When people hear the name Kaziah Liz Mejo today, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the Miss Universe India 2026 crown.
But there is a lot more to know about the 19-year-old from Kerala.
Kaziah Liz Mejo recently won Miss Universe India 2026, earning the opportunity to represent India at the 75th Miss Universe competition in Puerto Rico later this year. The national finale was held in Jaipur on August 23, 2026.
Her win is certainly a big achievement, but what makes her story interesting is the combination of things she has been doing along the way.
She is a law student and model, has trained in classical dance for 12 years, has explored acting and public speaking, and has experience in music as well. She also spent much of her childhood in Abu Dhabi before pursuing her studies in India.
And perhaps the most relatable part of her story is that she has openly spoken about not always feeling confident about herself.
That makes her journey less about a crown and more about how a young person gradually became comfortable standing in front of an audience.
Who is Kaziah Liz Mejo?
Kaziah is from Mavelikkara in Kerala’s Alappuzha district.
Although her roots are in Kerala, she grew up in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where she attended school. Reports have mentioned her schooling at Emirates National School, St Joseph’s School, and Abu Dhabi Indian School.
She later moved on to higher education in India and is currently studying law in Bengaluru.
That combination is quite interesting.
Her daily life is not limited to modelling or pageants. Along with preparing for competitions and public appearances, she is also pursuing a professional degree.
For a 19-year-old, keeping up with studies while developing a career in the public eye can be demanding. But education has remained part of her plans.
That is one reason Kaziah’s story doesn’t fit neatly into the usual beauty-pageant introduction.
She grew up in Abu Dhabi
A large part of Kaziah’s childhood was spent in Abu Dhabi.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, she spoke warmly about growing up there and said she always felt at home in the UAE. Her early exposure to the stage also began there.
Her mother introduced her to small performances and children’s shows when she was young. She also began classical dance training during her childhood.
At that age, performing was simply something fun to do.
There was no pressure to look perfect or build a public image.
Kaziah later explained that things changed as she became a teenager. Like many young people growing up with social media, she became more aware of appearance, photographs and the way she thought other people saw her.
That experience eventually became an important part of how she viewed confidence.
The confidence problem she has talked about
This is one of the more interesting parts of Kaziah’s story because it doesn’t sound like the usual pageant biography.
Before winning titles, she has spoken publicly about feeling insecure about her appearance and personality.
In an interview with The New Indian Express, she described herself as having been insecure about her looks and personality. She also spoke about how her attitude towards herself changed over time.
Khaleej Times reported another detail from her teenage years: for a period of about three years, she said she did not have a photograph of herself without some kind of filter.
That admission is worth noticing.
Someone who now appears on a major pageant stage may look completely confident from the outside. But confidence does not always start that way.
Social media can make young people compare themselves with carefully edited versions of other people’s lives. Kaziah’s own comments show that she experienced some of that pressure too.
Over time, she began working on how she saw herself rather than depending entirely on how she looked in a photograph.
That is a much more interesting lesson than simply saying that she is “beautiful and confident.”
Dance was an early part of her life
Kaziah has been connected with classical dance for years.
According to information cited by NDTV and Gulf News, she has trained in classical dance for 12 years.
Twelve years is a considerable amount of time, particularly when the training began during childhood.
Dance also gave her something useful for her later career: experience performing in front of people.
Anyone who has performed on stage knows that remembering steps is only one part of the challenge. There is also the audience, the lights, the nervousness before going on stage, and the need to continue even when something doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Those experiences can gradually make public appearances feel less intimidating.
Kaziah later moved into modelling and pageantry, where that stage experience became useful in a different setting.
She is interested in music too
Dance is not her only creative interest.
Kaziah is also known for singing and playing musical instruments, including the drums and violin, according to reports about her background.
She has also explored acting and public speaking.
This is probably one of the easiest ways to understand her personality: she has spent much of her life trying different forms of performance.
For her, being on stage isn’t something that suddenly appeared when she entered Miss Universe India.
There were years of smaller performances, dance practice and other activities before the pageant spotlight became much bigger.
Kaziah has acting experience too
Kaziah has also stepped into the world of Malayalam cinema.
She made her acting debut in the Malayalam film Shylock, according to NDTV and other reports about her career.
That may not be the biggest part of her career at the moment, but it adds another experience to her growing list.
Acting and pageantry are different in many ways. In a film, a scene can be repeated and edited. On a live stage, there is no second take.
Pageants require contestants to remain composed while answering questions, walking on stage and interacting with judges and audiences.
Her experience in different performance areas may have helped her become more comfortable with that pressure.
Her pageant story started before Miss Universe India
Kaziah did not enter the Miss Universe India competition without previous experience.
She first made a name for herself in pageantry as a teenager.
In 2024, she won Miss Teen Diva at the age of 17. She subsequently represented India at Miss Teen International 2025, where she finished as the first runner-up.
That international experience came before her move into the Miss Universe category.
