KLANG, Sept 30 — Johor-born lawyer Charlotte Netto, 28, was named winner of the 26th Annual Miss Malaysia Indian Global (MMIGLOBAL) Grand Finals held here over the weekend.
Charlotte, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, topped a field of 12 finalists to earn the title along with a return ticket to Seoul, a gold coin and a scholarship from Veritas University College.
“The most impactful part of this whole journey in MMIGLOBAL was their community work,” she said during her self-introduction.
“One experience that truly impacted me is our very first challenge, the Emergency Food Basket Challenge.
It opened my eyes to the struggles faced by families, especially young children, who didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. It taught me the true power of standing together as a community.”
Charlotte also took home two subsidiary titles, MMICARE’s Community Ambassador and Miss Web Popular, both of which came with a return ticket to Thailand.
The first runner-up was Kuala Lumpur clinical psychologist Dithiamalar Lengatharan, 29, who won a return ticket to India and the Miss Congeniality title chosen by fellow finalists.
Second runner-up Saieshwari Sooriarao, 21, an undergraduate in data analytics, claimed a return ticket to Vietnam along with the Miss Petite title.
In third place was 28-year-old dentist Dr Deevya Sree Ramalu, who received a return ticket to Indonesia and the Miss Heritage subsidiary award.
The top five was completed by 22-year-old biomedical student Vivena Kesavan, who also received a return ticket to Indonesia and won the Miss Eco Beauty title, while Ms Theeveeyatharisini Gopi was named Miss Elegance.
Now in its 26th year, MMIGLOBAL is the flagship programme of MMICARE Association, also known as Persatuan Prihatian Ratu India Malaysia, an NGO registered in 2002 that promotes empowerment, leadership and volunteerism among Malaysian Indian women.
During the event MMICARE presented its Small Subsistence Grants worth RM3,600 each to 11 students from its Kapar Community Education Programme to cover daily meals over 10 months in polytechnics and public universities.
The organisation also launched its inaugural Community, Environment & Leadership (C.E.L.) Award, with the Community Impact Award given to Project Araro Ariraro by architecture graduate Gogularajaan Rajendran, which digitally documents Tamil folk songs from colonial-era plantations.
The C.E.L. awards build on MMICARE’s long-running Community and Environment initiative started in 2001 and its Small Grants for girls in STEM introduced in 2008.
