14-year-old Maleesha Kharwa from Mumbai slum becomes face of luxury beauty brand

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, May 22

Maleesha Kharwa is a 14-year-old girl who hails from Mumbai's Dharavi Slum. Her bio on Instagram reads, ‘People say I live in a slum but I love my life! I hope to be a supermodel to help my family eat.’

This kid is inching towards her dream with each passing day. After featuring on the cover of a fashion magazine, she is now the face of luxury beauty brand Forest Essentials’ new campaign ‘The Yuvati Collection’.

And this journey began in 2020 when Hollywood actor Robert Hoffman discovered her during a music video shoot in Mumbai. From creating her Instagram account for Maleesha to setting up a GoFundMe page for her, he helped her actualise her dream of becoming a model. Almost three years later, today, there are 113 posts on her Instagram account with followers that have reached 230,000.

This is her first Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maleesha Kharwa (@maleeshakharwa)

There are posts of modelling, some fun with her friends, pictures of her vision board, celebrating milestones like buying a phone from her own money or having 1,000 followers, and many of these posts have the hashtag #princessfromtheslum. Maleesha, whose recent posts are about believing in her dreams and inspiring her fans that dreams do come true, also featured in a short film titled ‘Live Your Fairytale’.

Take a look:

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A post shared by Maleesha Kharwa (@maleeshakharwa)

It was in April that Maleesha became a face of Forest Essentials’ ‘Yuvati’ collection, a social initiative that aims to ‘empower young minds’.

The luxury beauty brand shared a heartening video of the teen model on Instagram. In the video, Maleesha can be seen entering the store, which welcomes her with some campaign photos right at the entrance and then some more inside the store. In the caption, Forest Essentials wrote, “Her face lit up with pure delight, To see her dreams in front of her in sight. Maleesha's story is a beautiful reminder that dreams really do come true. #BecauseYourDreamsMatter.”

Check it out:

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A post shared by @forestessentials

The video was an instant hit and netizens have cheered this 14-year-old girl for chasing her dream. There are over 5 million views and more than 4 lakh likes.

A user wrote, “Maleesha, you beauty, we proud of you sister.”

Another one said, “So happy to see this, and applause fr the brand.. in our country dusky girls were never considered to promote beauty brands, nw time has changed... she's so beautiful.”

Another comment reads, “Keep smiling.... U have a bright future.”

"It's wonderful watch her savor her success!!! Blessings and much more success in future for her!" said a user. "

A third user commented, "Wow. So much positivity in here. Also her smile is beautiful".

Yet another wrote, "Now this is a face every common man will relate to, a much needed change".

In an interview with Vogue India, Mira Kulkarni, the founder and chief managing director of Forest Essentials, said, "Through our Yuvati collection, we are not only supporting Maleesha's dreams but also contributing to Project Paathshala to empower young minds. The brand will donate 10% of the proceeds from the Yuvati Selection towards Project Paathshala to provide children from underprivileged backgrounds access to education with the hope of a brighter India"

"While Maleesha is the face of this campaign, what Forest Essentials is bringing to the forefront is the idea of dreams. The undercurrent here is that no matter where you come from, how big or small your dream is, dreams are for everyone, and all dreams matter," she added.

Separately, Maleesha said that her campaign with Forest Essentials is her ‘biggest job till date’. "I want to be a model, but education will always come first for me," she added.

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