In 2026, she won the Miss Universe Kerala title. That victory allowed her to compete at the national level.
Then came the Miss Universe India 2026 finale in Jaipur.
She won the national crown and became the first Keralite to hold the Miss Universe India title, according to reports.
So her pageant career can be understood as a gradual progression rather than one sudden success.
What made her Miss Universe India win special?
The national title puts Kaziah in a very different position from her earlier competitions.
At the teenage level, she was gaining experience.
At Miss Teen International, she was representing India abroad.
With Miss Universe India, she now carries the responsibility of representing the country at one of the world’s most recognised international pageants.
The Jaipur finale was judged by well-known names from the Indian pageant and entertainment world. Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen led the jury, with Urvashi Rautela and Celina Jaitly among the other judges.
Tamil Nadu’s Vaishnavi Gannesh was named first runner-up, while Gujarat’s Anushri Satavlekar was second runner-up.
For Kaziah, the result marked the biggest title of her young pageant career so far.
Her “sound of silence” answer
One of the moments that attracted attention during the competition was the question about “the sound of silence.”
It was an unusual question, and Kaziah’s response focused on the quiet moment before she steps onto a stage.
That answer stood out because it wasn’t simply about winning or looking confident.
She connected silence with the feeling she experiences before performing — a brief period when everything becomes quiet before she walks onto the stage.
NDTV reported on the answer after the finale, and videos of the moment were shared widely online.
It also gave viewers a small glimpse into how she thinks about performing.
For someone who has spent years dancing, acting and competing, those few seconds before entering a stage can probably feel very different from the noise that follows once the performance begins.
Her law studies are another important part of her story
It is easy for education to disappear from the conversation when someone becomes a pageant winner.
In Kaziah’s case, it is worth mentioning because she is currently studying law in Bengaluru while building her modelling and pageant career.
Law and pageantry may seem like completely separate interests, but both can involve communication, confidence and the ability to present an argument or idea clearly.
For now, Kaziah is balancing both.
Whether she eventually works in law, entertainment, modelling or another field is something only time will tell.
At 19, there is no reason for her to have everything decided already.
Why her Kerala connection matters
Kaziah’s win has naturally attracted attention in Kerala.
She comes from Mavelikkara, and reports have described her as the first Keralite to win Miss Universe India.
Her background also reflects something increasingly common among young Indians today.
She has Kerala roots, grew up in the UAE and is now studying in another Indian city.
Her life has crossed different cultures and environments without losing her connection with where she comes from.
That combination is one reason her story has attracted interest beyond traditional pageant coverage.
What happens next?
Kaziah’s next major assignment is already known.
She will represent India at the 75th Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico in November 2026.
That competition will bring together representatives from countries around the world.
It will also be a different kind of experience from the competitions she has already entered.
She has competed internationally before, but Miss Universe is a much larger platform.
There will be more attention, more interviews and a much bigger audience watching.
For Kaziah, preparation will now become just as important as the moment of winning the Indian crown.
A young woman with several interests
Perhaps the simplest way to describe Kaziah Liz Mejo is not as “just a beauty queen.”
She is a young law student who happens to have built considerable experience in pageantry.
She is also a trained classical dancer, singer, musician, actor, model, and public speaker.
Some of those interests may remain important throughout her career. Others may eventually take a back seat.
That is perfectly normal.
At 19, a person can have several interests without knowing exactly which one will become the main career later.
What makes Kaziah’s story interesting is that she has already tried many of them.
More than the crown
A pageant crown is easy to photograph.
The years behind it are harder to see.
In Kaziah’s case, those years include growing up in Abu Dhabi, learning classical dance, dealing with teenage insecurities, studying law, trying acting, developing her public-speaking skills and entering pageants at a young age.
The Miss Universe India 2026 title is the biggest result of that work so far.
But it is also important not to turn her story into a perfect success story where everything happened smoothly.
Kaziah herself has spoken about insecurity and the pressure of appearance. That makes her experience more relatable to young people who may also struggle with confidence.
You don’t necessarily become confident first and then start doing things.
Sometimes, you start doing things while still feeling nervous, and confidence develops along the way.
That may be one of the most useful things to take from Kaziah’s story.
From Mavelikkara to the Miss Universe stage
Kaziah Liz Mejo’s life has already taken her through several different places and experiences.
She has Kerala roots, spent her childhood in Abu Dhabi, pursued higher education in Bengaluru and built her pageant career through competitions in India and abroad.
Now she has another opportunity ahead of her.
In November, she will wear the Indian sash at the Miss Universe 2026 competition in Puerto Rico.
Whatever happens there, her national title has already given her a place in India’s pageant history.
And for anyone discovering her story for the first time, there is something worth remembering: behind the Miss Universe India crown is not just a 19-year-old model.
There is a law student, a dancer, a performer, and a young woman who has openly talked about learning to feel comfortable with herself.
That is what makes Kaziah Liz Mejo’s story worth following beyond the pageant stage as Miss Universe India 2026.
