She is a true winner with a compassionate heart. While many people and organisations organised flood appeals to help thousands of victims, 26-year-old Naziah Ali made her contribution with her talent and quick thinking.
Naziah was crowned Ms India Fiji, which was held in Fiji for the first time at the Khatri Hall in Suva on Saturday.
It was held in the United States of America for the past three years.
There were 12 contestants including three from overseas.
What inspired and motivated her to go out and do her best was the cry for help from her suffering family in Ba.
"I would never want that day to return. It was a very emotional and tense moment for me. I called to check on my family during the flood and they were all crying for help, asking me to do something. I was in Suva and I didn't know what to do," she said.
"Their comments, saying houses were filled with water, people were drowning and that there was no food were ringing in my ears. I called up the navy and the police and they said they would not be able to make it to the scene until the next day. I felt so helpless. I would never want to be in that situation again," said Naziah.
The cries for help motivated her to thrive for the highest honours in the competition. "I could not physically do anything to help them and the situation actually gave me strength to go out and make a difference and to be able to do something not for my family only but for everyone suffering from the effects of the flood," said Naziah who is the youngest in a family of 10 children.
Organiser and creator of the event Ranjit Raju said $500 in cash raised from the event and $2000 worth of clothes would be given to flood victims.
What was more devastating for Naziah was losing all her clothes for the event in the flood. She was eventually left with nothing to parade with at the competition.
She ended up borrowing clothing material from her friends and being a fashion designer, she prepared her island wear one night before the event.
Little did she know that she would win and she dedicated her win to flood victims.
"I participated in this competition because I want to be a good ambassador for Fiji and so I can have a platform to be able to do something for the people in a crisis like the flooding disaster," Naziah said.
Sge works as a communications publications coordinator for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
Naziah will now represent Fiji at the Miss India Worldwide Pageant on February 13 in Durban, in South Africa.
Last Year's Vodafone Hibiscus Queen category contestant Sheetal Deo was the first runner up at the last Miss India Fiji contest and Avinta Madhukansh from the USA was the second runner up.
"In South Africa, I would like to highlight positive things about Fiji, especially about the people here. Although our country is poor, in times of crisis, everyone sets aside their differences and come together to help one another. It should be noted that if we put aside our differences, we can all live in peace," she said with confidence.
Naziah strongly believes that women can make a huge difference in society and make excellent leaders if given a chance.
To promote the Indian culture, develop and enhance the awareness of Indian arts, customs, philosophies and history is the goal of organisers of the Miss India Fiji Pageant.
The contestants in the pageant are of Indian origin, between the ages of 17 and 27, never married, and are citizens, residents, or born in Fiji or at least have one parent of Indian decent.