Luyanda is a beauty with a big heart
The primary school beauty queen used the prize money she won after being crowned queen for the 10-11 years category in the Mr and Miss Huttenpark 2024 to buy the sanitary towels she donated - a demonstration of her generous nature to accompany her stunning looks.
Newcastle continues to be a town renowned for producing talented children and 11-year-old Luyanda Cele (11) is no exception.
The Newcastle Advertiser team met Luyanda when she arrived to donate sanitary towels for our Sanitary Drive aimed at benefiting girls from less fortunate backgrounds. Luyanda was the first person to respond to the newspaper’s call for donations which has seen other residents follow her lead.
“When my mother told me about it (the Sanitary Drive), I decided to take part because I believe everyone should have a good, loving and caring heart,” Luyanda said.
Fresh from her win at her school’s pageant, Luyanda credits her victory to believing in herself.
“At first I felt nervous because I was competing with other well-experienced contestants but I made it because I believed in myself and did the best I could,” she said.
Following in the footsteps of her role model Miss South Africa 2021, Lalela Mswane, Luyanda wants to be an inspiration to others to be confident in who they are.
Having previously competed in and won pageants such as Miss Endumeni, Miss Independent Junior and Miss and Mr Hutten Park Preteen 2024, Luyanda believes she has a bright future in modelling.
“I want to inspire others to follow their dreams and no matter your appearance, size or culture, you can still be a model.”
Not short of big dreams, Luyanda counts becoming a medical doctor or surgeon as another. “I want to save people’s lives,” she boldly stated.
In her spare time, Luyanda loves practising her modelling routines, playing netball, watching TV programmes about the modelling world or just hanging out with her friends.
She concluded with wise words that not your average 11-year-old would come up with:
“I want every growing child to follow their dreams, stay away from drugs, not fall into peer pressure, participate in extracurricular activities like modelling, and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.”
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