She stayed there until she was two-and-a-half years old, when her parents brought her back to the United States, returning to India each summer in order to study Indian dance.

[15] As a child, Davuluri studied ballet, tap, and jazz dance, and was later in the St. Joseph High School, where she participated in the marching band, played varsity tennis, and was on the Science Olympiad team.

[23][24] As she was too young to enter local pageants, Davuluri became involved with Miss America's Teen division in Michigan, where she also learned that she could earn scholarship money for college.

"[30] During the final moments of the pageant, one of the hosts, Lara Spencer, approached the only contestants left on the stage, Davuluri and Miss California Crystal Lee and asked them how they were "feeling."

'[23] The biggest thing I realized is that many of these remarks aren't necessarily meant to be malicious but are simply a factor of ignorance ... understanding everyone's beliefs and backgrounds and finding that common ground so we can all communicate in an open, honest and respectful manner ... is something I've essentially been promoting my entire life.

[44] Shortly after she was crowned Miss America 2014, Davuluri became the target of xenophobic and racist commentary in American social media.

[35][36] Congresswoman Grace Meng additionally linked Davuluri's experience to the antisemitism that Jewish American Bess Myerson faced as Miss America 1945.

[47][48] Many of the comments demanded to know why Davuluri was chosen over the soldier, Miss Kansas Theresa Vail, misidentified her as Muslim or Arab (equating both terms to the word "terrorist"), or associated her with groups such as Al-Qaeda.

[52][53] Davuluri later said that she was prepared for the social-media response because she faced a similar situation a few months earlier when she was crowned Miss New York.

Students at Duke University, and with Yale University's Asian American Cultural Center and the South Asian Society, created videos and ran photo campaigns denouncing the social media attacks, while Miss Kansas Theresa Vail blogged and gave interviews to discredit the comments about both herself and Davuluri.

[56][57][58][59] Actor and civil-rights activist George Takei (the original Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek) posted a comment on Facebook stating that while he normally doesn't "care about Miss America ... the uproar over an Indian-American winning (whom many decried for being 'Arab') has me shaking my head.

The editorial suggested that rather than hold a pageant title in India, "the dark complexioned 24-year-old [Davuluri] would not have stood a chance ... had she been in India, far from entering a beauty contest, it is more likely that Ms Davuluri would have grown up hearing mostly disparaging remarks about the colour of her skin; she would have been — going by the storyline of most "fairness" cream advertisements — a person with low self-esteem and few friends.

[71][72] During her year as Miss America, Davuluri promoted her platform "Celebrating Diversity Through Cultural Competency" and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education to high-school and college students.

[74][75][76] Describing it as "Circles of Unity", she encouraged students to view social media as a tool to spread cultural awareness and combat ignorance.

[75][77] During Davuluri's visit to Central York High School in Pennsylvania, 18-year-old Patrick Farves was suspended for inviting her to his 2014 prom during a question-and-answer session.

In addition to being all-around well spoken, graceful and sassy, she thoughtfully explained her platform of cultural competence and stressed that patiently answering people's questions is one of the strongest ways to combat ignorance ...

Since completing her year as Miss America in September 2014, Davuluri has worked as a public speaker and advocate for diversity, gender equality, and the promotion of STEM education.

In September 2014, she shared the stage with PBS' NewsHour Weekend anchor Hari Sreenivasan as hosts for a Madison Square Garden talk by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

[87][88] About a year later, Davuluri traveled to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Vijayawada as part of an official March 2016 tour for the U.S. State Department to discuss women's education.