Sumaya El-Zaher
After many headlines about Muslim women making it into a beauty contest in America and great Brittain, New Zealand is next to follow. The Malaysian-born Nurul Zuriantie Shamsul participated in this year’s beauty pageant wearing her hijab and ending in the top 5.
Who is Nurul Zuriantie Shamsul?
Nurul Zuriantie Shamsul is a 21-years-old psychology student born in Ampang, Selangor. Her father is Malaysian and her mother Indonesian. She was five years old when they moved to New Zealand. In her spare time she writes poetry and shares her story on her blog “The Girl In The Wine Red Scarf”. She also started her own YouTube channel just after her appearance in the beauty contest.
Miss Universe New Zealand
Nurul Zuriantie Shamsul announced her participation in the Miss universe New Zealand contest on Instagram. She expressed how she wants to “break boundaries and stereotypes” as the first hijab-wearing contestant in New Zealand.
She talked about the feelings she had before and after the announcement and how her participation could be good for her and her religion.
It didn’t take long before she was trending on Twitter and many articles started to be published about her. However, this also meant that she received feedback from people. Although there were many positive messages from her surrounding, as well as from her parents, she also received negative comments. In another post on Instagram she said: “I do read all of them,” and continued “but the thing is I know my own self worth and I know my intentions as to why I am doing Miss Universe. So those comments doesn’t get to me at all.”
The grand finals took place on the 4thof August, where she ended at 5th place. For her it’s an experience she will “never forget”.