Get to know Meera Bhonslé, the USC grad competing to be Miss USA

Meera Bhonslé has terrible stage fright, but you’d never know it.

The Lexington native and University of South Carolina alumna was recently crowned 2022’s Miss South Carolina USA and is a lifelong pageant queen. She was Lexington High School’s Miss Wildcat and USC’s Miss Gamecock.

She’s now competing to be Miss USA.

Bhonslé is a South Carolinian, born and raised. She studied multimedia journalism at USC and was formerly a local journalist for Cola Daily. She speaks five languages and knows all 46 SC counties by heart. Fishing is one of her favorite hobbies.

Bhonslé doesn’t just want to be a “beauty queen.” She wants to make a difference.

When she won her high school’s pageant, she began an initiative called “Reading is Leading,” a platform to encourage literacy in children. Much of her time is dedicated to visiting elementary schools in every corner of the state.

“The value of an education is something that will never go away,” she said.

Bhonslé is also a 5-foot-2-inch, first-generation American of Latin and Indian heritage. She takes pride on those descriptions. She wears her unconventionality like a badge of honor.

“A taller woman, blond hair, blue eyes, a white girl, is generally the depiction of a pageant girl, especially in the south,” Bhonslé said. “Being able to break that stereotype in every sense is very cool.”

Kids light up when they see someone in leadership who looks like them, Bhonslé said.

“To be representation for younger generations so that they know that they can do anything they want to do … It’s very special for me … that’s what I feel like my purpose is,” Bhonslé said.

Being herself has been vital to her success, she said.

“It’s very easy to get caught up in what other people want you to do and what the stereotypes are,” Bhonslé said.

For Bhonslé, Miss USA won’t be just another pageant. It’s the culmination of a dream she and her mother have shared ever since her first competition when she was 5 months old.

“(My mom) is just over the moon for Miss USA,” Bhonslé said. “I think it’s going to be very emotional for her to watch me on the Miss USA stage because this has been a lifetime in the making.”

Her mother immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when she was 14 years old. She watched television to learn English, and especially enjoyed pageants.

“It captivated her. She always wanted to compete in a pageant, but unfortunately never had the opportunity,” Bhonslé said. “I’m very thankful … It’s something she has gotten to share with me.”

Bhonslé said preparing for Miss USA has been “an experience like no other.”

While keeping fit, eating healthy, readying her wardrobe and practicing interviewing and walking are key, her mental and spiritual preparations are just as important.

“Making sure my head is in a good space, making sure my heart is in a good space so that I’m going in the most honest, unapologetic person,” she said.

The Miss USA pageant will be aired live on A&E’s FYI and Hulu on Oct. 3. at 8 p.m. EST.

“I am so honored and humbled and thankful to be able to represent South Carolina,” Bhonslé said. “I hope I do South Carolina proud.”