Top 43 Quotes & Sayings by Zozibini Tunzi

I always knew I had to find a way to be a catalyst for positive change.

Society has been conditioned for a very long time to see beauty as something that's been westernised.

As Miss South Africa, I cannot wait to make a contribution to important social causes.

Women are not one-dimensional, we come in different shapes and sizes, and we are all equally beautiful.

I think as a black woman, we have a lot of colorism going on around us, and we have a lot of racism as well.

One minute I was a PR intern, the next I was Miss South Africa.

I want the men of our nation to stand and take a stand against gender based violence.

We need to dismantle the systems that were built on racism, that were built on the backs of black people.

The platform Miss Universe has given me has exceeded my wildest expectations.

I am inspired by the likes of Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and those of their calibre. They understood fully what it means to be selfless and to stand for something.

We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.

I want children to look at me and see my face and I want them to see their faces reflected in mine.

Every time people ask me, 'Did you know that you would be Miss Universe?', my answer is, 'I didn't know that I would be Miss Universe because I didn't know it was possible for someone like me.'

Beauty is subjective, so people's opinions don't really matter.

You're not taught to be ambitious as a woman. And so when you are, sometimes you shy away from it or you're scared of voicing your opinions.

I believe that every single person was brought into this world for a purpose and that we should never leave the world as we found it, we should always strive to make a positive change.

I think we are afraid to take up space. We are afraid to be amazing. As soon as that fear leaves us and we start building that confidence of being unapologetic about being great, then i think we can get into that space of having a lot of women leaders who are just fearless.

I'm happy to see people being fearless and finally knowing that their voices mean something and that they stand for something.

For as long as I can remember, I always knew that I had to do something extraordinary with my life.

I think the most important thing... is leadership. It's something that has been lacking in young women and girls for a very long time, not because we don't want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity.

I knew that to live a fulfilling life I had to live a purposeful life; a life of service.

I'm so grateful to have been able to go to the world and tell the story of South African women and South African children. As I stood there for Miss Universe, I spoke about leadership and I spoke about empowering young women and young boys as well.

My life since the Miss Universe win has changed completely, in fact I do not think my life will ever be the same again.

Isn't it incredible how, you know, people have to fight to look like themselves. It's so crazy to me.

If learners do not have a roof under which they can learn we are already setting them up for failure.

I have been feeling the love of South Africans since I got crowned Miss South Africa, even before going to Miss Universe. Because of that, while I was walking on the Miss Universe stage, I knew that I was there as one body, but as I stood on that stage, I stood as millions of South Africans.

I believe that beauty means being comfortable with who you are.

Since sixth grade, I've been learning that the climate is deteriorating and the planet is dying, and it is up to us to keep our planet safe.

People speak about diversity and representation like the world is ready. But when it actually happens, people can't take change. They can't deal with it. Which is why we have things like cyberbullying, which is why people will send you nasty DMs, say nasty things in your comments. Because they're just not dealing with it, they're not ready.

I stand for the education of the South African youth, for equality and representation, as Miss South Africa, I cannot wait to make a contribution to these important social causes.

Coming from the Eastern Cape, it's one of the most poverty-stricken provinces in the country, so whether it be in education or something else, I'd like to go directly there and help because I've seen it first-hand and experienced it.

When you leave home, then you leave with the possibility of not returning.

I never realised how overwhelming it could be to be loved by people who don't even know you.

My thing about gender-based violence is to bring in the men. Because people would ask women, 'What do you think we should do to fight this?' And I'm like, 'Why are you asking me?' I'm not the perpetrator in most of the instances so why don't we call on the people that are?

My grandmother probably never thought she would see a day where, you know, a young black woman would be seen as a leader, which is incredible.

There's something about home that you just can't find anywhere else in the world.

Being black has been put in such a negative light. For such a long time, being black has been criminalized, but being black is something that I should be proud of because we have so many black people who have accomplished so many amazing things in the world.

It was a question I got asked often from my friends when they heard I had entered Miss S.A. - 'will you get a weave?' I always said I haven't changed myself before so why should I now change for a competition?

I think women should be in women's corner even more, wherever... across the world, women need to be in each other's corners.

We're really taught to be followers from a very young age - men lead and women follow.

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 to be beautiful.

I didn't enter Miss S.A. because I thought I was the most beautiful woman in S.A., I entered because it's one of the few platforms that give women the ability to lead and I knew I had a powerful voice and message to send out.

Women are constantly being taught how to defend themselves against attack from men. I would like to shift the perception. I want to say that that responsibility should no longer rest on the shoulders of women alone.