Her exuberance towards life shines bright on her face as she interacts with people. Whether drawing decorative butterflies with members of the COOJ Foundation or sharing stories about her childhood dream of winning a beauty pageant, 23-year-old Audrey D’Silva finds joy in the little things in life. Prepped to represent India at the Face of Beauty International 2015 in Taiwan, Audrey is confident about competing against 60 other contestants. Originally from Margao, Audrey, the daughter of Frederick and Sunita D’Silva, was born and brought up in Mumbai. She has always been in awe of the modelling world. “I remember watching a rerun of the crowning of Ashwariya Rai as Miss World and telling my mom that one day I’ll be there winning a pageant. My parents never forced me to pursue any particular career; that gave me more freedom to choose my profession,” says Audrey, who visited Goa with her family as a child. “Since then, we never came down for any family get together but I come down to Goa quite often,” adds Audrey. A tomboy in her college days, the only turning point in Audrey’s life was when she straightened her hair for the first time. “I would be hanging out with boys all the time and they would call me Audrey Dada. But once I straightened my hair, I looked in the mirror and felt that I could carry it and look good. Since then, I never went back to being the tomboy,” says Audrey, who ventured into the world of reality TV just a day after turning 18. “I have featured in reality shows for MTV; after constantly being around cameras, you forget that they are watching your every move. It becomes like a second skin,” adds Audrey, who has worked in shows like ‘Date Trap’, ‘CID’ and ‘Aahat’. Audrey is all set for the Face of Beauty International 2015 in Taiwan, which will go on till October 19. She’s done her homework, reading a lot to answer the question round and perfecting her dance moves for the talent round. “I have so far been to three pageants and that has taught me to pack my bags in advance for the trip. I have to be precise with my answers otherwise I can get into story telling,” explains Audrey, who had earlier participated in Miss Indian Worldwide and Indian Princess. “My national director, Nikhil Anand, asked Melvyn Noronha to work on my national costume and evening gown. I was so excited to hear the news as Melvyn has consecutively won two awards for national costume. I was informed about the pageant just three weeks back by a random Facebook message which I then had to confirm with Nikhil.” For her national costume, Melvyn has worked with a gown with beautiful butterflies which were painted by the members of COOJ, a mental health foundation. Melvyn explains, “The national costume is the metamorphosis of the special Indians and their contribution towards building a better community. The costume is made along with the clients of the COOJ Mental Health Foundation that assists people with mental disabilities and runs a suicide prevention helpline.” The team of Melvyn, Donna Noronha, representative of the COOJ Foundation, and Devashish Majumdar, Production Executive, worked on the idea of the costume. With confidence in every step, Audrey is set to impress the judges and return with the crown for India.
