Laksmi Shari De-Neefe Suardana ( ban, ᬮᬓ᭄ᬱ᭄ᬫᬶᬰᬭᬶᬤᬾᬦᬾᬏᬧ᬴ᬾᬲᬸᬯᬃᬤᬦ), simply known as Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana, is an Indonesian fashion designer, author,

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

activist, 2022 G20 Ambassador, co-founder of

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) is an annual 4-day literary festival held every October in Ubud on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Established in 2004, it is considered Southeast Asia’s biggest and most meaningful literary Festival. It ...

, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Puteri Indonesia 2022. Suardana is the first representative from

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

to be crowned

Puteri Indonesia Puteri Indonesia ( jv, (Hanacaraka) ꦦꦸꦠꦺꦫꦶꦆꦤ꧀ꦢꦺꦴꦤꦺꦱ; 'Princess of Indonesia') is a national beauty pageant in Indonesia that selects the winners to represent the country in two of the Big Four major intern ...

. She represented Indonesia at

Miss Universe 2022 Miss Universe 2022 will be the 71st Miss Universe pageant, to be held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States on January 14, 2023. Harnaaz Sandhu of India will crown her successor at the end of the e ...

Early life and education

Laksmi Shari De-Neefe Suardana was born on 29 January 1996 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, to an Australian mother, Janet De-Neefe, and a Balinese father, Ketut Suardana. She was raised in

Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...

, a village located in

Gianyar Regency Gianyar Regency is a List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, regency (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province and island of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 368.0 km2 and had a population of 469,777 at the 2010 Census, and 515,344 at t ...

, Bali, Indonesia. She has three siblings. She is also the granddaughter of Australian business tycoon, John De-Neefe. Her name was inspired from

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

goddess known for her power to turn dreams into reality. Suardana speaks

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

, Balinese, English, Italian, Spanish and French. She learnt Italian while studying and working as a fashion designer in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy. Laksmi received a diploma of arts from

Monash College Monash College is located in Docklands, Australia and specializes in transition education. Monash College is owned by Monash University, one of Australia's largest international universities. Monash College provides a range of programs and serv ...

in 2013. She then completed her

double degree A double degree program, sometimes called a dual degree, combined degree, conjoint degree, joint degree or double graduation program, involves a student's working for two university degrees in parallel—either at the same institution or at diffe ...

program,

bachelor of design A Bachelor of Design (B.Des. or B.Design) degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree in the field of design awarded for a course or major that generally lasts three or four years. It is the undergraduate equivalent of the Master of Design, ...

in fashion design from

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

in Australia and

bachelor of business A Bachelor of Business (BBus, BBus (Major)) is a three to four year undergraduate degree in the field of business offered by traditional and newer universities from the post-Dawkins era in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is similar in format ...

in fashion from

Polimoda Ente per le Arti applicate alla Moda e al Costume abbreviated as Polimoda is a private fashion school in Florence, capital of Tuscany, Italy. The school was originally founded by Shirley Goodman, the former Executive Vice President Emeritus at F ...

, a private fashion school in Italy. She graduated with summa cum-laude.

Career

In 2018, Laksmi took part as an activist and contributor for

Voices of Youth Voices of Youth is an organization set up by UNICEF to help children from across the world exchange knowledge and ideas. Voices of Youth was founded in 1995, as a way to relay messages from children in 81 countries to world leaders at the World Summ ...

. She now actively promotes literacy and literature engagement in the society as her advocacy, knowing that the interest in writing and reading books in Indonesia is still low. Beside that, she also volunteers to teach English for a non-governmental organization in Bali. On 31 May 2022, Suardana together with her fellow Puteri Indonesia 2022 winners,

Cindy May McGuire Cindy May McGuire ( , su, ᮎᮤᮔ᮪ᮓ᮪ᮚ᮪ ᮙᮃᮚ᮪ ᮙ᮪ᮎ᮪ᮌᮥᮄᮛᮨ; born June 27, 1996) is an Indonesian medical doctor, actress, beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Puteri Indonesia Lingkungan 2022. She was als ...

and

Adinda Cresheilla Adinda Cresheilla (born 29 January 1998) is an Indonesian model, actress, 2022 G20 Ambassador, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Puteri Indonesia Pariwisata 2022. She is the first representative from East Java to be crowned Put ...

, were appointed as the 2022 G20 Ambassadors by the President of the Republic of Indonesia,

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

, at the Merdeka Palace, as part of the Indonesian presidency at the upcoming 17th meeting of the

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...

in Bali, where the ambassadors also accompanied by Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy,

Sandiaga Uno Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno (born 28 June 1969) is an Indonesian businessman, investor and politician who is the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, and was the Deputy Governor of Jakarta. He was elected along with Anies Baswedan in the 20 ...

