MISS ZAMBIA 2022: Elizabeth gives out ultimate compliment

IF you are a model and Elizabeth Mwanza gives you a thumps up, then just know that you should consider it as the ultimate compliment.

The Miss Zambia 1992 winner says she is impressed with the calibre of models the country is producing now.

Speaking last Saturday at the Miss Zambia fashion show, to mark the end of the three-week boot camp for the 2022 Miss Zambia finalists at The Best Western Plus Hotel, Elizabeth, who is also national director for the pageant, said the current crop of models come with so much.

“They come as powerful individuals,” she says. “Women who are ready to make a change in other people’s lives, who are willing to make the Miss Zambia a stepping stone to make themselves a bigger and a better brand.”

The Miss Zambia beauty pageant will take place next Saturday at the Best Western Plus Hotel. Last year, it could not take off due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which was at its peak then.

“Nowadays, the women are very smart,” Elizabeth adds. “A long time ago, we entered pageants because we just wanted to be a Miss Zambia. But now, they come and they say, ‘I want to make a change’, and they mean it because they don’t come as a blank slate. They have a lot to offer in terms of who they are, what they are doing, what they have done and what they intend to offer in the future.”

This year’s Miss Zambia finalists are Celine Robine Mbunda, Taonga Kanyanta, Eutray Simwatachela, Febby Ngandwe, Venus Mary Vlahakis, Joyce Mwansa, Nancy Mwansa, Natasha Mapulanga, and Naboonga Mulenga.

During the boot camp, the finalists were trained and mentored in business, economy and also culture.

“They’ve had an incredible time, great experiences,” Elizabeth says. “They have been mentored in basic discipline which has been incredible, they have been mentored in beauty, fashion and anything you can think of.”

The fashion show was held under the theme: ‘Beauty Within.’ 

Elizabeth is encouraging Zambians, especially young women, to be proud of the beauty within them.

“I think this is definitely a new era for us, Africans,” she says. “We no longer hide behind the European ecstatic’s of who we are in beauty, in terms of our hair, our faces, and our body. As it is now, as an African, you can stand alone as an African star without changing who you are.”

This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Sunday 5, June 2022.