Source: Instagram/shainesoni
Model, influencer and travel blogger, Shaine Soni, has been crowned Miss Trans Queen India for 2020 .
Soni will now represent India at next year's Miss International Queen in Thailand, the world's biggest pageant for transgender women.
The announcement was made on December 11.
In its fourth year, Miss Trans Queen India pageant is India's first-ever pageant for trans women.
Shanie Soni is a renowned name in the fashion industry herself but until now, her being a trans woman, was not out in the open.
Soni is also one of the most popular stylists who have styled many Bollywood celebrities like Jimmy Shergill, Ranbir Kapoor and many more.
On being crowned as Miss Trans Queen India 2020, she said, “This crown is not just a recognition of who I am but a promise that I will continue to put in my heart and soul in normalising the entire conversation around the LGBTQIA+ community and make it more acceptable. I aim to work towards pushing the proposal of including the ‘study about the transgender community’ in school curriculum so that by the time they grow up they don’t look down upon them, rather accept them as a part of their circle.”
Talking about the event, Founder and CEO of Miss Trans Queen India, Reena Rai said, “Every year we choose one queen out of all the remarkable talented and beautiful contestants we get on Miss Trans Queen India Pageant. This year too we had hoped to organize our show with the same thrill and chill but due to the coronavirus outbreak in the whole world, we had to drop off all the important errands and adapt social distancing and sanitisation."
The pageant is organised by funds and donations received by Deepa Ardnareshwar Empowerment Foundation (DAEF); an NGO working to improve the lives of the Trans & Queer community of India.
