When Pritika Swarup handed the 9-month-old boy back to his mother after cleft-lip surgery, both women broke down in tears of joy.
“When you see a parent look at their child and they can see that their lip is fully together for the first time . . . that’s something that you can’t even describe,” said the fashion model of her trip to Nampula, Mozambique, last August. “In that moment, I think we both shared the feeling that [he] would be able to live a full life.”
Swarup had traveled to the African nation as an ambassador for Operation Smile, a nonprofit that provides free corrective surgery for kids born with cleft lips and palates. The condition occurs in the womb when mouth tissue doesn’t form properly, and, if left untreated, can lead to malnutrition, obstructed breathing and speech impediments.
“[Through a translator], she told me all about her experience giving birth to [him] and not knowing what was wrong with him,” said Swarup, 24, of the mother. “He wasn’t taking any milk in, so from that moment she was so scared about everything — if he would be able to live a normal life.”
This mission work is only part of her jampacked life. There’s her day job as a model for brands like MAC, Clinique and Tom Ford. And she’s been spending her coronavirus lockdown time at an Airbnb in Palm Beach, Fla., wrapping up a financial-economics degree from Columbia University.
In 2018, Swarup launched an investment fund “to provide students with firsthand experience as equity researchers and investment managers,” she said. “It became the largest student-run investment fund at Columbia.”
The model attributes her strong work ethic to her parents, who immigrated to the US from India, and cites her father, an eye surgeon, as her biggest role model.
“He always worked so hard to help people and that really rubbed off on me,” said Swarup, who grew up in Virginia Beach, Va.
She was discovered seven years ago, on a family trip to Disneyland during her junior year of high school.
When the modeling scout approached her, she recalled, “My parents and I were a little bit hesitant. We were like, ‘All right, are we getting scammed right now?’ ”
It was the real deal, and a few months later she was signed to one of New York City’s top agencies, Women Model Management. During her senior year of high school, she moved to the Big Apple to pursue modeling full time and attend the Professional Children’s School in Lincoln Square.
Her first major gig was an editorial spread for Women’s Wear Daily, and she has gone on to pose for publications including Vogue India and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.
She enrolled at Columbia in 2016, and has been taking classes as her work allows — and even found a way to make the two pursuits mesh: Swarup plans on launching a secret beauty and wellness startup next year.
Her background in finance has also helped her be smart about her modeling career — setting up an LLC for payment and investing wisely.
“Many [models] enter into contracts which aren’t fair or balanced, and may not fully understand what they are committing to,” said Swarup. “I’ve seen girls end up in dire situations.”
Swarup, who lives in Hell’s Kitchen and has more than 500,000 Instagram followers, started working with Operation Smile when she was just 13, participating in bake sales to raise money.
As an adult, she became an Operation Smile ambassador, traveling to classrooms around the globe to get students involved.
She made her first ambassador trip to Raipur, India, in 2018. When she went to Mozambique last summer, Swarup helped educate and comfort families about the medical procedures and helped them navigate paperwork.
“Many models enter into contracts which aren’t fair or balanced. I’ve seen girls end up in dire situations.”
- Pritika Swarup on how her finance background gives her an edge in fashion
There were 71 successful surgeries on children during her five-day visit.
The model, who is single, was looking forward to going on another mission trip in July, but Operation Smile has postponed all such plans because of the global pandemic.
“It definitely got me down for a while because that’s something I very much look forward to every year,” said Swarup.
In the meantime, the model is helping raise awareness about the group’s new initiative, Serving Smiles, via Instagram and through the students she has met — helping volunteers raise money and distribute free meals to coronavirus health-care workers. That includes students from the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, who delivered food to Mount Sinai, Elmhurst and Lenox Hill hospitals.
But helping suffering kids is still Swarup’s main priority.
“We have to make sure our patients know we haven’t given up on them,” she said. “No matter what.”
Photographer: Annie Wermiel/NY Post; Stylist: Johannah Masters; Hair: T. Cooper/crowdMGMT using ECRU NY; Makeup: Markphong Tram/abtp.com using Urban Decay; Location: Canary Club, 303 Broome St.
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