Miss Earth USA 2018, Yashvi Aware, officially announced she is competing at the Miss D.C. USA 2020 pageant as Miss Mount Vernon USA 2020. Yashvi shared the news of her new title through a video posted on her social media page to her followers. The pageant is set to take place this month, January 18-19th.
The reason for Yashvi’s late announcement was due to recovering from surgery, “I decided really last minute to compete because I was healing from my ankle surgery.”
Yashvi’s ankle also gave her a little bit of a struggle during her reign as Miss Earth USA and has had multiple surgeries on it, landing in the hospital twice while competing at the international pageant. At one point during her reign, she was in a cast and needed crutches to walk. Despite her injury, Yashvi is pushing through in her recovery and is working hard to prepare for the Miss DC competition, “I’m running again, wearing heels, and volunteering all over the district.”
Yashvi was crowned Miss Earth USA 2018, on July 15, 2018, at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center located in Virginia. The Miss Earth USA and Miss Earth pageants are centered around environmentalism and is based off the concept of Beauty With A Purpose. This means contestants should not only prepare to walk the runway, but to be able to speak about an environmental cause they are passionate about as well.
After being crowned Miss Earth USA, Yashvi traveled the world, modeled in New York Fashion Week, volunteered, and spoke about her environmental platform “The Future is Green.”
Her platform choice was due to the fact she wanted to be a “more responsible citizen.” Although winning the crown presented her a lot of opportunities, she had to make hard sacrifices in order to fully commit to her reign, “I gave up so much to be here at Miss Earth including my real job and education as a psychologist, because I’ve always believed in my greater purpose to serve others.”
Yashvi’s inspiring fighter mentality seemed to stick with her post-crown as she somehow finds the time to prepare for the pageant and plan a wedding. Yashvi and her fiancé, Ashu Suri, got engaged August 31, 2018 in Washington D.C. in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Ashu made Yashvi believe they were going to a photoshoot which she said was, “Not out of the ordinary in my life.”
The surprises continued, “Somehow I was blindfolded and when I opened my eyes, this handsome man was on his knee asking me to marry him surrounded by all our friends, plus a bunch of tourists cheering us on!” To this day Yashvi claims it was, “The best day of my life.”
In her video announcement Yashvi thanked her followers and asked them for continued support as she prepares for the competition, “Please continue following my journey, thank you all so much for the support you’ve given me this past year since I’ve been recovering.”
The 2020 Miss D.C. USA pageant is set to take place at the Carpenter Theatre at the Dominion Energy Center from 2:00-8:00 PM, January 18-19th. Interviews are scheduled for Saturday, January 18th. The rest of the preliminaries will take place on Sunday, January 19th at 2:00 PM.
Finals for Miss D.C. USA is on Sunday, January 19th at 8:00 PM. Will Yashvi win the coveted Miss D.C. USA 2020 crown? We’ll have to wait and see.
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