She chased multiple career interests. This is what happened.

Vinaya Seshan is a footballer, dancer, influencer, actor, and master’s graduate. Oh, and she has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from École Polytechnique and HEC Paris, too.

Born and raised largely in Bangalore, India, Vinaya has pursued a wide range of interests from an early age.

Vinaya’s multiple career interests can be traced to a childhood with  Sports in the form of football, table tennis, swimming, and ice skating. And the arts in the form of dance, singing, tabla, piano, and guitar.

She spent much of her childhood playing sports with her brother and his friends, while her international school in Bangalore gave her the freedom to pursue extracurricular activities alongside her studies. 

Among all those activities, football and dance eventually became the two that she stuck with. She began dancing at seven and specialised in hip-hop at 13, later winning one gold and two bronze medals at the 2017 Dance World Cup in Germany. 

Football followed a different route. What began as playing during school breaks in London grew into representing Karnataka at the national level and competing in the Indian Women’s League, before eventually taking her from the football pitch to the film set of “Bigil,” a Tamil film centred on women’s football at the age of 17.

From the football pitch to movie sets 

At school, football was everywhere, especially during breaks.

“I joined them instinctively because I love sports,” she says. 

It was during a tournament that she first found herself in goal. What started as an introduction to a new position soon became the beginning of something much bigger. 

When she returned to India, her experience in London gave her a head start. Her school had a girls’ football team, and when a coach suggested she try out as a goalkeeper for the Karnataka state team, Vinaya decided to give it a shot. 

At the age of 13, she made the Karnataka under-19 team and began training more seriously. She was often the youngest player in the squad, and by 15, she was captaining the under-19 team. At 16, she made her first appearance for the senior women’s team.

Football became a major part of Vinaya Seshan’s journey during her school years. Source: Vinaya Seshan

Football soon took her beyond India. In 2018, Vinaya went for a trial in Bangalore with a team that was set to represent India at a tournament in France. When she arrived, she discovered that the trial was actually for the men’s team. But having come all that way from Bangalore, she decided to participate anyway, with the organiser’s approval.  

Out of around 60 players at the trial, she was one of two players selected. She was then invited to France to play in a tournament featuring 16 men’s teams, where she became the only woman in the competition. 

“It was tough because I got these bullets shot at me by these Algerians and African players, but it was a great experience,” she says. “We finished fifth in the competition.”  

Then, in 2019, football opened an entirely different door. 

While playing for a top South Indian club competing in the Indian Women’s League, Vinaya’s team was approached by a production crew looking for Tamil-speaking footballers for “Bigil,” a Tamil film starring Vijay, a famous actor in India, who is now the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.   

The original plan was for the footballers to serve as body doubles, but that soon changed. The production decided to bring the players into the film itself, making them part of the team. 

“It was very, kind of, experimental with the players because we didn’t know what was going on,” she says. 

For Vinaya, stepping onto a film set meant entering a completely new environment. She saw the preparation, coordination, and teamwork involved in bringing a film together,” she says. 

“After the film, I was like, ‘You know, there’s no way I will… no matter how bad a movie is, I will never critique it because of how much work goes into it.’” 

The experience also gave her a chance to see women’s football represented on a much larger platform. And just as football had unexpectedly taken her into acting, “Bigil” would soon bring another opportunity into her life. 

Vinaya made her film debut with “Bigil,” a Tamil movie starring Vijay, one of India’s leading actors. Source: Vinaya Seshan

When social media became another chapter 

After “Bigil” was released, Vinaya’s social media following grew from a few hundreds to around 50,000 followers. For an 18-year-old in her final year of school, the attention was exciting, but she did not immediately see content creation as a career. 

Instead, she treated social media as a personal space. 

“It was like a diary for me,” she says. “And it still is, in a way.” 

She posted things she enjoyed without building a specific strategy around them. Over time, her following reduced to around 30,000, but Vinaya remained comfortable with letting her platform evolve naturally. 

That began to shift around 2023 and 2024, when another unexpected interest emerged through modelling and pageantry. 

After seeing a few women participate in a pageant in France, Vinaya decided she wanted to explore that world too. She approached an experienced makeup artist and began experimenting with styling and photography, exploring a side of herself she had not previously explored as much. 

“I was discovering it, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m actually enjoying myself doing it,’” she says. 

Her pageantry journey soon brought another achievement. In 2023, Vinaya participated in Miss India France and was named 2ème Dauphine – Miss India France 2023, adding another dimension to her growing portfolio of experiences. 

The experience encouraged her to become more intentional about her social media presence. She started putting greater effort into her profile and considering how it could create opportunities in the future. 

“I decided that I don’t need to find a niche and stick to it,” she says. “Let’s just be you there and see what happens.” 

That same confidence carries into dancing, where performing has been part of Vinaya’s life since childhood. She took part in school plays and annual dance shows, making performance a familiar part of growing up. 

“I’m just naturally a performer that way because I did theatre when I was a kid,” she says. “I did a lot of school plays, dancing, of course, and the shows every year that our dance class used to have.” 

For Vinaya, dancing in public is less about worrying about who is watching and more about enjoying the moment. She sees movement as another way to connect with people and bring energy into a space. 

“I’ve been told that I’m a light in a room,” she says. “Even as a normal person, as a personality, when I go into a room or a bunch of new people, I bring a lot of energy, somehow.”

Vinaya says she feels comfortable dancing in public without worrying about who is watching. Source: Vinaya Seshan

Making room for different worlds 

Over the years, Vinaya has found herself moving between environments that could not be more different. 

On the football pitch, she has trained alongside athletes whose lives revolve around the sport. Through dance, she has worked with performers devoted to their craft. At university, she studied alongside students focused on economics, finance, consulting and research. 

Being part of these different communities has made her appreciate what each world can teach her. 

“Having these different facets is a double-edged sword, in a way,” she says. “But at the same time, I get to be so many different people.” 

For Vinaya, experiencing these different sides of life is part of what makes her journey meaningful. 

“I can be the dancer one day, I can be the footballer another day, and I get to be with people with different brains,” she says. 

That perspective has also shaped how she thinks about focus. While young people are often encouraged to choose one thing and build their identity around it, Vinaya does not believe that having several interests means a person cannot be focused. 

For her, the important thing is being fully present in whatever she is doing. “When I am dancing, I’m gonna be 100% there,” she says. “Wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing, you give your 100%.”

Vinaya’s Professional Master’s in Football Business added another dimension to her football journey. Source: Vinaya Seshan

Her academic journey reflects that same discipline. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics at École Polytechnique, followed by a master’s degree in Economics and Finance at HEC Paris and a Professional Master’s in Football Business at The Football Business Academy. 

Balancing academics with football, dance and other interests was something she learned to manage from a young age. In fact, having a busy schedule often helped her stay focused. 

“If I only had to focus on my exams and my academics without the football and the dancing, I would probably do worse than if I had my busy schedule,” she says. 

Because she knew she had football or dance after school, she learned to make the most of her time in class. Her extracurricular activities were not separate from her academic life; they became part of the structure that helped her manage both. 

That same mindset continues to shape the way she approaches opportunities today. 

When asked what she would say to young people who feel pressured to figure out their one path early, Vinaya turns the message towards parents and support systems: let young people try. 

“Trying a lot of things can help you access versions of yourself that you may not have discovered,” she says.