Omaha native Faron Medhi crowned Miss Teen USA 2022

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - An Omaha teen recently took home the crown for Miss Teen USA.

Faron Medhi, 18, says she still can’t believe it, and her reaction to winning says it all.

“They called Idaho and I thought she won, so I was excited for her! Then I was like hold on, that’s me?! I won? It’s honestly so crazy; definitely has not sunken in yet,” Faron said.

Faron is now proudly wearing the Miss Teen USA crown, and there’s no other state she would rather represent.

“Omaha is like my favorite place on earth. I tell everyone that I meet and they’re like ‘seriously you like Nebraska?’ and I’m like ‘yes I love Nebraska!’ It’s just home to me. You can run into anyone in Omaha and they’ll always be super nice to you.”

The Millard North grad first started pageants when she was 9-years-old.

“My mom just put me into National American Miss in Nebraska for fun. She was like ‘oh this will be really fun for you, let’s just throw you in really quick,’ and I was like ‘okay I’ll do it!’, and I literally fell in love with being on stage.”

During high school, she took home the Miss Teen Nebraska title. That’s also when she was wrote a children’s book called I Am ABCs. It focuses on affirmation.

“I just struggled with confidence in middle school a lot. Growing up it was hard for me to feel confident in myself. I feel like if we invest those values into our youth while they’re young and give them tools and resources to be confident, maybe they’ll remember ‘oh I learned those affirmations when I was a little girl or little boy and now I can use it in my day to day life,” says Faron.

As far as preparing for pageants, Faron says it’s all about practice.

“What I would do on my own is I would record on the voice memos app on my phone, I would just record myself asking questions. Every single time I got in the car I played my voice memos, I would be driving and answer my questions. For gown, I just walked so much in my heels.”

Not only is she the first Teen USA winner from Nebraska, she’s also the first Indian-American to win the title.

“Growing up I didn’t see a lot people who looked like me, it just reflected in the media or holding titles and whatnot. I just hope that little girls can look at me and find themselves in me.”

With this new title, she’s focused on making an impact on kids and teens when it comes to social media.

“A lot of people go on social media and they feel really insecure about themselves and everyone is posting the best part of their lives and not anything else. As Miss Teen Nebraska I was able to post more genuine things, but I just want to continue to further that make sure that when people go on my social media page and know she’s a real girl I can relate to her I can achieve my dreams if I work really hard for something.”

The college freshman is now back at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. She came into college with 18 credits and is currently taking sophomore-level classes.

She’s studying biology with an emphasis in pre-med, hoping to one day become a pediatrician.

Faron says her goal is to compete for Miss USA someday, of course representing Nebraska.

Her book is in the middle of publishing. Faron says she’ll post on her social media when it will be available.

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