Story of model Nureen Chowdhury

Meet our featured beauty with brains Nureen Chowdhury, a model based in Melbourne, Australia. Here is her story.

“I was 19 years old when I got married. Mine was a love marriage and my husband had to go back to his home town in Bangladesh, and being his wife, I went along, which meant I had to leave my family, who weren’t fond of our relationship, as well as stop my undergraduate degree just before my first year mid exams.

I gave up many of my passions, such as singing lessons as an advanced level singer with David Jaanz himself from Jaanz School of Singing in Oakleigh, fulfilling my dreams of being a singer, and my education, all to settle down.

I stayed in Bangladesh for 1.5 years. It was a rocky start already and we weren’t getting along. I wasn’t used to the mosquitoes, the pollution and the regular heavy traffic jams on the roads.

After coming back to Australia I learnt that as I didn’t defer my studies I had lost my university place, and at this stage I decided to go to TAFE (Tertiary education institution) to do my Diploma in Information Technology at Kangan Batman TAFE, Broadmeadows. However 1.5 years into my 2 year Diploma course, I fell pregnant and had my eldest daughter who was born at 28 weeks gestation due to having preeclampsia.

Almost a year after my daughter’s birth, I went back to TAFE and then applied for credit transfers to go to Victoria University and started studying Bachelor in Computer Science, however as I didn’t like a particular Maths module, I transferred after 1 year and did Engineering, and then a further 6 months later didn’t like that and quit.

It wasn’t until a very rocky decade of my marriage, and suffering from severe depression that I applied for divorce. I reflected on myself and analyzed where I was heading. It was tough, because although I had my parents and brothers in Australia, they all worked and couldn’t be around to help a single mother of two, most of the time.

I learnt at this stage that no one can help you unless you help yourself, and that I must pull myself together for my children. So I got a permanent job, lost 40 kgs, applied for my probationary license, which was a big deal for me, because one, I thought since I am married my husband will drive me everywhere so was sitting on my learner’s license for almost 8 years, and two I was scared of trucks, but now I finally, after 5 lessons, got my P license.

Then while working at the ATO I had a few women saying to me that I made excuses to not complete my degree. I lost a lot of my confidence due to my husband constantly putting me down and these women as well. So I decided to complete my Certificate 4 in Fitness which included two evening classes after work between 6:30 – 8:30 PM and two practical and two written tests, and successfully completed my Master Trainer course and got my certificate after 6 months with an International license to train as a Personal Trainer.

I was not satisfied with my accomplishment and as such accepted my half scholarship from Flight Centre, learning to use their booking system, and did 2 days of full time classes. As a result, at this stage, I now completed the course in 3 months and was given a certificate 2 in Tourism by Franklyn Scholar, from the flight Centre Academy.

At this point in my life my ex-husband had already begged to come back into our lives for the last 3 years, and so we remarried, and our relationship was now somewhat better. The main thing that made me happy was that my children were quite happy to have their Dad around.

After two years I still didn’t feel I accomplished anything. So while working at HESTA I applied through my employer for flexible hours and decided to go back to University and as such was given offer letters from both Victoria University and Melbourne Institute of Technology. I chose MIT as it was easier to travel to after work, as its also in the city. So I was working 28 hours and doing 3 units of studies, all while cooking and cleaning daily, helping the kids with their homework, looking after the finance, doing my assignments, studying for tests and exercising daily. It was very challenging and draining and many times I thought of quitting, but kept telling myself ‘It’s not too long to go, you can do this, don’t give up’.

After 1.5 years, I received my Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology specializing in Networking from MIT. However I thought my IT skills would not be useful as the Industry required further certifications for better job opportunities, I continued my studies and went on to do my Postgraduate degree. I then successfully completed my Master’s Degree in business Administration from the Australian Institute of Business (AIB), specializing in Finance in November 2017.

At this point I was at ANZ, and leaving for a new job, and on my last day my Manager and I were talking, and I suggested he go to see the beautiful former Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen at the MMG 2017 Beauty pageant, the bonus being there will also be beautiful contestants, jokingly. He looked at me seriously at one point and said ‘You should enter as a contestant’. I laughed and said ‘I am not that tall, not that sexy and probably won’t even make it’.

During my studies I had gained 12 kgs, so upon registering under the Mrs category and being selected as a contestant for MMG 2017, within the first 4 weeks of the 6 weeks of practice I had already lost 10 kgs, due to exercising for 2.5 hrs after work and cooking and cleaning. Then on November of 2017 while I was on my last unit of my Master’s degree which included a huge project, I was awarded the Ms Charming title. Since then I was interviewed by Sabrang TV regarding my experience, did a Promo video for the All white Party and Punvec Kabaddi World Cup 2018, participated as a model in the All White Party, and now have three photoshoots (Thanks to God) all lined up.

I finally achieved more than I thought or even asked for in only 4 years. I now felt confident about myself and felt more stronger mentally to cope with any difficulties that came my way. If someone told me 5 years ago that I would or could do all this, I would have laughed and said ‘No way its too hard’.

My life experiences have taught me many things, one to be grateful for what you have, two to love yourself, three to only depend on yourself, and lastly that you can accomplish and fulfil your dreams at any age. Just as they say “You are as old as you feel, not look”, the same applies to life, you are as capable or as incapable as you think you are.”