As a model, Ivy League student, entrepreneur, and global ambassador for Operation Smile, it’s safe to say that Pritika Swarup is busy. “I only get involved in what I believe in and am deeply passionate about,” she explains. “I try not to spread myself too thin...[but] to be quite honest, I police myself to hold myself fully accountable to fulfill my commitments.” That’s meant scheduling time to study between modeling gigs, advocacy projects, and work as an investment analyst in New York, all while balancing a robust self-care routine she learned from her mother, whom she describes as a yogi and wellness guru.
It was in her daily meditation, stretching, exfoliation, and other Ayurvedic practices she learned from her parents—who immigrated to Virginia Beach from India before Swarup was born—that inspired the latest line on her growing CV: beauty brand founder. “I appreciated the power of South Asian beauty from a very young age,” she explains. “I always felt the absence of my culture in mainstream media and the beauty industry growing up, especially when I started working in fashion at the age of 17. It was then that I realized how much Indian beauty and holistic wellness were significantly underrepresented in the market.”
Balancing her upbringing with a focus on financial economics from Columbia University and a thriving modeling career—which includes campaigns for MAC, Clinique, and Fenty Beauty as well as appearances in Vogue, Elle, and L’Officiel—gave Swarup the drive necessary to take on what could be her most important project yet. “The ultimate goal is to pull the curtain back on modern India to reveal the holistic beauty and rituals of the East,” she says about Prakti, which is set to launch later this year. Rose Inc. caught up with Swarup to discuss her forthcoming line, how she manages her time across projects, and the beauty secrets she’s learned along the way.
