Sophiya Bhujel

Sophiya Bhujel (सोफिया भुजेल) (born 1 January 1996) is a Nepalese beauty pageant titleholder and model who was crowned as Miss Universe Nepal 2022 and represented Nepal at Miss Universe 2022.

Early life
Sophiya Bhujel was born in Kathmandu and has one sister. Sophiya completed her education up to Grade 6 at Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling, India. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Business Management in India.

Pageant career
On 9 May 2019, Bhujel entered the silver jubilee edition of Miss Nepal 2019 at age 23. She ended up placing as a Top 7 Finalist and the event was held at the Laboratory H.S. School premises in Kirtipur, Nepal. She was appointed to represent Nepal in Global Asian Model the same year. On 21 November 2019, Bhujel competed in the Global Asian Model 2019. She ended up placing as a Top 10 Finalist and the event was held at the Cove Theatre inside Okada Manila in Parañaque, Philippines. On 2 March 2022, Bhujel was appointed to represent Nepal internationally in Miss Eco International 2022. At Miss Eco International 2022, on 18 March 2022, she placed in the Top 20 which was their best result since 2019. She participated in and won Miss Universe Nepal 2022 advancing to the Miss Universe competition and winning the title of Social Impact Leader during the pageant.

In an interview, Bhujel expressed that she participated with the goal of achieving her dream of winning Miss Universe Nepal, which she has aspired to since her participation in Miss Nepal 2019. Her social advocacy focus is Project RED which is about providing the underprivileged communities and others in Nepal free access to period and menstruation products. She represented Nepal at Miss Universe 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana, US but did not place.