A young woman, Ayanda Ntola (38), from Bizana, now residing in Pretoria, has called on other women to follow their dreams and know that these dreams are valid.
Ntola is an attorney by profession but that did not hold her dream of entering Mrs Universe Africa. Talking to Express, she confirmed that it was her first time taking part in a serious pageant. The Mrs Universe Africa finals will be held next month, here in South Africa, and the winner will go on and represent the continent at the international Mrs Universe in South Korea in November-December.
She added that she saw the Mrs Universe Africa competition on Facebook, but because she had always wanted to do pageantry, she then took a leap of faith, and was successful.
“What motivated me to enter this pageant was that this opportunity came at a time in my life when I was ready to take on a new challenge and something that speaks to me.
“I always loved pageantry from a young age, but it was for people with (the correct build). I felt it was not for me, but the universe thought otherwise. That’s why I have decided to use this platform to raise awareness about body positivity,” said Ntola.
She added that in this journey she had learnt that it was never too late for people to follow their dreams and it was all right to pack those dreams away for a while because of children and marriage.
She said she had learnt the importance of empowerment and had started a movement intended to educate, uplift and empower young women and girls to accept and love their bodies and to know that they are beautiful, worthy and enough.
She also thanked her husband, Lulama Ntola, for his support.
She urged her supporters to vote for her by following Mrs Universe Africa on all social media pages to like, comment, and share the picture of Ayanda Ntola you will find at these pages:
