Manasa Varanasi

Manasa Varanasi was born in Hyderabad to Telugu speaking parents Ravi Sankar and Shailaja.[3] She shifted to Malaysia at a young age due to her father's work and was schooled at Global Indian International School and completed her grade 10 there. Later she returned to India, completed her intermediate then studied computer science at Vasavi College of Engineering Hyderabad. After completing her education and graduating with a computer science degree, she started to work as a Financial Information eXchange (FIX) analyst at Factset, Hyderabad.[4] With a pressing need to overcome her shyness and indulge in her curious nature, Varanasi grew up exploring a wide range of interests from music, dancing to yoga and even volunteering at Make a difference; she won the Miss Fresher title in the first year of her college.[5]

In 2020, she then auditioned for the same title for Femina Miss India 2020 which she eventually won. She represented the state of Telangana at the Femina Miss India 2020 pageant. On 10 February 2021, she was crowned as Femina Miss India World 2020 by the outgoing titleholder Suman Rao at Hyatt Regency, Mumbai. During the pageant's sub contest ceremony, she won the 'Miss Rampwalk' award.[6]

Varanasi advocates to strengthen child protection laws in India for her Beauty with a purpose project. She also flagged off "We Can" a first-of-it's-kind awareness campaign against sexual abuse of children.[7][8]The change she’d like to bring about mostly has to do with access to quality education for children, that helps fuel youth, by giving them access to education and a chance to dream big.[9]