Brown Girl of the Month Sheena Pradhan Balances Health, Beauty and Business in Her Career Ambitions

Sheena Pradhan
Image Provided by Sheena Pradhan

by Sheena Pradhan

Meet the Brown Girl of the Month of May, 2014!

Sheena Pradhan is a 25-year-old New York City resident, nutritionist, entrepreneur, pageant contestant, writer, model and enthusiast of life. She has even competed in and won a triathlon! She wears many hats, but her main passion in life is to become a successful nutritionist and help people lead healthy lifestyles.

“I am an outpatient dietitian by day and an aspiring entrepreneur and full-time pageant contestant by night. I always knew I wanted to pursue nutrition especially when I was in college. My friends would constantly ask me for advice and tips on eating healthy. After I graduated Drexel University, I decided to pursue my dream and opened my own private practice called Nutritious Balance. Eventually my dream is to expand the practice from just dietary and nutrition services to a lifestyle and well-being practice that helps people live healthier lives.

Sheena Pradhan cooking
Pradhan teaches a cooking class for Urban Tree Connection.
Image provided by Sheena Pradhan

To be healthy there has to be a balance in your life, it is always better not to be too restrictive, but rather to form healthy habits over time. A lot of people have huge cravings for sugar so I always recommend snacking on plain rice cakes, yogurt, pudding and nuts. I have a lot of healthy tips on my blog and a special guide for vegetarians was recently published:   “How To Stay Healthy On A Vegetarian Diet.”

Sheena Pradhan at the Miss New Jersey competition in 2013!
Sheena Pradhan at the Miss New Jersey USA 2013 competition.
Image provided by Sheena Pradhan

I got into the world of pageants in 2012 when I first signed up for the Miss New Jersey USA 2013 pageant. I come from a traditional Oriya household where I sometimes felt discouraged from being myself. This pushed me to develop the courage to sign up for the pageant and it was definitely one of the most empowering experiences of my life thus far. I know there is a lot of negative stigma around pageants, but the experience for me has been truly rewarding. It has taught me how to be more confident, empowered, how to market myself and put my best foot forward.

Sheena Pradhan speaks at a corporate wellness presentation I made for Standard Chartered Bank in New York City. Image Provided by Sheena Pradhan
Sheena Pradhan gives a corporate wellness presentation for Standard Chartered Bank in New York City.
Image provided by Sheena Pradhan

I am currently training hard for the upcoming Miss New York USA 2015 pageant and am very excited to compete again. Pageantry has taught me a lot about my strengths and it has definitely put a lot of things in perspective for me. Anyone can compete in the Miss USA systems so I definitely encourage girls who are interested to pursue their dreams.”

 – Sheena Pradhan

Help Sheena raise money to compete in next year’s pageant because she could be the next Miss America Nina Davuluri! Every dollar counts, since many do not realize how costly and time-consuming the pageant system can be.

Our Brown Girl of the Month definitely lives a busy life juggling her job, her nutrition practice, pageant classes, writing for her blog, modeling part-time, and recently she joined the Brown Girl team as a writer. Sheena is on her way to doing big things and we wish her the best!

#BG Rakhi, Kamini Trisha and Sheena at the "Appreciating Women" event in New Jersey!
BG Rakhi, Kamini Trisha and Sheena at the “Appreciating Women” event in New Jersey! [Photo Courtesy: Sheena Pradhan]
Catch our BGOTM on Rogers TV’s “South Asia Focus” in Toronto at the end of May.

Follow BGOTM Sheena Pradhan’s Twitter accounts, Facebook, pageant blog and check out her  nutritional website.


Do you know a Brown Girl who is awesome at what she does? Send an email telling us why at atiya.hasan@0mq.349.myftpupload.com.

By Sheena Pradhan

Sheena Pradhan is a digital marketing consultant, former F&B entrepreneur, model, and writer. Sheena got her start in pageants and … Read more ›