Swazi Observer

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BEING A BEAUTY WITH A CROWN

By Phetsile Mamba | 2019-07-07

Beauty contests can be an important focus of national or regional pride.

On an individual level, they give young women an opportunity to enrich not only their own lives, but those of others. Pageants provide the perfect opportunity for some of the most beautiful young women to fulfil their ambitions and develop themselves as human beings.

Being a beauty queen, or should we say country’s ambassador, comes with many benefits. One of the most important one would be ‘Recognition’.

People feel valued and appreciated when they receive recognition for their hard work. Some pageant systems offer cash prizes along with on-stage recognition for optional areas of participation such as talent, speech, commercials, modelling, community service, scholastic, letters of recommendation, career achievement and creative arts through scrapbooking, ad pages and decorating contests .

Communication skills is another benefit of being a beauty queen. The ability to articulate one’s thoughts into written and spoken words is priceless.

The list is just endless.

Before joining a beauty contest, you need to be inspired.

The reigning Miss Eswatini Nosipho Dlamini says she was inspired to join the pageant by her passion of giving back to the community and of course, the pageant was the perfect platform to do what she loved.

Inspired by former queen Ayanda Dube

Her role model being former Miss Eswatini Ayanda Dube (now Ginindza) pushed her to join the pageant as she had always wanted to follow the former beauty queen’s foot prints.

“When I was in primary school our Miss Swaziland at that time was Ayanda Dube. She was the one I looked up to as a role model and inspiration. I wanted to be like her one day and today indeed I am the Miss Eswatini,” she shares with SCENE.

Nosipho says the Miss Eswatini title comes with lots of responsibilities and she has tried live up to these.

“These responsibilities involve community projects as seen with the donation of school uniform to one child headed family early this year.

“I have also donated clothes to a soup kitchen in Lobamba. Other responsibilities involve motivating the youth and I visited quite a number of schools across the country to motivate and inspire them.”

With a few months to go for Nosipho to hand over her crown, her biggest dream is to represent the country in international stages but unfortunately she has not been able to do so yet.

Being a beauty queen comes with stress, pressure and disappointment. These reactions are a part of life.

Your attitude and thoughts around these reactions can either move you forward or break you down.

Stress, pressure and disappointment don’t have to be viewed as negative things. In fact, they can be powerful motivators to push you to the next level.

It all depends on how you look at them. In pageantry, you will experience these and with guidance, you can learn how to flip them to work to your advantage.

It’s been a journey…

“I am enjoying this title to the fullest because I have realised that challenges that come with it are not insumountable to deny me happiness.

I have learned and am more mature wiser person than I was before. I thank God for this opportunity.

“It didn't break me but made me a much stronger, mature and wise woman that I am today.”

In as much as the country has lost hope on Miss Eswatini pageant, Nosipho says she strives everyday to encourage the next generation not to lose hope but support the pageant.

“Emaswati should not lose hope in finding a beauty queen or joining the pageant. There are so many other aspiring queens out there that can do a good job and represent the country well.

“Being crowned a beauty queen in a local community is an opportunity for a young woman to be a role model to her community and most importantly, to younger girls and women, boost her self-confidence and to improve her public speaking skills. These are all characteristics that will aid her in future.”

Pageants give all of the contestants a chance to learn about themselves and to branch out of their comfort zones to improve themselves.

Miss Eswatini has the responsibility to the country to portray a positive image when visiting other countries. She does this not just when she is there in an official capacity, but 24/7 during her reign.

Most pageants require a contestant to develop a resume and do interviews. This helps to improve these life skills for future use when applying for jobs and scholarships, to name a few.

Overall, pageants are a very positive event and serve the purpose of strengthening skills, building self-confidence and improving leadership skills. We wish Nosipho a beautiful journey while she’s still carrying the title with confidence.

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