Byline: Thendo Funyufunyu
Tuesday, 11 July 2023
Lerato Lebo Tsotetsi, a young 17-year-old from eMbalenhle, discovered her interest in modeling.
Despite her academic success, she also loves to give back to the community and engage in physical activities like sports.
Lerato says that ever since she realised how much she loves modeling, she has learned a lot about the industry, including how to push herself beyond her comfort zone and be who she is, not what the outside world wants her to be.
In her modeling journey, she made it to the Miss Teen Remarkable South Africa Top 30 finalist list, unfortunately, due to financial reasons, she could not make it to the Grand Finale.
However, this year she entered Miss Teen World South Africa.
“Being a young black woman means that I have to cope with a community that deals with challenges like drug misuse, gender-based violence, extreme poverty, and lack of economic empowerment.
These are extremely important factors that influence my capacity to get up every day and push myself in my work. I believe I have the skills and potential to improve the current state of the world,” said Lerato.
She further stated that winning the Miss Teen World South Africa pageant would be a great change for her.
She believe that there is nothing more important than taking up space and cementing herself in the society and she want to use the power that the crown holds to change people’s lives.
She concluded by advising all girls who want to be in the modeling industry but don’t believe in themselves to face their fear and follow their hearts, and they must work on their dreams without being afraid of greatness because it is now or never.
Furthermore, Lerato stated that she will be hosting Gender Based Violence Awareness events this year, as she once hosted them last year, and she will be working with Boitumelo Lekhoehla to end periods of poverty. Her aim is to keep girls in school and in a safe place.
