On June 4, 2022 seventeen year old Diya Chowdhury was crowned Miss New York Teen USA 2022. This was her first pageant ever and she was inspired to compete for the title of Miss New York Teen USA because she watched the confidence pageantry builds for young girls. Diya has always thought of herself to be a shy, timid girl and she chose to utilize this opportunity to really break out of her shell. In order to prepare, she had to teach herself to be proud of who she was and her abilities.

 

Diya has three older sisters who are like mothers to her. Growing up, she always wanted to be like them and they inspired her to work hard in school, but also encouraged her to do whatever made her happy. 

 

Diya grew up in East Harlem, also known as El Barrio, a community filled with lots of Latin culture. As a Bengali female at the top of her school in Spanish Harlem, her diverse identity has provided her with a global perspective. Surrounded by a community full of several other cultures, she began to appreciate them as if they were her own. She hopes to be a voice that represents these communities.

 

Diya has grown to love and appreciate her culture over the years. She could not be prouder of where she comes from. The desi community is under-represented and she is honored that she will be able to represent the community at Miss Teen USA. Diya aspires to become a Software Developer and build a language app. She plans to achieve these goals by attending college and majoring in Computer Science. 

 

As Miss New York Teen USA, Diya hopes to inspire other girls who feel like they don’t have a voice, to strive for greatness. As someone who has felt like her voice has been drowned out, she wants to help girls understand that their opinions are important, deserve to be heard and empower them with skills to raise their voices. She wants to share her story of once being a girl who had a hard time speaking up for herself, but was able to overcome it. She is excited to continue to push herself, build sisterhood and utilize her platform positively. She is ecstatic to represent the state of New York at Miss Teen USA!