What a girl can be

A recent ad featuring city girl Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru, the world’s youngest mountaineer to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro, speaks volumes on breaking the stereotype ‘pretty’ for girls—‘let’s look beyond looks’, the message is clear

Looks are deceiving, we all know that. Like it or not, we are all guilty of judging a person only on their looks and stereotyping girls/women has been the norm for ages, especially when it comes to being pretty; more often than not the word is used in association with girls being physically weak.

Dabur Gulabari’s #AmPrettyTough campaign is an attempt to break this stereotype. And, who better to voice the message than the world’s youngest mountaineer, who is a girl, thank you very much!Holding the placard that reads, ‘Why should tough girls look tough?’ the 14-year old mountaineer from Hyderabad, Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru says, “Am pretty…”, takes a pause and adds, “Tough” in a note that will take tough women (and men) as high as the mountains she climbed.

The message is clear—a girl can be whatever she wants to be, regardless of her looks. Speaking to the CityTAB on the campaign, Jaahnavi says, “I did this advertisement for two reasons; first, it was all about my passion for mountaineering and second, breaking stereotypes and showing the world that a pretty girl can be tough, too.”

“Such commercials make me proud to have chosen this career and this spot is one of them. It also helps me reach out to a larger audience and tell the world what a girl can do and what a girl can be. I am really happy to see the positive response coming from all around the world,” she adds.

Talking about her experience while shooting for the ad, the 14-year-old says, “It was the first time I went and worked on sets. It was really fun as I was accompanied by my younger brother and my friend. This made me see how celebrities work; they put so much hardwork in shooting for movies, which is summed up in three hours.”

Next up for Jaahnavi is Mt. Everest, which she will be undertaking in April this year. “I believe that every girl should be a role model for herself, they should stand up for themselves to fulfill their dreams. It doesn’t matter what you chose in life, what matters is how self-satisfied you are after achieving your goal. We girls need to stand strong and show to the world that we are not weak and can achieve in any profession,” concludes the ‘tough’ teenager; an inspiration to all of us.

Good luck, Jaahnavi!