“Ever since I was a kid, I have been on a look out for platforms to get my voice heard. Be it business conferences, debates or street plays, I jumped into them all. It was the search for such platforms that took me to the Miss India pageant. Though a different platform altogether, it is one place where you are heard even at 18,” said Gurgaon’s Aditi Arya who won the Miss India World-2015 title at a beauty pageant in Mumbai on Saturday.

Working as a business analyst at Ernst and Young, Aditi, 20, studied at Scared Heart School in Chandigarh till Class VIII and later at Amity International here.

Recalling the moment when her name was announced as the winner, Aditi said she almost froze and could not react for a few minutes. “It was indeed the greatest moment of my life. It took me a while for the feeling to sink in. It is unbelievable. I am happy,” said Aditi, speaking to The Hindu over phone from Mumbai.

Aditi, a graduate from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Delhi University, said her immediate priority after winning the title was to prepare for the Miss World pageant to happen later this year. Not ruling out her entry in Bollywood, Aditi said she was open to all kinds of opportunities, but was now focussed on the Miss World pageant.

She said that she got a great push from her family and her parents were supportive. “My father, who works in a telecom company, was very supportive. But it was my mother who constantly stood by me. They told me that there was nothing to fear and always encouraged me to do well,” said Aditi.

Belonging to a region notorious for skewed sex-ratio, Aditi said that society’s mindset towards the girl child was changing. She exhorted parents to let their girls explore their talent and then wait for them to make them proud.