The Z List: Aanvi Kher on the pomp of pageantry, finding confidence and fostering kindness

She is the first-ever Malaysian to take home the Miss Globe title, bringing pride to the country. Meet The Z List 2024, international beauty pageant winner and champion of women empowerment, Aanvi Kher.

It’s not every day that you get to meet a beauty queen in the flesh. What’s more, the very first beauty queen in Malaysia who took home the title of Miss Globe, since its inception. Manvin Khera  — who goes by Aanvi, she says, as soon as she greets us — struts into the studio in all her five-foot-eight glory (-eleven in heels). She looks just as beautiful now — the perfect, almost unreal sort of beautiful; a Barbie doll come-to-life — as she must have six months ago, on stage in Durrës, Albania where she was crowned.

“It was truly, truly, very memorable for me,” Aanvi gushes when I offer my late congratulations, “really, I had such a wonderful time. One whole year preparing for the competition and really, I think I made the most out of it.”

Beauty pageants, contrary to popular belief, are not a thing of the past — they’re still well and alive, and I’m sure after Aanvi’s victory it will only continue to pick up around here. She initially got into modelling from her friends’ persuasion to attend a fashion show casting, and from there, it became a beauty queen whirlwind.

“I started to understand what this whole concept is all about,” Aanvi says. “And from there on Nizam Jalil — the Malaysian catwalk guru — spotted me, and she was like, ‘I would want you to try for beauty pageants.’ And I didn’t know what beauty pageants were at the time.” (She was also later encouraged by Afeer Razak, the National Director of Ratu Wanita Malaya.) “They told me that I have potential and that maybe I could bring something back for the country,” she goes on, smiling now at the memory that manifested itself. “They gave me those words of encouragement, and trained me for one whole year. Yeah, I think that one year of sacrifice was totally worth it.”

Learning confidence, and coming into your own

Aanvi grew up an introvert — which means she certainly didn’t grow up dreaming she would enter beauty contests, let alone emerge as a champion on a global scale. “I didn’t know that I could catwalk,” she tells me with a laugh. “I didn’t even know that I could talk to people.” The pageantry life became Aanvi’s gateway to finding her confidence and belief in herself. Dealing with acne, public speaking, and even singing — these were things she never thought she would ever be dabbling in.

“When it comes to preparing for a beauty pageant, I think it really is just all about confidence,” she opens up. “If you have confidence, that is more than enough. That’s what you really need. Because once you have showcased that you can do it, you’re capable of literally anything, and everything.”

Before she was announced as the winner at the end of The Miss Globe 2023, Aanvi first won the Miss Talent competition by performing a popular Hindi song. “Fun fact, I only rehearsed the song two days before I departed,” Aanvi shares. “I was not prepared, because I was really not aiming for Miss Talent. I was like, ‘I’m just gonna perform and do my best.’ And surprisingly, I won Miss Talent. I was really, really — I cried on the stage, because I was like, ‘I didn’t aim for this. I was not aiming for this.’”

As she reveals more of herself, Aanvi’s picture-perfect smile starts taking real shape. She tells me about the time she competed in Ratu Wanita Malaya at 21, just two years ago — and also emerged as its champion — where she first sang in front of the crowd and subsequently gave her the courage and experience to perform again. “You’re good with Hindi songs,” Afeer Razak had told her back then, “so might as well sing a Hindi song.”

Even as she learned to gain her confidence through the competitions, Aanvi never truly shed her doubts about being crowned until she realised the sheer significance of the support she had. “These are people who sacrificed so much of their money, their time, their energy for me,” she says, referring not only to Afeer Razak and Nizam Jalil, but also her family, friends and fellow Malaysians who were watching her on their screens. “That really motivated me, seeing so many people rooting for me. Everyone was like, ‘Manvin, we’re so proud you’re up there, we can really see you with the crown.’ And there was this one photo edited by this pageant lover online, they’re called ‘DCG_concept’, I still remember who you are.”

The online user had edited one of her photos with the Miss Globe crown on her head, six months before the competition.

“He manifested it for you,” I tell her.

“He really did!” Aanvi grins back proudly. “I actually had that on as my wallpaper for a while, I think it really did manifest it for me. Yeah, these people around me were the main reason why I pushed myself. And I’m so grateful, I really did have a very strong support system. Every day there’d be a message like, ‘Manvin, go out there, go all the way.’ I think our Malaysian pageant lovers — people may not know this — are very, very supportive of everything, of all celebrities in Malaysia, and beauty queens, and I think that’s a really beautiful thing.”

