Tall, petite and absolutely gorgeous, it came as no surprise to anyone when 21 year old Maria Al-Kansas bagged the title of Miss Seri Sri Lanka Online 2012. Although facing tough competition in the maiden virtual pageant which saw thousands applying from across the island, Maria charmed voters with her exotic beauty and charming personality.

Coming from a family with mixed heritage, her mother has Sri Lankan and Russian parentage, while her father is a syrian arab; has given her a unique blend of striking features that surely stood out from other contestants.

Born in Moscow, Maria came to Sri Lanka when she was a year old. Educated at the Buddhist Girls School in Mount Lavinia, she went on to earn her London A/levels at the British Council. She is fluent in Sinhala, Russian and English. 

An aspiring model, she says that although she always dreamed of modelling, she never knew how to kick start a career in it. It was only after completing her A/Levels that she took part time modelling jobs that helped increase her confidance in the field. She hoped to take part in a Miss Sri Lanka pageant to gain some exposure, but after hearing about this new virtual pageant, she decided to enter, as she understood that it would be unique from other pageants. 

Although she made it into the public voting round, Maria admits she was still not very confidant of her chances of winning because she couldn’t see the other contestants, since it was all done online, “It was only after the top 12 were chosen months later that I got to meet everyone. All the other contestants are very pretty and have good characters. I discovered how friendly everyone was and it became quite a challenge for me to be confidant, but I did try to remain positive throughout it all,” explained Maria.

Maria along with the other contestants, were put through the paces during the pageant, taking part in numerous workshops, media training, modeling and photo shoots. Although tiring, she gained plenty of helpful experience and in the end, Maria walked away with the crown, a cash prize of Rs1 million and an air ticket to France courtesy of SriLankan airline.

While talking to the young beauty, one of the first things I noticed about her, is her stunning modelesque figure. Curious to how she maintains her size, I asked her about fitness regime, imagining endless hours of working out; I was surprised to find out it’s all put down to a simple healthy diet that includes plently of fresh fruit and vegetables.

“I start my morning with a fruit juice and a vegetable salad, and have 6 to 7 small meals a day. I eat lots of fruit and veg, I love vegetables! I don’t eat much meat, maybe chicken once a week and I never eat after 6pm. I always drink plenty of water throughout the day,” said Maria. She also visits the gym thrice a week and counts swimming and cycling as har favourite ways of keeping fit.

While Maria will be working alongside Seri Naturals until her title ends, she says she would like to study for a degree in the future, “I would like to study fashion designing, When I have free time, I sit and sketch designs, especially evening wear. If I hadn’t made it this far in the pageant I think I would have focused on my fashion designing.”

She is also a budding naturalist, having completed a course in wildlife art at the Young Zoologists’ Association. “My dream was to study wild life photography, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have the proper camera equipment needed for that so I stuck to wild life art. I do hope to take up wildlife photography in the future though.”

Regardless of the career field she intends to follow in the future, Maria says she will definitely be continuing her modeling career alongside it; and say’s whatever happens, she hopes to continue living in Sri Lanka forever.

By Lake Argent

Pics by Kushan Pathiraja