While many fitness competitors may aspire to be models and seek publicity and media connections via the Fitness America federation, I have become an individual who has used my stage experience to propel myself further in my corporate career as a thirty-something. After just doing two Fitness America shows this year, I am now able to stand at a podium on a stage of just about any texture (thanks to Kumite Classic!), wave gracefully, wear the highest heels to accessorize my business suits and speak to a crowd of five hundred or five thousand with confidence. I have no problems making eye contact and saying exactly how I feel to my most important clients or to my most senior level management. Those are some of the unexpected perks that have come with wearing a skimpy bikini on stage with little left to hide, in front of a panel of judges under bright lights. Nothing else seems quite as daunting afterwards!

I was recently voted in as President of the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP, www.netip.org ). We are a premier respected South Asian organization for young successful professionals and focus on professional networking, cultural and political awareness as well as community service. I was able to make my election speech with gusto and when presented on stage as the new leader for the upcoming year, I did my t-walk, smiled my biggest smile, wore my competition rhinestone heels to match my sequined Indian Lengha outfit and accepted the position with grace and poise. I will be overseeing twenty-two chapters in North America with a membership base of three thousand. I am very proud of this accomplishment. However, because I was five weeks out from FAP NY , I was not able to raise a champagne toast with everyone else to celebrate. My coach had warned me she would take me out at the knees if I drank any alcohol whatsoever. Yet the few other valuable qualities I've learned from this sport: discipline, will power and the drive to make it to the finish line!

I am definitely a minority as an Indian-American in the sport of fitness. When our parents migrated to this country, their emphasis was to focus on excelling via education. That is how you succeeded to live the American dream. All our free time was spent on homework and seeing how we could stay ahead of what was taught to us in school. It is no coincidence there is always an Indian-American child in the national spelling bee. And when you look at the medical or technology profession today, we are a well-respected community. But how many of us do you see in any major league sport?

However, as my generation and our children become more established in this country, we now realize the importance of being well-balanced individuals. Health has become a priority as we realize we come from an ancestry that is prone to diabetes and heart disease. We now own gym memberships, work out regularly, eat well and women like myself are slowly coming forward to even compete. As India 's economy globalizes, the country and its population has also advanced. I hear both Fitness America will be promoting shows there in 2008, and I almost want to shed a tear of joy hearing that. It has been a tough journey to be different and choose to go beyond the invisible boundary.

My parents, having grown up in poor villages in India , like to say they had no choice but to starve when they were young. So they chose to work hard to give their children a good life. And instead now they have a daughter who willingly chooses to starve instead in the name of dieting! My mom made a comment that sweet potatoes and other root vegetables that are complex carbs in our world are what the very poor eat in India – they dig into the ground with their bare hands in the hope of hitting an edible root to put them out of their hunger. Now, instead I go to Whole Foods to buy pounds of yams every month! In a culture where the cow is sacred, I eat enough 93% ground beef the week before my show for my deceased ancestors to shudder in her grave.

But so it goes with the evolution of any culture or heritage: you adapt to your surroundings and the times. You choose to explore and are pleasantly surprised at what you discover. I am very proud of who I am, and the uniqueness that I bring with me. I come from a country of rich heritage and it will always be a part of whom I am. I look forward to my visits to India where my parents have now retired, even if it means I will be eating my monthly starch intake in one single Indian meal. It just means I have to come back here and kill myself with cardio for a month.

I just received a proposal from one of my chapters with a little note that they would be happy to bribe me with 5 lbs. of whey if that would help sway my decision. It brought a genuine smile to my face – similar to the one you will see on stage at the fall competitions I'm gearing up for. Ultimately, I realize I am honored to be one of the few Indian-American women to stand up on the Fitness America stage today. If you want to make a change, you have to be the change. Thank you for giving me that special opportunity!

You can contact me here.