Meet Somya

Meet Somya Bhatia. She is 21 years old, a fashion model, supermodel and actress based in Delhi, and the founder of her own initiative, Voice_ofCrown.

In a short span of time she has won pageant titles including MH Supermodel and FSAI Miss Universe, been recognised among Asia's Top 100 Influential Women, and received the Emerging Model of the Year, Youth Inspiration, Women Changemakers and Young Icon awards. She has worked as a lead actress in theatre and on camera, walked for designers, and appeared on magazine covers.

Read that list on its own and it looks like everything came easily to her. It did not.

"I left my comfort zone to find myself," she says. "While the world saw my achievements, only I knew the struggles, silent sacrifices and battles behind them. Today, I stand with confidence, not because life was easy, but because I refused to give up on myself."

This is the story behind that list — both halves of it, in the order she lived them.

Where she comes from

Somya is from Uttar Pradesh, and her family's roots are in Punjab. But she grew up in Uttarakhand, in the mountains, because hers was a transferable family that moved wherever the work took them. That is where she spent most of her childhood.

"I belong to two states," she says, "Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, because I have lived in both." She describes Uttarakhand simply — a beautiful place, with a rich culture, peaceful surroundings and the purity of nature.

She comes from a loving family of parents and siblings, and she was raised with strong moral values, discipline, respect and a sense of responsibility. Those values shaped her personality, and she says they still guide her in both her personal and her professional life. She wants to carry them forward by contributing positively to society and creating meaningful impact through her work, her actions and her advocacy.

The student

She completed most of her schooling in Uttarakhand, where she was a sincere and dedicated student. She worked hard, and she was a topper — consistently recognised for her performance.

That habit is the same one she uses today, and it is worth understanding what it actually involves. Being a topper is not only about being clever; plenty of clever students never top. It is about doing the work every single day, studying subjects you do not enjoy, preparing for an exam that is still months away, and staying disciplined when nobody is checking on you.

She built that habit long before she knew what she would use it for. Ask her today how the work, the awards and the titles came, and the answer is always the same four things: hard work, discipline, consistency and dedication. Those are not words she picked up in the fashion industry. She already had them when she walked in, and the industry simply gave her somewhere to use them.

The part nobody saw

Her struggles did not begin in Delhi. They began much earlier, when she was a child.

She faced criticism. She faced bullying. People around her treated her badly, and it affected her confidence. Through her school years she kept questioning her own worth, and kept wondering whether something was wrong with her.

So she was topping her class and doubting herself at the same time. Both were true together, and good marks did not protect her from any of it. It is one of the things she most wants younger readers to hear from her: your circumstances do not define your potential, and other people's opinions should never determine your worth. It took her years to understand that herself.

What changed it was finding something she loved. She discovered her passion for acting, fashion and modelling, and following that dream gradually transformed her. It gave her back her confidence, developed her personality, and showed her what she could actually become. So she started working on herself — grooming herself, building her skills, and creating an identity of her own.

Bareilly, and the BBA

After school she moved to Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh, where she completed a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

Not acting. Not fashion. A business degree — and she completed it before moving towards anything else. Pursuing a dream needs courage, discipline, patience and sacrifice, and for her, finishing what she had already started was part of that.

That degree did not go to waste either. Today she runs her own initiative, and her work involves personal branding, audience engagement and building a platform — the same subjects she studied in Bareilly, before she had any idea where she would use them.

Learning the craft

After graduation came a Master's Diploma in Acting and Modelling from AAFT, in Noida Film City. This is where her path changed direction.

AAFT sits inside Film City, and this was proper training rather than a hobby class in the evenings. She went there to learn the craft she loved, in a professional place, with professional people.

One thing about that decision is worth saying plainly: she did not run to auditions hoping someone would notice her. She went and learned the work first. There is a gap between loving something and being good at it, and closing that gap is slow work — it is not exciting, and nobody claps for you while you are doing it. She chose to close it before trying to be seen.

Everything that came afterwards stands on that training: the theatre roles, the AAFT productions, the music videos, and the web series she was selected for through auditions. She was not discovered. She prepared herself, and then she went to work.

Leaving home

After graduation she decided to move to Delhi to build her career in the industry.

She describes it as a life-changing decision, and one that taught her independence, courage and self-belief. It was also, in her own words, one of the most difficult decisions of her life. It was deeply personal, and she kept that struggle private.

She did not tell many people what she was going through. She was so focused on building her future that she rarely allowed anyone to see the emotional difficulty behind it, and she handled most of it silently. "I was physically alone in a new city," she says, "but mentally determined to keep moving forward."

That is the honest description of that time. Not fearless — determined, and very alone.

Living alone in Delhi

She lived in a PG, and everything her family used to handle was suddenly hers to manage alone, every single day, while she was also trying to build a career.

There were days when even basic necessities became difficult. Sometimes, because of financial and practical limitations, food was biscuits or a simple vada pav. On some days she had to save one meal and make it last for two. Travel was its own problem — without personal transport she depended on the metro, on autos, or she simply walked alone to wherever she had to reach.

Now set that beside the list at the beginning of this book. The same months that produced cover stories and award titles also had her dividing one meal into two, and walking to her work because an auto was a decision she had to think about. Both are true, and they were happening at the same time.

