Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana

Laksmi Shari De-Neefe Suardana (Balinese: ᬮᬓ᭄ᬱ᭄ᬫᬶᬰᬭᬶᬤᬾᬦᬾᬏᬧ᬴ᬾᬲᬸᬯᬃᬤᬦ), simply known as Laksmi De-Neefe Suardana, is an Australian-born Indonesian fashion designer, author, UNICEF activist, 2022 G20 Ambassador, co-founder of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Puteri Indonesia 2022.

[10] She now actively promotes literacy and literature engagement in the society as her advocacy, knowing that the interest in writing and reading books in Indonesia is still low.

[5][11][12] On 31 May 2022, Suardana and her fellow Puteri Indonesia 2022 winners, Cindy May McGuire and Adinda Cresheilla, were appointed as the 2022 G20 Ambassadors[specify] by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, at the Merdeka Palace,[13][14] as part of the Indonesian presidency at the upcoming 17th meeting of the G20 in Bali,[15][16] where the ambassadors were also accompanied by Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno.

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival was first conceived by Suardana, together with her parents as a healing project in response to the first 2002 Bali bombings.

[19][20] In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Suardana created the Ubud Writers & Readers Fest IG Live Book Club.

[28][29] She was crowned as Puteri Indonesia 2022 by the outgoing titleholder, Raden Roro Ayu Maulida Putri of East Java.

[37] Together with her older sister, Dewi De-Neefe, Suardana started her acting career as an extra in the film of Elizabeth Gilbert's book entitled Eat Pray Love in 2010 by Columbia Pictures and Plan B Entertainment.

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival founders, Suardana (left), together with her mother Janet De-Neefe (center) and her sister Dewi De-Neefe (right) on 6 October 2018 in Besakih Temple - Bali .
Suardana (second from the right) together with Puteri Indonesia 2022 winners and Miss Universe 2021 , Harnaaz Sandhu , visiting Merdeka Palace on 31 May 2022.
Suardana (middle) being crowned as Puteri Indonesia 2022, together with Puan Maharani and Putri Kuswisnuwardhani .