V. cool human Varsha is from Liverpool in Sydney’s West, and still lives there today. Her upbringing was not without its fair share of challenging events, but she’s a glass half full kind of gal, so credits it with giving her perseverance, a grounded worldview, and more openness, understanding and patience with herself and everyone else. Absolute earth angel.
If you were in her neighbourhood for the first time, she’d take you to one of the many amazing food spots in Cabramatta (“to die for”), then, once all your gastronomic dreams became a reality, for a nice walk or bike ride through a lush park to work it off. “Being in nature makes me remember what’s really important, and I feel like it has a therapeutic energy,” she explains. “I think there's more greenery where I live—I'm always shocked with the small spaces in schools and houses in the city!”
Varsha was scouted in Paris while waiting in line for Louis Vuitton with her brother, in what has got to be one the kewlest scouting stories of all time. “My eldest brother bought cakes and was trying to entice me out of the line,” she recalls, laughing. “But luckily it didn’t work. The agency who scouted me gave me a few Sydney agencies I could choose from, and I thought Chadwick seemed pretty cool, so I decided to walk in... And that's how it all begun.”
The best part of her job is all the people she’s met, including some of her besties and all the other lovely people she otherwise wouldn’t have come into contact with. For her, the hardest part of modelling is accepting failure. “Sometimes it feels really personal when you don't get a job,” she admits. “But I just have to remind myself that everyone looks for something different and you can't take things personally. I think I get things for a reason, and if I don't, then that's for a reason, too.”
On that note, she believes that as she’s gotten older, she’s started to embrace her spiritual side more. When a lot of things went wrong back in the day, she found it easy to “suppress spirituality”, but she now thinks it helps her to deal with all the situations she’s hurled into, and, in believing things happen for a reason, she says she’s been given a “sense of closure in this huge world.”
The best piece of advice she’s received is: “Life doesn't have to be so complicated. Don't take yourself too seriously, just go easy on everyone else and yourself and remember why you're here.” She used to be super anxious and had a tendency to overthink everything but has now realised that sometimes it’s just easier to do your thang and let life take its course. Amen.
If she could only eat one meal for the rest of her life, she reckons the smart answer would be salad because “you can pimp your salad however you want,” but the heart wants what the heart wants, and in her case that’s dessert. The first thing she used to do when she woke up was go for a run with her mum at 6am, but that has slowly morphed into her waking up later and running to eat food (“lol”). The coolest thing she’s learned recently is that Russia had an entire monarchy: “What happened to them was really unfortunate, but royal history is always good.”
To unwind, she dances in her room, watches cartoons, cooks (and eats) food and plays the clarinet. When asked if she’s more of an AM or PM kinda gal, she says she’s “more of a morning person, but I work better at night—does that even make sense?” We think so. She’s most looking forward to finishing her HSC in 2019 so she can take a well-deserved break from the schooling system.
She’s currently reading ‘To The Lighthouse’ by Virginia Woolf, her most reliable song is ‘Get You’ by Daniel Caesar because “his voice is legitimately like butter” and her favourite move is Tangled (“whenever the boat scene starts playing and 'I See The Light' comes on, I shut everyone up because it is just so damn beautiful”).
In the next 10 years, she hopes there will be less discrimination and a “scape goat attitude” in society. “I feel as if one group is always brought down at the expense of everyone else,” she says. “But it's 2019, life isn't as simple as one race is bad.” She believes that connection is so important in life—to know you aren’t alone and that someone cares about you and loves your company. “I think it’s crucial for anyone to have on good friend,” she says. “Whether that be a work friend, sibling or pet.” Oh, my <3.
‘Cool’ to her is “being unapologetically yourself—it’s something you have to look inwards for, rather than outwards.”
Words: Maddy Woon Photos: Daphne Nguyen Fashion: Suzannah Snow
Varsha is represented by Chadwick AUSTRALIA
Shot on location at Tamarama beach, Sydney
