Fashion

BRITASIAN’S VIRTUAL STAR (CONTESTANT NO. 12)  I’m Nadia Mirza-Saadi, a 20 year-old Glaswegian Astrophysics student with heritage from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. I have been a radio presenter on Edinburgh-based Sunoh Radio. I attended the Global Girls Media School in London; the Girls Rock Glasgow School and the Young Curators Lab of the UK Asian Film Festival. I’ve been involved with bringing about social change from a young age and won “The Alstead Award” for Service to the Community. BritAsian’s Virtual Star contestant has helped me get back in touch with old friends and the support for my entry to the contest has been amazing, especially during the lockdown. I started the Instagram #CountMyFollicles hair positivity campaign. The lockdown closed all beauticians. High time to kick-start the campaign and enter the beauty contest, to spread hair positivity! My aim is not to pressure others to keep their hair but to help our beautiful wee girls, especially from BAME communities, feel self-confident rather than being bullied as I was.  

BritAsian’s Virtual Star contest was conceptualised by Sakshi Vishwesh (Dir. BritAsian Events UK Ltd.). In the time of lockdown when everything around was closed and people were strictly advised to stay at home. She visualised a curio idea of motivating all Asians (especially women) across the globe to feel confident about themselves during the time of Covid-19 pandemic, & helping NHS (National Health Service UK) at the same time! In her vision, she was wholeheartedly supported by Mrs. Preeti Puja through her magazine Beauty & The Best, & Mrs. Jasmine Soni from Soni Makeovers, also by Mr. Mir Ali from 199 photos. The contest spread widely & we had contestants participated from India, Scotland and of course London too ! It helped contestants divert their minds from the negativity and encouraged them to feel positive about themselves. BritAsian’s Virtual Star contest made contestants connect globally with others asking for votes & in return to spread awareness about their own initiatives too.