Local beauty aims to promote her heritage

JEPPES REEF – Marcia Mkhatshwa of Magogeni is one of 20 finalists and now has three months to complete a variety of tasks and get as many votes as she can. The pageant will be held in Bloemfontein on September 24, Heritage Day.

The professional social worker loves modelling and has entered several pageants like Miss Earth SA and Miss Lowveld in the past few years.

“What I enjoy about pageants like Miss Heritage SA International is that it’s about more than outer beauty. They dig deeper to find out about you as person and your culture,” Mkhatshwa explained.

The finalists need to complete several tasks to improve their profile. These include getting sponsorships and doing fund-raising. The funds will be used to send the three winners overseas to represent the country in an international heritage pageant. This year it will be held in India and last year’s winners will do their best to impress the judges.

Another task is to have a creative outfit representing your culture. She approached local fashion designer, Blessing Twala. “He has the creative mind I need for this and we’ve worked together before,” she stated.

Mkhatshwa grew up and went to school in Magogeni, near the Jeppes Reef Border Gate, before getting her honours degree in social work at the University of Johannesburg. She is now a social worker at the Department of Social Development and works in the Komatipoort area.

“I love engaging with the people around me and social work seems to be an ideal way to do that. I also get to travel, which is great,” she explained.

The modelling bug bit when she entered a beauty pageant at her high school and her skills have improved ever since. She also attends workshops whenever she can. “I treat it like a sport. You need to know what’s in and out, to know about the industry,” she stated.

She enjoys the challenge of working with teenagers in her job. The feeling of triumph when one makes an impact and breaks the cycle of violence and substance abuse is great.

Her dream is to start her own modelling school to help get the young ones off the streets, teach them skills and motivate them to reach their full potential.

When the part-time model isn’t helping people or on the runway, she loves to read and write romance novels.

She is currently working on one that received positive feedback from a publisher and looks forward to seeing her book on the shelves.

Mkhatshwa urged people to vote for her here at pageantvote.net or via her facebook page here.