Priya Madaan was just another university student from Windsor. However, everything changed when the 18-year-old was crowned Miss Canada 2014 on Saturday March 1.

Still can't believe I'm Miss Canada 2014!! pic.twitter.com/4OnIZcFgMs

— Miss Canada 2014 (@primadaana) March 2, 2014

According to her Facebook page, Ms Madaan is a Nursing student from Ontario. She happens to be a high achiever in academics. At the same time, she is actively involved as a volunteer in the Heart and Stroke Foundation as well as the Canadian World Education Foundation.

Her origin goes back to Punjab, a northern state in India. She is also a member of the South Asian student organisation, the Punjabi Students Association.

Ms Madaan's achievement came as surprise to her. She said that she was shocked to know that she had been chosen as Miss Canada 2014. She was chosen among 19 finalists who came from all over the country. She called it a "proud accomplishment" to win the crown as the primary criterion to choose one is one's personality.

The popular misconception is that beauty pageants are chosen only for their looks. The jury, on the other hand, is more interested in someone who has the potential to become a role model for her charisma, intelligence and passion for a cause, she claimed.

Ms Madaan is one more example of a person from Indian origin to gain major success in a foreign country. The obvious example, in comparison to Ms Madaan, is Nina Davuluri who earlier became Miss U.S.A.

Ms Davuluri's achievement drew several racist comments as well as strong appreciation. She is also quite an achiever in studies as she aspires to attend medical school and be a physician.

Another recent example of someone from Indian origin to claim the zenith of success in the West is Satya Nadella who recently became the new CEO of Microsoft. Mr Nadella was preferred over long time company executive Tony Bates. Bill Gates called him the future of the company.