13/07/2025

ON SUNDAY JULY 13, 2025 II theSunday Special

Chetty believes that education goes beyond textbooks.

Like a butterfly, we too can transform our pain into beauty, our struggles into strength and our dreams into wings.”

Miss World Malaysia 2024/25 Taanusiya Chetty brings grace, empathy and quiet strength to a world too focused on appearances BY HANNEF ESQUANDER Grace beyond looks

The booklet created by Chetty for the Be.The. Change

I N a world where beauty is celebrated above everything else and everyone is obsessing over good looks, it is increasingly complex for society to resist the pressure and distance itself from this damaging mindset. As of 2024, Malaysia’s aesthetic and beauty industry ZDV YDOXHG DW 50 ELOOLRQ UHÀHFWLQJ a 7.5% increase from RM4.24 billion in 2023. Every day, advertisements for make-up brands and aesthetic clinics pop up in mainstream publications and social media, providing us with updates on the latest concoctions and beauty procedure trends that none of us asked for. These subtle and overt messages reinforce a

with how you think and feel about yourself and others,” she explained. The 24-year-old beauty queen was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur. She grew up with a deep sense of responsibility and empathy after losing her mother at the age of 14. That painful experience became pivotal in her life, shaping her into who she is today. It taught her compassion, resilience and purpose. She is pursuing her TESL degree at a private university in the Klang Valley, preparing for a future in education. As a daughter, sister, advocate and educator, she believes love, education and inclusion can transform lives and build stronger communities.

narrative that physical appearance is the primary marker of worth and success. Wanting to look great is not necessarily a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with caring about our appearance or enjoying a good skincare routine. But when this desire becomes an obsession, when the pressure to conform to an unrealistic standard of beauty overrides our sense of self, we must step back and ask ourselves: Have we gone too far? All the facelifts, botox and thousands of ringgits spent on make-up – what are we really trying to achieve? More importantly, what is the cost to our mental and emotional well-being?

Someone like Taanusiya Chetty was born with it. The current Miss World Malaysia 2024/25 is blessed with natural good looks. Even with the gift of beauty, one so coveted that people would risk their lives for it, Chetty always puts it second to intellectuality. “I would choose brains over beauty because that’s where your attitude, personality and values are rooted. It is about how you respond to the world, treat others and carry yourself. Beauty naturally radiates from within when your mindset LV JURXQGHG LQ NLQGQHVV FRQ¿GHQFH DQG purpose. True beauty isn’t something you wear. It is something you are and starts