Young, black, beautiful and gifted

SEBOKENG. – Young Lerato Kodisang (20) from Sebokeng is a Semi-finalist in the Empress South Africa where she represents Gauteng.

The competition is an online beauty and brains competition for women with purpose. The competition aims to empower contests as it receives thousands of entries each year.

Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Kodisang said, “With various activities given, both to empower us and help us move forward to the next level, I moved to Semi-finals. Empress South Africa has empowered me in many ways and inspired me to do more.”

Kodisang said that she seeks to do the same for the youth, donating to the disadvantaged but most importantly, helping them develop new skills.

“I aim to provide them with skills which will guarantee a better future, not only for themselves but  also their communities.” Kodisang said that she has always known that she wants to be a beauty queen. In 2008 I won Miss Hendrick Van Der Bijl junior, I was in grade 1 at that time, my love for pageants had only started. I also won Miss ROSA in 2019, when I was doing my final year in Hoerskool Suiderlig High school. There was also a point in time when I told my mom I didn’t want to eat a lot of food because I wanted to be a model, I was only 4 years old by then.” She adds that she enjoys doing community service as she has provided help to countless orphanages, has a project later this month, where together with her team they will be renovating one of the orphanages. In her spare time Kodisang bakes, does fashion design, graphic design and she is also a makeup artist.

“I’ve been blessed enough to have a family and people who have always been supportive throughout my journey and even in tough times, I’ve learned to keep pushing, something that a lot of people don’t do. We need to remember that we miss 100% of the shots we don’t take, so if you want to do something, go for it.”

For more info about the pageant go to INSTAGRAM @empresssouthafrica.