[LOCUTOR]

Track thirty-nine, unit seventeen, beauty is in the eye of the beholder

[APRESENTADORA]

I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me with my kind of skin and my kind of hair was never considered beautiful, I think it is time that stops today. Growing up in South Africa what were the messages that were sent about the standards of beauty and what was considered beautiful?.

[ZOZIBINI TUNZI]

You know, I think it's just opening up a magazine, paging through it and not seeing women who look like me, switching on TV and not seeing women who look like me so I think there was just a lack of representation growing up whenever they mentioned beautiful women. I never really you know picked up on women who, who looked like me and I think I just really grew up in a society where colorism was such a big issue and you know the furthest you are away from light-skinned the furthest away you are from beauty and so I felt it was so important for me to say that because I knew there were women who related to it and I knew and more especially that there were little girls as well who you know would relate to it and it was such a special moment for me because I really wanted to get that message across

[APRESENTADORA]

And in fact during the competition you were advised to wear a wig, you chose not to take that advice, can you talk about why?

[ZOZIBINI TUNZI]

I did get a lot of advices because then you say you're gonna do I was gonna do my Miss South Africa at first and people said "oh are you gonna put on you know artificial hair" and I at first I was questioning why people would ask me this and then I realize it's because my kind of hair has never really been a standard of beauty

[APRESENTADORA]

Natural hair is not something you see in a beauty pageant.

[ZOZIBINI TUNZI]

Natural hair, you know with it's on beauty pageants or, you know any other beauty platform for that matter and it was so important for me to keep this hair because if I changed it then it would mean I believe that my hair is not worthy enough to be called you know beautiful […]