Kindness not as a strength, but a necessity

Speaking of support, Aanvi got a lot of that backstage, too. What I mean when I say beauty pageants aren’t a thing of the past — or at least they aren’t what they used to be — is that while it may be a competition, the women are not truly competing against each other. Things have changed so much in the last century, giving way to unbridled support between the women from all the countries, from all walks of life. And as much as people have claimed beauty pageants seem to ‘take away’ from women, empowerment is not one of them.

“You see girls helping each other, taking photos of one another, hyping each other up,” Aanvi recounts. “Especially when we have subsidiary competitions for Miss Bikini or any other competitions. We see girls supporting one another. I still remember, when the country is announced the winner, you can see all the girls coming together and just hugging her, cheering for her. And I think that’s really beautiful. Miss Philippines and I, we made a really beautiful bond. You get to keep in touch with all of them. And it’s long-lasting! Whenever I wanna do my charity work, or if I wanna go to the Philippines, I’ll know who to reach out to. I know she’s got my back.”

The experience — and overall overwhelmingly supportive environment — taught Aanvi that while she spent the year observing others to improve herself, she also glimpsed the kindness in the bonds she made. For Aanvi, kindness isn’t something one should aim for, but a natural inclination of the heart. She tells me that she and her family have regularly been providing meals for the homeless on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, particularly the area near Chow Kit. While Aanvi has worked with a couple of non-profit organisations before, this one is personal to her.

“I believe that if you have extra, share it with the public,” she says. “It will come back [to you] twofold. Just do it with 100% of your heart. Don’t expect anything in return. Do it as if you actually mean it. Just be kind. That’s what I’d do.”

The glitz, the glam, the golden opportunities

Since successfully being crowned the Miss Globe, Aanvi has been catapulted to a new world, full of ‘right place, right time’ moments. “There may be people out there who say that beauty pageants objectify women, and that’s not true at all,” she affirms. “I think beauty pageants really give a platform for girls out there to pursue their career, to pursue whatever they want. It gives them an opportunity, a platform to use their voice for something. And you know, even when it comes to career, I think it really does open up so many doors for you.”

Aanvi still remembers the day she came home from Albania, the Miss Globe crown intact. She was greeted by a welcoming party, which included not just her parents, but her aunties and uncles, friends and even her ever-supportive fans. “I wasn’t expecting that at all, but yeah, it was beautiful,” she shares. “I was overjoyed to see everyone so happy, and I even had so many random people coming up to me and like, ‘Oh my God, you’re one in the newspaper.’ That was really nice.”

Right after that, the opportunities began knocking. Aanvi was on her way to completing her degree in law when she began preparing for The Miss Globe, but she’s still planning on doing so. For the past two years, she’s been co-leading the non-profit organisation Trash Hero Kuala Lumpur, where they gather people and do clean-ups around Kuala Lumpur, as well as promote awareness about climate change. Or she could want to do something else entirely — the point is, her achievement has made it so the entire world is her oyster.

“Let’s say I want to start a career somewhere else, I can always carry this pride with me,” she says. “You know, I won this for my country and I have established this whole profile for myself, and they can look at it and say, ‘Okay, I can see that Aanvi has the potential.’ I think that’s one thing this platform has given me. Opportunities. I’m really grateful for that. In fact, because of this platform, I’m even getting opportunities in India. So I think that’s really the most beautiful thing about this.”

interview PUTERI YASMIN SURAYA | editor-in-chief & creative direction MARTIN TEO | assisted by RONN TAN & MALLIE MARAN | stylist ISAAC CHONG | stylist assistant ZIYIN | photography EDMUND LEE (ONE3FOUR STUDIO) | videography POR JIA JUN | assisted by STANLEY LOH | makeup SHIYO JOO | hair JUNO KO | styled in HERMÈS, BOTTEGA VENETA, DOLCE & GABBANA

In its fourth year, The Z List 2024 continues to celebrate the inspirational and aspirational, as well as the most dynamic youths who find strength in empowering their communities through the work that they do. Working together, the Gen-Zers come in full force to make an impact strength on strength.