A Model Accomplishment

Pick up the newest issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, leaf through the pages, and Sonia S. Dara ’12 will be staring back: sun-tanned, slim, and smiling, with the caption beside her reading, “My Harvard classmates will FLIP when they see this—especially the nerds.”

For this year’s Swimsuit Edition, Sports Illustrated flew their 20 models to different locations arounnd the world for photoshoots—Turkey, the Maldives, Chile. Dara traveled to Rajasthan, the northern state of India where her ancestors lived, and posed in the summer heat of September.

“The photoshoot was incredible,” Sonia recalled on a phone interview from New York, where she is taking a year off to help launch and promote the issue. “I wore roughly 15 different swimsuits out of a rack of 700-plus. I was really nervous, but the Sports Illustrated team made me feel very comfortable and never forced me to wear a swimsuit I felt uneasy about.”

The photos are only the latest in a modeling career that began years before Dara came to college.

“My interest really began when I was 14 years old and realized I was terrible at basketball, volleyball, and every other tall-person sport,” said the Economics concentrator, who stands at 5 feet 11 inches.

Though now touting a resume that also includes work with Vogue India and Neiman Marcus, Dara tries to stay down-to-earth. “She would describe herself as awkward, though. She doesn’t take herself too seriously,” said Santiago Daniño-Beck ’09, Dara’s boyfriend.

Sonia’s usual style isn’t exactly sweat pants, hair tied back, chillin’ with no make up on, but she does proclaim her love for low-maintenance shoes (“I’m a big, big fan of flats”). Her personal style changes depending on the specific day of the week. “For that 10 a.m. Stat 100 class last semester, I would sport a hoodie, jeans, and glasses pretty much every morning,” she said. “But other than those instances, I would like to say my style is sophisticated and put-together, but with a bit of edge.”

So where is this unconventional Harvardian headed? “I’m hoping that with an Economics degree from Harvard, I will be able to find a career that will allow me to combine elements from fashion with business,” she said. But no matter what she does, she can be assured that she’s got her people. “In the end, it is her passion, and she is fulfilling her dream,” said her mother Poornima Dara. “We are part of it, and we are 100 percent behind her.”