Dalpark resident Freddonecia Olyn is a 26-year-old model reliving her childhood dream. As a child, she enjoyed competing in beauty pageants and walking on the runway. Her dream of becoming a model was, however, smothered as she got older.
At seven, she entered her first beauty pageant, where she took the winning prize home.
“I was very excited about winning. This is definitely where my love for beauty pageants began,” she said.
Olyn also competed in school and church pageants for fun. In her teenage years, she started gaining weight because of medical reasons and did not fit in the tall and skinny persona of what a model should look like.
Fellow learners bullied and diminished her because of the weight she had gained.
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“I did not fit into society’s idea of what a model should look like,” she said.
Olyn gave up on her dream of becoming a model and decided to rather become a teacher to help children.
Olyn works as an assistant teacher at Muriel Brand School. She is in her second year of studying a Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase and believes her passion lies in helping children.
She grew up in the Northern Cape but has lived in Brakpan for the last 20 years.
“I’ve never been the girly girl. I remember I used to play outside and did not worry about getting my hands dirty,” she said.
In 2021, she entered an online beauty competition where she then became a finalist.
“I realised I can still do this regardless of what others think.”
This inspired her to enter two more beauty pageants, the Miss East Rand 2022 and Miss Graduate SA, where she is a finalist in both. Olyn is planning on entering Miss SA 2023.
“To me, it’s not about the flashy lifestyle. I want to inspire others to do what they love, regardless of what society might think. I am trying to show girls we all have cellulite and stretch marks, but that does not define you. Everyone is beautiful in their own way,” she said.
