One of the proudest moments of my life was winning the Beauty with a Purpose segment of the prestigious Miss World Pageant. While it was absolutely wonderful to be fast tracked into the Top 40, it was also a personal triumph.

I felt affirmed. I was thrilled that my tireless effort in helping end the stigma attached to mental illness had been validated. And this had happened on a global platform, in a segment of Miss World that has been going since 1972, and applauds the efforts of contestants to make a social difference in their community. 

Mental illness is a subject that is very close to my heart. I devoted the year of my reign as Miss South Africa 2020 to working towards finding ways to ensure that people with mental illness are not shunned, forgotten and humiliated. I also wanted to use my public platform to let those who suffer from mental illness know they need not feel ashamed or silenced while also providing practical information on how and where they could seek relief.

I saw success in the overwhelming public support of a weekly IGTV Live show called Mindful Mondays that I hosted. Each Monday I hosted a show, along with a mental health expert sourced by the South African Anxiety and Depression Group, to discuss a wide range of topics dealing with mental health. We raised important issues and provided information about where to get help. My IGTV sessions reached more than 40 000 people a week, with over a million viewers by October 2021.

Talking about mental health is critical at this time. People in the space in which we work are not immune to mental health issues. 2022 began with the shocking death by suicide of our friend Cheslie Kryst, Miss USA 2019. It is my fervent hope that, globally, this conversation around an absolutely critical subject, continues to be had.

Bullying is a form of mental torture that results in mental illness. I should know. I was mercilessly bullied as a child, which led to feeling excluded, having low self worth and general sadness and loneliness.

To share my experience and put bullying under the spotlight so that children feel free to report it, parents recognise it and teachers do something to stop it, I wrote a book.

Called Shudu Finds Her Magic, this book moved to the number one best selling children’s book in South Africa within two weeks.

I want to thank The Miss World Organisation for the profoundly meaningful gift of selecting my advocacy campaign as one of the winning Beauty with a Purpose projects. It means the world to me. Thank You.

I have had a glorious year as Miss South Africa 2020. I intend to continue to work in the field that I dedicated the year of my reign to: ending the stigma attached to mental illness while continuing the conversation around the topic that brings so much depression, sadness, misery, despair – and, if left untreated, death.

I urge all global citizens to take up the cudgels and help fight the scourge that is mental illness.