I didn't enter Miss S.A. because I thought I was the most beautiful woman in S.A., I entered because it's one of the few platforms that give women the ability to lead and I knew I had a powerful voice and message to send out.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of using platforms for empowering women rather than seeking validation through beauty.
Zozibini Tunzi highlights her motivation for entering the Miss South Africa competition not as a pursuit of personal beauty, but as an opportunity to leverage a visible platform to amplify women's voices and leadership. Her words remind us that true empowerment comes from being purposeful and using one's position to inspire change and convey powerful messages that resonate with others.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech at a women's empowerment event to inspire young women.
I think the most important thing... is leadership. It's something that has been lacking in young women and girls for a very long time, not because we don't want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity.
I think we are afraid to take up space. We are afraid to be amazing. As soon as that fear leaves us and we start building that confidence of being unapologetic about being great, then i think we can get into that space of having a lot of women leaders who are just fearless.
People speak about diversity and representation like the world is ready. But when it actually happens, people can't take change. They can't deal with it. Which is why we have things like cyberbullying, which is why people will send you nasty DMs, say nasty things in your comments. Because they're just not dealing with it, they're not ready.
We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.
I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful.
Women are constantly being taught how to defend themselves against attack from men. I would like to shift the perception. I want to say that that responsibility should no longer rest on the shoulders of women alone.
I wanted to write when I was young, but people said it was impossible. Then my parents locked me in a mental institution - they said I was crazy and would never make a living from writing.
It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer.
Encourage everyone you meet with a smile or compliment. Make them feel better when you leave their presence and they will always be glad to see you coming.
Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.
I have a little tiny Emily Dickinson so big that I carry in my pocket everywhere. And you just read three poems of Emily. She is so brave. She is so strong. She is such a sexy, passionate, little woman. I feel better.
I'm not interested, Larry, in being a perfect, plastic pop singer that looks great in bikinis and is on the cover of every magazine. I'm more interested in helping my fans to love who they are, and helping them to reject prejudice and reject those things that they're taught from society to not like themselves, to feel like freaks, that they're not wanted.
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