That is exactly what she means when she says the world saw her achievements but only she knew what was behind them. So when she talks to younger people about discipline and sacrifice, she is not repeating a motivational line. She is describing her own life, very recently, in a city she had just moved to.

The harder part

Money and food were difficult, but they were not the hardest part.

Living away from home, she experienced unkind behaviour, bullying, hurtful words, unfair treatment, comparisons and negativity — sometimes even from people she trusted, and people she had once considered her supporters. There were moments when she had to deal with all of it silently, without the comfort of having her family around.

She could have concluded from this that people are not safe. She concluded something else.

"Support is valuable, but we should never become dependent on it," she says. "We must learn to believe in ourselves, work hard, remain disciplined, continuously improve and become our own strength. Ultimately, nobody can understand our journey and potential better than we can ourselves."

She does have people — her family, a few close friends, her teachers and her mentors. The list is short, and she keeps it short on purpose.

The work begins

Her professional journey started right after her diploma, with a college placement as an influencer with a company. It came through her institute, which matters, because she had no contacts in this industry and no family in it either.

The work was broader than the title suggested: digital media, content creation, personal branding and audience engagement. She was learning real marketing on a real account, and later, when she started her own initiative, that experience is exactly what she drew on.

At the same time she stepped into fashion and modelling — runway, styling and shows. How did the work come? In her own words, through dedication, hard work and consistent participation.

That third one is worth explaining, because nobody talks about it. Consistent participation means showing up to a great many things, most of which lead nowhere, and continuing to show up anyway for a long time before any of them work. That is the real reason behind every title in this book. Not one lucky break — showing up, again and again, until something finally opened.

Titles, awards and 2026

The recognition came, and it came from more than one direction. In pageants she reached the finals and earned titles including MH Supermodel and FSAI Miss Universe. On stage she performed as a lead actress in multiple theatre productions. On camera she worked as a lead in AAFT productions, including music videos and web series, and she was selected through auditions for web-series projects. On the runway she built her presence through fashion shows and designer platforms.

As she puts it herself, from performing on theatre stages to appearing in productions, exploring the fashion industry, earning pageant titles and receiving media recognition, every single opportunity has added something to her professional identity.

2026 was the year it all came together. Consistent hard work, dedication and discipline brought her several awards, titles, media features and professional recognitions in a short space of time, establishing her identity as an emerging supermodel, actress and entrepreneur. The awards include Asia Top 100 Influential Women, Emerging Model of the Year, the Youth Inspiration Award, the Women Changemakers Award, the Young Icon Awards, Top Emerging Model and Influencer 2026, Women Excellence Awards 2026 and a Personalities of India recognition. Her work has been featured in a Global Cover Story, multiple cover stories in Imperium Times, Digital Scoop India, Entrepreneur Bytes, TBV Insights, The Bharat Voices, Inside Founders, Personalities of India and Bollywood Media News, among others.

For her, each one is a milestone of dedication, persistence and growth — not a destination.

Voice_ofCrown

Somya is the founder of Voice_ofCrown, an initiative built around social awareness, advocacy, empowerment and positive change. Through it she wants to create awareness about important social issues, encourage meaningful conversations, and contribute towards a more responsible and empowered society.

Voice_ofCrown also focuses on modelling education and training, giving aspiring and fresh models essential industry knowledge, professional guidance, and opportunities to develop their skills and confidence.

That second part is her own story. She came into this industry with no family in it, no network and nobody to guide her, and she learned it the hard way. So she built the thing that was not there when she needed it.

The first part comes from the same place. She was bullied as a child until she doubted her own worth, and she faced it again as an adult from people she had trusted. When she says she wants to empower people and stand up for them, she knows exactly what it feels like when nobody does that for you.

Her ambition is to take Voice_ofCrown to an international platform. For her, business is not just about building a brand. It is about building a purpose, creating opportunities and making a meaningful difference.

What comes next

Her first goal is to live fully — to travel, see the world, experience different cultures, enjoy good food and embrace life's beautiful moments, while growing spiritually.

She wants to understand her true self and her purpose through the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna is her greatest spiritual inspiration, and she credits his teachings with what she knows about the art of living, self-discipline, courage and karma. Real happiness, she says, is not materialistic but spiritual: it comes from serving God, serving humanity, staying humble and dissolving the ego.

Professionally, she wants to establish herself as a successful fashion model, actress and entrepreneur, and to grow as a leader who inspires, guides and empowers others — especially the younger generation. She has people she looks up to: Mary Kom, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Indira Gandhi, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and MS Dhoni, and in her own industry Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Harnaaz Sandhu, Urvashi Rautela, Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan.

What she believes is simple. Be a good soul first, then a good human being. Courage is one of the greatest forms of support. Kindness costs nothing but can mean everything to someone. Be original and authentic rather than a copy of someone else.

"Build yourself before expecting the world to recognise you," she says. "Be kind in your heart, courageous in your actions, disciplined in your work and original in your identity."

She wants to be successful without losing her humility, influential without losing her values, and ambitious without forgetting her purpose. She is still growing, still learning and still chasing her dreams.

Her biggest achievement, she says, is not the awards or the titles. It is the person she became while overcoming everything that once made her doubt herself. Her story is not about giving up everything — it is about discovering what she is capable of becoming.