Beauty, grace and education

Driven by her passion for education, local beauty, Lerato Seroba hopes to change the world one topic at a time.

This 23-year-old Wits law student is currently one of 60 semi-finalists in the Miss Township SA beauty pageant. What separates this finalist from the others is her desire not only to grace the runway, but also to enrich the minds of local youth by educating them on various important issues.

“I stand for a holistic type of education, one that goes beyond the contemporary school premises. I would like my community to open themselves up to discussing matters that affect us on a daily basis – matters such as mental health, the realities of marginalised groups, and abuse to name just a few,” Lerato started.

“Any opportunity given to educate an individual should be utilised and no topic should be off limits as long as it is facilitated in a manner that does not infringe on the rights of the next person. I stand for this because such a mindset towards educating people can result in individuals making better decisions they would have made, had they not had access to certain information.”

Even though Lerato’s love of pageantry was born in 2010, she would only take the leap of faith nine years later by entering the Miss Outlier Pageant, where she was crowned the First Princess.

She subsequently competed in the Miss Inspire South Africa Pageant last year where she was sashed as a Top 12 finalist and awarded the Public Choice of the Year, and Best Fundraiser awards.

It comes as no surprise that this dedicated activist already has her next project lined up.

“In late 2021 I decided that my focus for 2022 would be to fight against period poverty, within my advocacy for education. This was after had I read a confession on Instagram from a young girl who was caught shoplifting pads because she couldn’t afford them,” she explained.

“So when I came across the Miss Township South Africa pageant and read that their main focus throughout the pageantry journey was collecting as many pads as possible to distribute across the country, I saw an opportunity.”

For Lerato this came as the perfect opportunity to fight period poverty on a bigger platform that provides sufficient support. She subsequently aligned herself in the fight against period poverty through her advocacy and education, by starting a segment on her Instagram account called ‘Period Fridays’.

On this segment she discusses everything concerning one’s menstrual cycle and feminine hygiene.

She is also hosting a Pad Drive, which will be running until December, with the aim of continuing with the project next year. According to Lerato the Miss Township Pageant encourages its participants to start in their own communities. She will therefore be distributing sanitary products to underprivileged schools around the West Rand.

Once this is achieved she hopes to branch out to schools within the province.

“My dream is simple – it is to leave the world better than how I found it through education. I believe that it is my calling to educate the nation with passion and love through every platform I’m granted to grace. I stand here wanting to inspire the youth not to be gatekeepers of information,” she said.

“I want to encourage them to embrace themselves in the African notion: ‘I am because you are’, through the beliefs such as ‘when you learn, teach’ and ‘when you get, give’. When I leave this world, I would like to depart knowing that I served wholeheartedly without fear, favour or prejudice.”

The Miss Township SA crowning ceremony is expected to take place on September 10. If you would like to find out more or help Lerato on her journey of helping others, feel free to contact her on 078 549 3870 or send an email to leratoserobe01@gmail.com. Also find her on Instagram at Lerato_Seroba. She also does collections around the West Rand area.