Praneeta Mahajan
Hamilton, May 22, 2023
As a New Zealand born Indian, it was a proud moment for Natasha Bali when she travelled to win the ‘Woman of the Year award 2023,’ an International award presented by ‘WOW- Wonders of Womanhood’ by Maxine Simmons held in Sydney, Australia.
About the event
The WOW awards honour women and is a platform to celebrate and award the inspiration of women professionally who gain well deserved recognition and have demonstrated incredible potential or achievement in her chosen field, passion, area of interest or is a dedicated pillar for the community.
The second year for the show was a ticketed event, which saw nominations across 16 categories with five nominees for each category. The event consisted of nominees from all different ethnicities and cultures. There was also a jury panel of six Judges, who assessed the nominees based on their experience and through interviews. Natasha won the ‘WOW- Woman of the Year’ award on the basis of her overall media career having shown to be excelling in the media and arts.
The judging panel had a strong variety of judges, including Pedro Virgil (a world-renowned fashion photographer and a Reality TV show personality who is best known for being a judge on the reality show Caribbean’s Next Top Model, a Celebrity and Guest Photographer on Australia’s Next Top Model and Project Runway Australia) Kumud Merani, (an Actor, Public speaker, a sought after Master of ceremonies, Australia Day Ambassador and multiple Award winning journalist), Varun Tiwari (a talented dancer in Australia, actor, video director and producer, who also owns a music production banner), Jazeel Mistry (Producer and Creative director at Filmistry Pictures as well as a celebrity MC, Actor, Model and Dancer.
The organiser, Maxine Simmons said, “We acknowledge women from every works of life. Each and every one that participated or contributed to make the event is a pride for all of us Women . I met many new and many from previous events. Amazingly, humble, giving, caring, honest and positive women. They all are true role models.”
About the winner
In a conversation with Indian Newslink, Ms Bali said, “My journey in the media field has been going great so far. And it has been a proud moment as a New Zealand born Indian to travel to Australia and come back home a winner.”
By profession, Ms Bali is a MC and host. She is also an actor, model and dancer. She is a graduate from the New Zealand Radio Training school where she achieved a spot in the top three of her batch and has also worked as a radio announcer.
As an actor, she has already completed two feature films in which she played a lead role and is currently in the process of shooting for her third feature film. She has also done TV commercials and been a lead actor in international theatre production called “Meera.” Natasha has also just completed her first short film recently.
Ms Bali has also been crowned as ‘Miss India Worldwide NZ’ 2017 as the 1st Runner Up along with Miss Best Talent Miss India Worldwide 2017 along with Miss Talent and Miss Photogenic. She also earned the second runner up crown at Miss Elite Global Earth NZ 2018.
Natasha’s father, Brahmendra Bali is a Lawyer and mother, Usha Bali is a retired Real Estate Agent. In their message about their daughter’s achievement, the proud parents said, “As Natasha’s parents, we are both extremely proud of every single one of Natasha’s achievements in life. For her to be recognised on an international platform and win the biggest award of the evening makes us even more proud. We both always support her dreams and encourage her to do what she wants in life. We love our daughter and will always continue to support her. Natasha always has our blessings.”
Praneeta Mahajan is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Hamilton.
