Kuenga Lhaden, 22, will be amongst the 35 contestants competing for the Miss Asia 2016 title. She left for Cochin in Kerala under India where the pageant will be held Thursday.
“I am hopeful of winning,” she said.
A recent graduate from Royal Thimphu College, Kuenga started modelling after walking her first ramp with Go Youth Go’s fashion event called the Nazhoenista in 2013.
Since then she has taken part in more than 20 shows in Bhutan and abroad.
“I see modelling as sustaining career contrary to popular Bhutanese belief that it isn’t.”
Besides questions on sustainability, she has been fighting skewed perception; many people have of modelling, in the last four years of her career.
Despite the challenges, Kuenga believes modelling can empower women in general and promote Bhutan as a brand abroad. “Modelling has helped build my confidence and develop an identity of my own.”
Kuenga takes up social activities and is involved in voluntarism when she has free time.
