Simonè Myburgh (39) has reached the semi-finals of Mrs Universe Africa. She is self-employed and lives in Geluksdal.
• You entered Miss Universe and were chosen as a semi-finalist, what made you decide to enter?
I am always looking for opportunities to do better, transform communities and impact lives. Hence, the reason I entered Mrs Universe Africa because I wanted to align myself with a platform where I could utilise my voice to reach a bigger audience to create awareness for people living with epilepsy for my Purple Hope platform.
• Has this always been an interest of yours?
Pageants have always been a big interest of mine because these platforms bring about change and while we are being empowered, we gain an opportunity to empower others to believe in themselves and bring their dreams into life too.
• What process did you have to follow to enter?
The director of the pageant is Miss South Africa 2010 Bokang Montjane. The process to enter was simple, we had to contact the organisers, complete an entry form and attend the pageant workshop, which was held on June 18 at the Blueberry Hill Hotel in Honeydew.
• Did you think you would be chosen as a semi-finalist? What is the next step, what do they expect of you?
I was hoping to be selected as a semi-finalist and I am truly grateful that I have made it thus far. My next step is to collaborate with Epilepsy South Africa, create more awareness for people living with epilepsy, change the narrative and remove stigma and discrimination. We have 10 million people in Africa living with epilepsy including my sister. Not enough is being done to include these people in our societies and create opportunities for them to live meaningful lives. As semi-finalists, we are tasked to create social media exposure for the brand, to be involved in charity campaigns and collaborate with businesses as their brand ambassadors.
• If you were to be chosen as Miss Universe Africa, what would be your main goal?
Should I be selected as the winner of Mrs Universe Africa, my main goal would be to utilise this platform to establish my charity foundation, Purple Hope, to open more support centres for people living with epilepsy, to advocate for change in the work criteria with direct and indirect discrimination against people with disabilities. To gain support from our social development department to create skills development centres for people living with epilepsy in our communities.
• What are you most excited about during this process?
I am most excited about being a voice for the voiceless and bringing hope to the hopeless on an international platform such as Mrs Universe Africa.
• If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Discrimination against race, age, gender, culture and epilepsy and mental health disease. If we could stop discrimination, we would live in a peaceful and inclusive society.
• Do you think social media has a negative impacted on today’s youth?
Social media has its pros and cons; however, platforms like Instagram do unfortunately have a negative impact on our youth. The youth is bombarded with unrealistic images of beauty and it is exposed to cyberbullying. Therefore, it’s imperative to mentor and guide our youth, teach them the true value of self-love and be aware of the risks involved about unrealistic views of other people’s lives on social media.
• Describe yourself in five words?
Driven, tenacious, confident, relatable and resilient.
• If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Pizza.
• What can we as the public do to support you?
I would appreciate the public’s support by following my social media pages:
FB. Simone_l_Myburgh
IG. Simone_myburgh_za
Twitter. Simonedolface
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Thelma Koorts (editor) brakpanherald@caxton.co.za or Stacy Slatter (news editor) stacys@caxton.co.za
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