Rutgers student Ria Gulati wins Miss Ramapo Valley Pageant

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Ria Gulati, 22, a student at Rutgers, won the Miss Ramapo Valley Pageant held recently, the first-ever pageant she entered. She told judges volunteering had helped her realize the problems and struggles of others. She will be competing in the June 2018 Miss New Jersey pageant.

According to the Fair Lawn, N.J. Daily Voice, Gulati decided to enter her hometown pageant because she wanted to “venture outside her comfort zone.”

Apparently, Gulati was perfectly comfortable and the pageant was her ‘zone.’ Once she decided to take part in it, she continued a regimen of exercize and was crowned Miss Ramapo Valley in the pageant which was held end of August, beating the competition from young women representing Bergen, Passaic and Essex Counties, the fairlawn.dailyvoice.com reported.

Gulati told the Daily Voice she had no idea what was expected but prepared as best she could for the competition.

For the talent round, the young Indian-American had been singing Indian songs for many years, and a YouTube video shows her performing at a local community event as far back as 2012. She brushed up her singing and used it to her advantage at the pageant.

The current Miss Ramapo Valley, Lauren Staub, complimented Gulati on her Facebook page with a shout-out – “Love you Ria!”

To that Gulati replied, ” Love you too ❤️ You did an amazing job for the entire year and I hope to live up to it .”

In her interview round, Gulati spoke about discovering the best in yourself through volunteerism. That is a platform, benefits of volunteerism, is what she will be talking about for the year that she occupies the position of Miss Ramapo Valley.

She discovered the benefits personally when she gave of her time to the St. Peter’s University Hospital to overcome her own pressures and tensions as a student at the New Brunswick campus, the Daily Voice revealed.

At the pageant, Gulati told judges, “I had no idea the impact it would make on me. I started volunteering and realized it was way more than just getting my mind off of something,” Gulati is quoted saying. “It was something that had helped me discover what other people were going through, meet people of all ages, find out their stories,” she said. In finding out the stories of others, Gulati said, she was able to put things in perspective.

“Even though our struggle may be the biggest thing in our life, when we put it in the bigger perspective, maybe it can help us realize the importance of looking at the positivity in life,” she is quoted saying.