2018 Miss India World Anukreethy Vas serves for transgender education, she says she learned this quality from her mother, who rose her single-handedly. The 19-year-old said “The challenging part was being raised by a single mother but being strong in every situation kept them going” "The challenges were there forever starting from school because I am not from a city-based place. I studied in Trichy which is not really a city but I was very strong enough because my mother didn't let me down at any point. She used to say, 'You are a strong person. How can you cry?' and that's how she brought me up," Anukreethy told IANS over the phone from Mumbai. "I have never seen her low. She has a lot of problems herself but she never showed that to me and that is how I was brought up. Even if I had something inside me, I never expressed it to another person because I feel that a smile is one thing that keeps the other person going. And this is what I learned from her. My mom is my inspiration in every way and she has been a great role model”l. At Chennai's Loyola College, Miss India 2018 is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in French. She believes her faith in destiny keeps her confident at all times and this even reflected well while she was announced the winner on 26th of June. Miss India is also a state-level athlete, who also wanted to become a supermodel.