Former Miss Teen Nepal and UNA student Priyanka Karki
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> Imagine yourself in a foreign
country, attending college in a small town. You walk into class and
see Lady Gaga sitting on the front row as a student. That’s pretty
much how international students from Nepal felt when they walked in
the GUC or sat down in a UNA classroom to see Priyanka
Karki.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> The beautiful, tall, dark-haired,
caramel-complexioned senior, Priyanka Karki, came to UNA in the
fall of 2007.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “When I was 18 I tried out for
Miss Teen Nepal, never expecting to win,” said Karki. “The
competition took place during a short holiday from school, so I
figured I’d try it out and meet some people.”
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> Karki, who described her childhood
as normal and financially comfortable, said she was shocked when
she was crowned Miss Teen Nepal.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “The next day I was all over the
newspapers, the TV, and people were calling me to do more
interviews and even offered me movies,” Karki said.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> Within months she had used her
platform to pursue a dream she never knew she had. After originally
deciding to become a bio technician and major in science, it all
changed instantly.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> Karki became a TV host, starred in
commercials for Sunsilk, Close-up Toothpaste, Wei Wei Noodles, and
a variety of banks, and was featured in more than 40 music videos,
awareness documentaries, and even starred as the lead character,
Tina, in the TV show “Gharbeti Ba,” a successful show from Nepal
comparable to “Three’s Company.” The television stint lasted 52
episodes.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “And I just wasn’t focused on
school anymore,” Karki recalled. “I was skipping to go do a
commercial, or go do some other gig. Eventually I knew I had to
make a change.”
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> After a couple years of being in
the spotlight, Karki was sick of it. She said some tabloids were
hurtful and her privacy was completely taken from her.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “I didn’t tell the press I was
moving. I didn’t tell anyone but my family,” she said.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> She had a family friend who was
living in Florence, and that’s the only reason, she said, she
decided upon UNA. So she left Katmandu, Nepal to come to the United
States to focus on obtaining her degree in Film and Media
Production, with a minor in theater. Karki graduates this May, and
hopes to attend New York Film Academy for her masters.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “I had my freedom back. I realized
how much of a private life I missed,” she said.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> But living in a country where
everyone knows your name has its perks. She said she was catered to
and people wanted to be her. But here, she was just another student
at UNA. She admits her life in Alabama is a humbling
experience.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “I waited tables here,” she said.
“I would’ve never ever had to do something like that back at
home.”
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> Karki was married this past summer
to former UNA student Rochak Mainali. And like her choice to move
to UNA, she kept it all a secret. She said Mainali, who was also
from Nepal, was different from other guys who only went out with
her because of her fame.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “He knew I was famous. He knew who
I was, but he never treated me any differently,” she said. “That
was the first thing that attracted to me to him.”
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> And now with graduation embarking
on her, Karki said her time in North Alabama will never be
forgotten.
<span style=
“font-size: 14pt;”> “I came here and I found myself
again,” she said. “I remembered who I was and how important school
was to me, and I did everything I set out to do. I’m proud of what
I’ve accomplished.”