Making them beautiful

Neha Kelkar-Deshpande wears many hats. Beauty queen, clinical psychologist, emcee, personality development coach and winner of Mrs India Worldwide 2017 — Deshpande does seem the right person to host the second edition of P N Gadgil & Sons presents Sakal Beauty of Maharashtra. The finale of the event will take place on February 16 at Amanora — The Fern Hotels and Club, Hadapsar.
  
When talking about her association with the beauty pageant, Deshpande says that she feels glad to be a part of it. “Sakal approached me when the first edition was to be launched last year, and discussed the whole idea and vision with me. I was glad and today, I am very proud to be associated with the pageant.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get such a platform during my time because there was only one popular pageant of this stature then. Women and girls take part in the pageant and then go ahead and achieve something in this field. The pageant too gets new talent — so it’s a win-win situation for everybody,’ she adds. 
Talking about the kind of grooming needed for women participating in beauty contests as well as regular women who want to break out from the mould and want to look stylish and confident, she says that grooming is of two types — inner and outer. Says she, “Inner grooming is all about counselling and helping women tackle and overcome issues that they might be facing in their lives, at home and workplace. First these issues are addressed so that the women become firm and strong and then the focus is given to the outer grooming. When I am doing these sessions, the focus is on inner grooming. Being a clinical psychologist, I try to sort out issues first. Once they are mentally strong, they know how to strategise and work things out. Later they can work on their outer beauty which boosts their confidence.” 

After Deshpande was crowned Mrs India Worldwide two years ago, a lot of women approached her for grooming sessions. She realised that many married women wanted to do something in this sphere but were clueless as to how to go about it. “I wanted to help them because they needed both inner and outer grooming. Hence I came up with this online grooming programme called ‘The Making of a Diva’. Being an emcee, I will also guide them how to talk to people or strike a conversation, gain confidence, create a balance between work, family and kids. There are going to get tips and videos on this. The four-week course starting from February 18, will be a closed WhatsApp group with periodic Instagram live sessions to answer the queries of those who’ve enrolled as also demonstrations. There is a nominal fee of Rs 3000 for the month-long session. There will other women on the forum too who will be sharing a lot of information, tips and tricks,” says Deshpande. 
 
Being a former beauty queen, Deshpande says, she understands the nervousness and tension that the participants go through before a pageant. “They are conscious about how they look, and the questions that may be asked in the talent round. While the inner beauty is of the utmost importance, outer beauty which comprises their looks, body language, how they stand, how they walk etc, gives them confidence. We also guide them on what kind of makeup they should wear, what kind of lipstick will suit their complexion and so on,” she concludes.