Local beauty among top 100 Mrs South Africa semi-finalists
A passion for her community and a drive to uplift people is what helped local beauty, Siyabonga Lee Shungube, reach the top 100 semi-finalists in the Schwarzkopf Professional Mrs South Africa 2016 pageant.
MBANGWANE – Siya Lee, as she’s known by friends and family, is a social worker by trade. She entered the Mrs South Africa pageant to speak out about issues close to her heart and “to inspire, educate and uplift the community with the insights that I have accumulated over the years as a social worker”.
The 28-year-old grew up in KaMaqhekeza, attended Evimbilanga Primary School and Mjokwane Secondary School, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of the Witwatersrand before returning home.
Siya Lee is happily married and the mother of 10-month-old triplets. She also volunteers at Timele Solutions, a non-profit organisation, as a secretary and events coordinator. Timele Solutions organises and hosts career exhibitions for high school pupils from the various schools in the Nkomazi Local Municipality’s jurisdiction.
The local beauty is involved in youth development programmes and passionate about building healthy relationships and families.
“I believe that healthy families build successful and thriving communities. We need to start investing in promoting the values of love, support and care within families while encouraging individual family members to reach their full potential,”said Siya Lee.
Siya Lee believes that her rewarding work as a social worker has helped develop her resilient spirit, which will be an advantage when faced with the various pageant tasks designed to take semi-finalists out of their comfort zone.
Her triplets, on the other hand, has made her realise what great power and potential she has within her. “Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I just look at my beautiful babies and I get a renewed sense of strength. I want to make them proud of me,” she remarked.
Siya Lee encourages community members to take a stand against social problems and share their talents and skills with others to help change the community.
The 25 participants with the most votes or likes on Facebook by April 29 will move on to the finals, so she needs Nkomazi’s help to advance. To vote for Siya Lee, go like the Mrs South Africa Facebook page, then look for her photo and like it as well or click here for the shortcut.
