How trans beauty queen Naaz Joshi became a showstopper

As India’s first trans beauty queen, Naaz supports empathy, equality and employment as the steps that will take the community forward

“Change that begins at home drives social change,” says India’s first transgender international beauty queen Naaz Joshi. Winner of eight beauty crowns — one national and seven international including the recent Empress Earth 2021-22 held virtually, Naaz has been vocal about skill development for trans people. Her virtual sessions during the Pride month for Lovely Professional University in Punjab and the Vellore Institute of Technology focussed on sensitising people about the community. Although she was born a boy named Aizya to a upper middle class Delhi family, Naaz identified herself as a girl and loved dressing up. “Some of my male teachers would teach me how to walk as a boy,” she remembers. Facing discrimination and abuse at her maternal uncle’s house in Mumbai, she was sheltered by a trans woman.