When you think about a software engineer from IBM in Austin then the image of a beauty queen probably would not come into your mind, but that is what Mikki Singhal is. She had heard about many women who won such competitions and then went on to do wonderful things in their life. So she took the challenge. It sounded like a great idea but as she says it’s not an easy task. “I had to put in lot of preparation before I went in”, says Mikki and then adds, “[but]… it was a wonderful experience.”

While growing up in Zambia and Botswana, Mikki has had similar experiences like that Rennu had and, as she says, she also has to dispel this notion about people living in trees in Africa. She also had to travel to far away places looking for better quality of education, including for high-school to England and for graduate degree to USA, though, she skipped going to South Africa for under-graduate degree preferring to stay with her parents and doing it in Botswana.

Mikki says that she always had an urge to do something different. She picked up badminton in Zambia and became ladies champion in Botswana competing at the international level. Then she became the first woman to top engineering college. Now she is also trying her hands at acting making use of Austin’s active independent movies industry. §