Challenges pay off for Vanisa

ROBERT KITCHIN

CROWNING MOMENT: Wellington's Vanisa Dhiru, 27, is one of three finalists in the Young New Zealander of the Year award.

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Vanisa Dhiru campaigned to make the capital a fair trade city, volunteered in an Indian orphanage and has been a beauty queen.

Now she could be crowned Young New Zealander of the Year.

In 2006, the Wellingtonian did a leadership course that encouraged her to challenge herself. So she did, entering the beauty contest Miss India New Zealand.

She planned to use the pageant as a platform to speak to a different audience about a worthy cause.

"I didn't want to be Miss Curry Corner or Miss Superette. So I was Miss Trade Aid."

Miss Dhiru, 29, won Miss Photogenic and Miss Community Services at the competition, raising more than $1000 for Wellington Trade Aid.

And so her relationship with the organisation was born, though it was her "first and last" pageant. Now the marketing contractor is on the board of the trust and last January went to India and Bangladesh with Trade Aid to gain first-hand experience of its activities.

She now tells these stories to schools, community and business groups to promote Fair Trade.

Miss Dhiru also worked on the Make Wellington Fair Trade campaign. Last year, Wellington City Council passed a resolution to make the capital a Fair Trade City and received official status in December.

She is vice-president of YWCA of Wellington and Hutt Valley and helped set up a leadership programme called Discover, linking schoolgirls with mentors.

She is training to be a justice of the peace, is on the board of Dress for Success Wellington belongs to women's and ethnic groups, and has volunteered in an Indian orphanage.

The New Zealand-born Indian, who speaks Gujarati, said she was interested in women's development and credited the leadership course for helping her to realise how she could make a difference. "Somebody gave me a small opportunity and I've been able to make a huge contribution."

Miss Dhiru is one of three finalists in the Young New Zealander of the Year category.

Olympic gold medallist Valerie Vili, The Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall and scientist Ray Avery are nominated for New Zealander of the Year.

There is also a senior category and a local hero award, where Palmerston North woman Helen Johnson, a Special Olympics coach and disability advocate, is a contender.

The winners of the inaugural awards – to be judged by former prime minister Jim Bolger, Dame Malvina Major and former All Black Michael Jones, among others – will be announced at a gala event on February 3.

- © Fairfax NZ News