Durban – The spirit of never giving up and a positive mindset is what drove Anelisa Nxele, 22, from Inanda in Durban to make it to the Miss South Africa Top 30.
Nxele was placed third when she first entered Miss KZN Queen which is a provincial pageant that had an advocacy centred around mental health and combating it.
She said that she holds a Bachelor of Social Science (government business and ethics) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and will be completing her BCom Honours in economics at the same university next year.
She said the love for her country is what makes her believe that she is the right candidate for the Miss SA title.
“I have everything to prove and nothing to lose and I believe I have the most power and commitment to do so because, as a leader and speaker, I carry the responsibility to represent the best interests of South Africans and be the voice when there are whispers.
“I am ready to show up and show off for my country and be the bridge between socio-economic issues and funding plausible solutions.
“The work we do for our communities through our advocacies that not only changes lives for the better, but also provides them with more opportunities.
“It is beauty with a purpose, the purpose being philanthropy and I think that the beauty side of pageants is merely a mechanism designed to lead others into wanting to participate in philanthropy, but, ultimately, the work outweighs the beauty,” said Nxele.
She said she believes that a woman should make a notable difference in the world.
“A true woman should be headstrong and able to block the noise and focus on her goal and be unshaken in her decisions.
“Relatable and allow those she leads to resonate with her and see her accomplishments as attainable, while inspiring them to do the same and her actions should do the talking,” said Nxele.
She said besides modelling she enjoys spending her time doing community work.
“I joined Enactus UKZN, an SDG centred organisation and I later became a project manager, in addition, I was an enterprise development officer at an NGO called Rehop.
“Both organisations were centred on improving the lives of informal entrepreneurs through digitisation and education (financial literacy and business concepts),” said Nxele.
She said her female role model is the former Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi.
“I feel proud and represented whenever she is on stage, her legacy has motivated me to have the confidence that I can because she could do it too,” said Nxele.
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DAILY NEWS