Nicole Estelle Faria, more popular as Nicole Faria, is an Indian Supermodel and beauty pageant winner. She is the winner of the title of Miss Earth 2010. Faria is the first woman from India to win Miss Earth. She was honoured with the Pride of Karnataka Award on 6 May 2011 for putting India back on the beauty map by winning Miss Earth 2010 crown. She was ranked number 10 on the list of Times` 50 Most Desirable Women of 2010 in January 2011. Faria has worked as a lead actress in the 2014 Bollywood film Yaariyan.
Early Life of Nicole Faria
She was born on 9 February 1990. Her father Ian Faria is a motivational speaker and corporate trainer. Her paternal grandmother runs an NGO called Prema Jyothi Trust. She received her primary education from Sophia High School in Bangalore and her PUC from Christ College. She received her bachelor"s degree from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.
Career of Nicole Faria
Faria started her modelling career at the age of fifteen. She has worked in the fashion industry of Delhi and Mumbai, and in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has walked the ramp in the Lakme Fashion Week, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, and Colombo Fashion Week. She has done photo-shoot for prestigious magazines like Elle, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and many others.
After her successful stint with the modelling world, she tried her luck in beauty pageants. In 2010, she participated and won the Miss India Earth title at the Pantaloons Femina Miss India beauty pageant held in Mumbai. She then represented India in the Miss Earth 2010 beauty pageant in Vietnam, and won the title of Miss Earth 2010. She won the Miss Talent, the first special award in the 10th Miss Earth pageant. She performed a belly dance in an event with the aim of raising money for the HCM City Red Cross, to support flood victims in the central region of Vietnam.
In March 2012 Faria walked in a fashion show in Bangalore along with national and international tennis players ahead of a tournament. In the following month of the same year, she posed for Vogue Australia together with Puerto Rican star Joan Smalls, Australian Shanina Shaik, and Tunisian model Hanaa Ben Abdesslem. The theme of the magazine was "celebration of diversity with a truly beautiful global issue". In the same year she walked the ramp in the Ramesh Dembla and Vibes Slimming Fashion Show as the showstopper and in the final day of the Blender"s Pride Bangalore Fashion Week. In 2014, she has shot for the exclusive Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar in the Philippines.
Social Work by Nicole Faria
Faria has traveled to places like Vietnam, Australia, Dubai, South Africa, Philippines, Switzerland, Washington State, New York, Thailand, Finland, Fiji, Kuwait, and London to talk about earth-related issues such as global warming, environmental hazards, ecotourism, and nature imbalance. In India, she traveled to Dehradun where she interacted with the students and emphasized in generating environmental awareness amongst youth and sustainable development. In India, she also talked about the Bangalore lakes problems which have rapidly disappeared in the past 30 years from about 270-300 lakes to about 80 lakes. She has also been promoting the use of solar energy as a better source of power.
In April 2011, she graced the "India Cyclothon - Mumbai 2011", whose aim was to promote a greener environment. In 2012, she ran for a cause to spread awareness about the harmful effect of pollution on the Rabindra Sarovar Lakes. The event was organized by the West Bengal Government along with the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and the Kolkata Improvement Trust. Faria is the global brand ambassador for the Swiss watch. A certain percentage of the company"s income is donated to the International Children`s Heart Foundation.