Nidhi Sunil: outspoken, driven, and L’Oréal Paris’ new global ambassador

It was the autumn of 2007 and I was at a Mumbai club for the crowning of India’s entry to the Miss Asia Pacific pageant. I vividly remember two guests: Jacqueline Fernandez (shortly after her run at Miss World) and a charming girl with high, chiselled cheekbones. She introduced herself as Nidhi Sunil, a third year law student and fresh from an outing on the reality show Channel V Get Gorgeous. A bright smile and a hundred questions accompanied her. We kept in touch over the years, until she moved to Mumbai in 2010, undeterred by an industry that found her too short (at 5’6”, she fell short of runway standards) and dark. Today, at the age of 33 — those cheekbones now framed by honey highlights — Sunil is the new global ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, the only model from India to get the title. Late Tuesday evening, when the official announcement was released, she received congratulatory wishes from the likes of actor and long-time L’Oréal spokesperson, Andie MacDowell. “Nidhi is from India [which I am obsessed with], so I cannot wait to meet her and hear about Kerala,” she posted on the ’gram.