My name is Kgothatso Vanessa Mahlaela, a 19-year-old model born in Sophiatown.
I started school at Piet Van Vuuren and later moved to Westbury Primary School. What may surprise many people is the contradiction between my being a model and what I study, tourism management. My modelling journey started in 2018 and it led me to enter 10 different pageants in a period of three years but I only succeeded in three of them
Failure taught me that ‘Success is not final and failure is not fatal’. This means no matter how hard you fall, this will not define your future and also just because you’ve succeeded this time, it is not the end of your race.
It reminds me to stay humble in my achievements and to never give up, even in the face of failure. This quote serves as a constant reminder that success and failure are both temporary, and it is our perseverance and resilience that truly determine our future outcomes.
I have entered pageants where I have lost and gone back, to prove that I can do anything as long as I put my mind and heart into it. These experiences have taught me the importance of embracing failure as a stepping stone towards success. Through my journey in pageants, I have learned to never give up on my dreams and to always strive for personal growth and self-improvement.
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