Copyright_%C2%A9_Ubud_Writers_%26_Readers_Festival_2021_6

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival was first conceived by Suardana, together with her parents Janet DeNeefe and Ketut Suardana as a healing project in response to the first 2002 Bali bombings. It has to grown from a very small festival to the largest literary festival in Southeast Asia. In 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Suardana created the Ubud Writers & Readers Fest IG Live Book Club.

Pageantry

Puteri Bali 2022

In January 2022, she competed for the title of Puteri Bali 2022 through an open audition in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, ended up winning the title.

Puteri Indonesia 2022

As the winner of Puteri Bali 2022, Suardana represented Bali at Puteri Indonesia 2022 held at the

Jakarta Convention Center Jakarta Convention Center or JCC ( id, Balai Sidang Jakarta) is a convention center located in Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of earliest as well as popular convention center in Jakarta. Since its inauguration in ...

, Jakarta, Indonesia, on 27 May 2022. Originally, she wore the sash of Bali 1 since there was another candidate from Bali, Jazmine Callista Seymour Rowe, who was publicly voted as one of the official candidates. However, she changed her sash into Bali before the pre-quarantine since Jazmine decided to withdraw for unknown reason. During the finale, Suardana was asked by Putri Kuswisnuwardhani whether she has any experiences that she would like to change. She answered: At the end of the coronation night, Suardana successfully defeated other 43 delegates from across Indonesia, being the first Balinese to win

. She was crowned as Puteri Indonesia 2022 by the outgoing titleholder, Raden Roro Ayu Maulida Putri of

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

. Suardana was crowned along with her fellow

queens,

and

Miss Universe 2022

As the winner of Puteri Indonesia 2022, Suardana represented Indonesia at the 71st edition of the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

competition, but was unplaced.

Filmography

Together with her older sister, Dewi De-Neefe, Suardana started her acting career as an extra in the film of

Elizabeth Gilbert Elizabeth Gilbert (born July 18, 1969) is an American journalist and author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir, ''Eat, Pray, Love'', which has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. The book was also mad ...

's book entitled

Eat Pray Love ''Eat Pray Love'' is a 2010 American biographical romantic drama film starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, based on Gilbert's 2006 memoir of the same name. Ryan Murphy co-wrote and directed the film, which was released in the United St ...

in 2010 by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

and

Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO o ...

Gallery

File:Laksmi Shari De-Neefe Suardana as G20 Ambassador 03.jpg, Suardana speaks as the 2022 G20 Ambassador at the Merdeka Palace,

on 30 May 2022. File:Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2022 6.jpg, Suardana (right) at the 2022

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) is an annual 4-day literary festival held every October in Ubud on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Established in 2004, it is considered Southeast Asia’s biggest and most meaningful Literary festival, li ...

opening ceremony. File:Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana at Jember Fashion Carnaval 2022.jpg, Suardana parades in a

Wayang Golek ''Wayang golek'' ( Sundanese: ) is one of the traditional Sundanese puppet arts from West Java, Indonesia. in contrast to the wayang art on other area of Java island that use leather in the production of wayang, wayang golek is a wayang art m ...

themed costume during the Jember Fashion Carnaval 2022 in

, Indonesia File:Miss Universe 2021 and Puteri Indonesia 2022 winners meet with Joko Widodo at the Merdeka Palace.jpg, Suardana (crowned left) together with Puteri Indonesia 2022 Queens and

Miss Universe 2021 Miss Universe 2021 was the 70th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Universe Dome in Eilat, Israel on December 13, 2021. At the end of the event, Andrea Meza of Mexico crowned Harnaaz Sandhu of India as Miss Universe 2021. It is India's firs ...

Harnaaz Sandhu Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (born 3 March 2000) is an Indian model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2021. Sandhu had been previously crowned Miss Diva Universe 2021, and is the third entrant from India to win Miss ...

of India; meeting with President of The Republic of Indonesia,

in Merdeka Palace,

on 30 May 2022.

References

External links

Official Puteri Indonesia Official Website

Official Miss Universe Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suardana, Laksmi Shari De-Neefe Living people 1996 births Miss Universe Indonesia winners Puteri Indonesia winners Miss Universe 2022 contestants Indonesian child activists Education activists Open access activists Indonesian human rights activists Indonesian beauty pageant winners Indonesian film actresses Indonesian television actresses Indonesian female models Indonesian women activists RMIT University alumni Monash University alumni People from Bali Balinese people Indo people Indonesian people of Australian descent Australian people of Indonesian descent