SAPNA RAGHAVAN
MISS CONNECTICUT IS READY TO COMPETE IN MISS AMERICA
Sapna Raghavan, the winner of Miss Connecticut 2021 is preparing to compete for the title of Miss America on Thursday, Dec. 16 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville.
Raghavan graduated from Ellington High School in 2016 and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2020. She’s the former Miss Greater Rockville’s Outstanding Teen 2015, making her only the second woman to have held both the Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen title and the Miss Connecticut title. Raghavan is also a classical Indian dancer and will be the first contestant to perform this type of dance as her talent during Miss America.
“I have danced this my whole life and I cannot wait to show everyone my culture,” she said.
This year’s competition marks the 100th anniversary of Miss America, and Raghavan said she is proud to be a part of it.
“Not a lot of companies last 100 years and the fact they are looking to innovate for the next 100 is one of the reasons I wanted to compete. They have made so many changes in the times and continue to stay relevant,” said Raghavan. “If the swimsuit competition was still part of this, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Raghavan refers to a change that was made in 2019 when Miss America transformed from a “pageant” to a “competition” focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment — and got rid of the swimsuit portion.
“We’re experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment
movement,” said Gretchen Carlson, Chair of the Board of Trustees, in a press release back in 2019.
After winning Miss Connecticut back in April, Raghavan has been promoting her social impact initiative by attending events across the state to spread
her message. Embracing diversity and overcoming adversity to Raghavan means focusing on the confidence gap and biases that she believes exist today by teaching course skills to grow women’s confidence and amplify the voice of other women.
“Being able to promote my
social impact [initiative], which is embracing diversity and overcoming adversity, has been very special. It does not only apply to ethnic diversity but gender diversity too,” she said. “Looking at the next 100 years, we need to ask ourselves, what are the tools and skills as women that we can learn to be a stronger demographic?”
“The [goal of] the Miss America organization...is to prepare great women for the world, and to prepare the world for great women. But how could we prepare the world if women do not believe that they can make an impact? We have to change that mindset,” she added.
The winner of the competition usually wins a $50,000 scholarship, but for the 100th anniversary, a $100,000 scholarship will be awarded to the winner.
“Miss America is more than just a competition, it is a 365 day job and that’s why we call them candidates. They have to show us a business plan, what their social impact initiative that is going to educate and advocate across America, what are the trying to make a difference in and how will they follow with the results,” said Miss America Organization President & CEO, Shantel Krebs.
When it comes to becoming Miss America, Raghavan understands it’s like a full time job and does not shy away from that.
“I work as a consultant where I work a lot of late nights and early mornings, kind of like the Miss America roll. A big part of this job is to know how to market and brand yourself, networking and I can’t wait to bring my business side to this role and show the world that Miss America is someone everyone should be talking about.”
For the next three years, Miss America will be held in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun.
“Mohegan has a long history of educating their youth and taking care of the culture and diversity making sure that education is a top priority,” said Krebs. “Mohegan Sun was a natural fit to partner with a women empowerment organization who has the same mission.”
“I HAVE DANCED THIS MY WHOLE LIFE AND I CANNOT WAIT TO SHOW EVERYONE MY CULTURE.”