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NYU Tandon congratulates alum Bhavitha Mandava for being named on Forbes list
When she was first spotted in the NY subway by a modelling scout in the summer of 2024, Mandava was a student at NYU Tandon School of Engineering
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Ishani Duttagupta - Sun, 19, Jul 2026
- 01:30 EDT
- 119
Bhavitha Mandava / Facebook/Forbes
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering recently celebrated its alumna, Bhavitha Mandava, on social media for her inclusion in the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
Mandava’s rapid rise in the fashion world includes making history last December as the first Indian model to open Chanel's Métiers d'Art collection, serving as the muse for celebrated French artistic director Matthieu Blazy. In March, she was appointed a Chanel house ambassador and featured solo on the cover of British Vogue.
Also Read: Chanel makes NYU grad Bhavitha Mandava house ambassador
Most recently, she made her Met Gala debut in May, wearing a haute couture Chanel version of the casual sweater-and-jeans outfit she wore when she was first discovered.
When she was first spotted in the NY subway by a modeling scout in the summer of 2024, Mandava was a student at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, where she was pursuing a master’s degree in Integrated design and media. She graduated last year. She agreed to take up the modelling assignment to pay off her student debt but within two weeks found herself in Milan with Blazy.
Mandava hails from a middle-class family and went to the US for her masters after a bachelors’ degree in architecture in India. To manage her living expenses, she took a position as a design lab coordinator at the Design Lab in NYU's MakerSpace.
After being named on the Forbes list, Mandava said that she’s aware that her success is seen as a defining moment for South Asian women on the global fashion stage. “I think about brown girls who might feel...that something has shifted in what they believe is possible for them. I know that feeling, because I've been that girl too,” she said in the interview to Forbes.
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