happy as the pageant made me dilute my boundaries from myself to society as the pageant was supporting the noble cause of Pink Ribbon, ‘Breast Cancer’.
As the title was of Worldwide, it also helped me push my boundary from my county, India to the World. I gave my best to the pageant’s mission of Breast Cancer and chose to dig deeper rather than merely planning my pink ribbon initiatives. I came up with my 5-fold strategy and Think 4 Pink By PS:
Under this Project, I undertook:
Corporate Awareness (executed complimentary Corporate Breast Cancer Awareness Sessions),
Community Awareness Drive
Coffee with Cancer Patients- Stage II (met and interviewed cancer survivors)
Visit to Cancer Hospital and
Visited to make women aware at the grassroot level in India.
I was very methodical at every stage of my preparation right from designing my dress, practise my walk, health regime, meditation for emotional balance as the entire preparation phase was very stressing.
I had to successfully balance my work, family, and the pageant’s ‘breast cancer initiatives’. As I was a self-sponsored candidate, representing my country, so time, money, effort, and opportunity-cost all had to be counted while preparing for the competition. The international competition helped me build my brand as a Corporate Trainer and smooth transition into a ‘Life Coach’.
Pursue Your Dreams
Within a span of few months, my clients recognized and appreciated my journey, I have been invited as a Celebrity Guest, Wellness and Life Coach and a preferred Coach for inspiring Women during IWD- International Women’s Day as winning the title was an icing on the top!
