Former Miss SA Liesl Laurie’s tips for 2021 entrants: ‘Be fiercely authentic’

The road to Miss South Africa 2021 has begun and entrants have been taking social media by storm by sharing videos of themselves telling South Africa and the Miss South Africa organisation why they think they could be the next titleholders.

The Miss SA organisation announced on social media and its official website that Tamaryn Green, Bokang Montjane-Tshabalala, Melinda Bam and Liesl Laurie will be reviewing entry forms and entry videos to pick their top 30 entrants, before the reveal on Tuesday, 6 July 2021.

“Who better to pick the Top 30 than former title holders who have walked in the shoes of this year’s entrants and who will be able to bring out the best in each candidate while giving pertinent advice? They know what qualities a potential Miss South Africa needs to possess to represent this country on international stages,” says Stephanie Weil, CEO of the Miss South Africa Organisation.

Bam will be joining the judging panel for the first time. She says she will be looking for entrants who are aware of the social and global issues this generation are faced with.

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“I am looking for someone who is well aware of the social and global issues that face this generation. I am also looking for someone who is direct, yet diplomatic; who can navigate these issues with superior emotional intelligence and is able to speak to corporate South Africa while also being a familiar and comforting face to our communities,” says Bam.

Laurie gave some tips to entrants on how she bagged the Miss SA title in 2015. She said what helped her throughout the competition was for her to be her true authentic self at all times.

“What served me very well when I entered the Miss South Africa competition was to be fiercely authentic and to be myself, as cliched as that may sound. I knew that I had to shine as Liesl Laurie in 2015.

“There was no way I was going to walk away with the title if I was going to emulate a Rolene Strauss, a Melinda Bam or a Tatum Keshwar or all those women who had come before me. I had to remain true to the township young girl I was and embrace that, knowing this was my star power and star quality. I was the true definition of a Cinderella story and I proudly owned it!,” says Laurie.