Kritika Vaid
Lead – Entertainment & Lifestyle. Kritika believes that behind every blockbuster, and every breaking headline, is a story told in both frames and figures. She brings over 12 years of experienc ... Read More
Kaziah Liz Mejo from Kerala has been crowned Miss Universe India 2026 after competing against 53 contestants at the grand finale in Jaipur on Sunday. The 19-year-old will now represent India at the 75th Miss Universe pageant, which is scheduled to take place in Puerto Rico in November. Vaishnavi Gannesh from Tamil Nadu was named the first runner-up, while Gujarat’s Anushri Satavlekar became the second runner-up and won the Miss International India 2026 title.
Born and brought up in Mavelikkara, Kerala, Kaziah Liz Mejo is a 19-year-old law student, model, classical dancer and actor. She has been trained in classical dance for 12 years and has also explored music. According to the Miss Teen Diva’s official website, she can sing and play the drums and violin.
Kaziah has also worked as an actor in the Malayalam film Shylock and is a public speaker. Before winning the Miss Universe India 2026 crown, she represented India at Miss Teen International 2025, where she finished as the first runner-up.
She became Miss Universe Kerala at the age of 19 and went on to become the youngest contestant in the Miss Universe India 2026 competition.
Meet Kaziah Liz Mejo, Miss Universe India 2026 (PC – Instagram)
Ahead of the Miss Universe India finale, Kaziah spoke about her understanding of beauty and confidence in a video shared on the pageant’s Instagram handle. “To me, true beauty is about conviction, it’s about courage, the silent decision to rise again and again and to believe before becoming. To me, being beautifully confident means being audacious.”
She further explained what being confident means to her. “It means to have the audacity to come back stronger again and again to turn every fear, every failure and every moment of weakness into unwavering and a burning fire within. It means to lead with grace, to speak with intuition and to turn every place and every person better than you found it.”
During the finale, Kaziah was asked, “Can you describe the sound of silence in your life?” The question was asked by Rajiv K Shrivastava, founder of Act Now and director of Social Projects at the Glamanand Group.
Talking about her relationship with the stage, Kaziah said, “To me, silence, I believe, is what I experienced just a few minutes ago. The calm before I enter a stage. I was born and brought up on stage as a classical dancer, as an actor, and, of course, as a pageant lover.”
She continued, “I fell in love with the world of pageants, with the stage, with the spotlight, having a microphone in my hand. But it seems difficult to believe, but I feel silence, and I feel calm, and I feel at my most peaceful self right before I enter a stage because I feel at home. To me, that is silence when you feel at home, when your heart lets you take a deeper breath, when your pulse comes down, and you know that you belong. And that’s exactly where I’m standing today, India.”
According to Miss Universe India, the finalists had to answer 20 questions and complete their answers within 90 minutes. The questions covered a range of topics, including how contestants define modern India, whether beauty pageants can be genuinely feminist, whether beauty queens can advocate for climate action and who their favourite Miss Universe India is.
With her win, Kaziah Liz Mejo will now carry India’s hopes at the 75th Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico this November.
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