Meet the 2 Indian Origin Contestants competing at the state level in Miss America organization

Rishika Karanam is participating in the Miss North Carolina 2022 State Pageant for the Miss North Carolina’s Outstanding Teen (MNCOTeen) title. Previously she won the 2022 Miss Wilson’s Outstanding Teen pageant. By participating in this competition she would like to promote her social cause - “Partnership to end addiction”. She supports this non-profit organization, by fundraising at various events such as the Holi, Kite festival, while educating teens about drug addiction.

She started performing on-stage in several dance and music shows, since she was 5 years old. We have recently featured her on one our RTPians got talent articles.

Chandra Manivannan is participating in the Miss North Carolina 2022 State Pageant for the Miss North Carolina title. Previously She won the 2022 Miss Raleigh pageant. By participating in this competition she would like to promote her social cause - “Promoting Selena: Platform for survivors of Intimate Partner Violence”. She studied at North Carolina State University and is a BharathaNatyam dancer.

There is a common misconception that pageants are all about beauty. But participating in these pageants needs several qualities like hard work, dedication, talent, self-confidence and be able to perform under pressure. They are sure to inspire a lot of budding youth who would like to participate at this level one day.