Local teenager an international modelling sensation

Cynthia Machava, a Gr. 10 learner of Carletonville High School, was chosen as one of only eight models from around the world to be part of the international fashion magazine Vogue’s Open Casting Class of 2023. Vogue holds this competition globally to find a new generation of models.
Cynthia is the only South African model chosen as part of the group. There are two other models from Africa, Rania Benchegra from Morocco and Rayan El-Mahmoud from Ghana, while the other finalists hail from France, the United States, China and Japan, respectively.
Although the names and photos of this year’s Open Casting Class were only published on 6 September, Cynthia already flew to London for photographs during the winter school holiday.
“I went on holiday to Mozambique but had to rush back and get an emergency visa to go to London for three days in July. Everything was so easy with the other girls at the hotel, and everyone was so friendly,” says Cynthia.
She will fly to Paris, France again in the coming week to attend Vogue’s celebration party on 25 September. On this occasion, a model will be chosen as the new face of Vogue.
Although Cynthia has recently appeared in numerous magazines and on fashion catwalks for various national and international designers and makeup manufacturers, she is a born and bred Carletonville resident who attended Laerskool Jongspan before going to Callies.
She only started modelling in 2020 and won the Miss Carletonville title the following year before proceeding to win numerous other titles. She is currently an officially-signed model for the international Ford Models agency.
According to Cynthia, whom her agent asked to enter the Vogue competition, her mother, Thandi Mabe-Machava, has been her biggest supporter and has kept on motivating her, even through the hard times when she was one of the many employees retrenched at Anglo Gold Ashanti. Her father, Neves Fernando Machava, her siblings, and her teachers have also been a constant support.
Cynthia dreams of motivating other models to continue going after the goals they set for themselves.
“Each of us is unique, and you must use this. I might have the looks to be a model but not the right height. This has not stopped me from following my dreams,” says the young star.