A Quote by Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters

I started a campaign in South Africa called Unbreakable where I empower women all over my country with skills and knowledge how to handle difficult situations, and I really hope to use the Miss Universe platform to elevate that cause.
Just as with the Miss South Africa platform, I understand the responsibility of being Miss Universe and the impact it has on millions of lives.
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.
With this job, always traveling on the plane and everything, I thought it would be really difficult to quit drinking on my own because you're always in situations where it's acceptable to have drinks. So I decided right after a show that I was going to go into treatment. I Googled a bunch of places, and I found this place that I went to in Cape Town, South Africa, called Stepping Stones. I stayed there for a month. It was really difficult-lots of talking and crying.
I helped found Artists for New South Africa, but it used to be called Artists for Free South Africa. Alfre Woodard and a bunch of us started this.
During the first campaign, one of my jobs as my husband's spouse was to travel around the country and really listen to women. There were voices that were new to me: the voices of military spouses, many of them women, and veterans.... I was overwhelmed by their challenges, and the notion that we as a country don't even know that these women exist, because we live in a country where one percent of the population protects the rights and freedoms of the other 99 percent of us. I thought that if I had the opportunity to serve as First Lady, I was going to use this platform to be their voice.
I actually quite miss being called Philippines because in the pageant it's normal for us to be called our country instead of our names. If somebody goes, 'Philippines!' I turn my head and I know that's me. Now they go 'Pia' or 'Miss Universe.' Of course that's better. But I also miss that, being called my country.
It's all about how you use your social platform. Right now, I'm just using mine to empower people, get my entertainment and my news. Other people use their platform for different things.
And now South Africa has finally woken up and it is doing great things. And if South Africa becomes the template to what AIDS is in the sub-Saharan continent, then all the other countries are going to follow suit. And Michel Sidibe, who spoke at the breakfast meeting this morning, was saying that there is so much hope for Africa now that South Africa has got its house in order.
There’s a saying in Africa, if you give a woman empowerment, you empower a community, you empower men, you empower man. When women become empowered and live in their strength it’s beneficiary to others, and I think as young women today we sometimes forget that we are standing on the struggle of other women. Those women had to stand up to make a change, and they were not popular, and now we’re making them unpopular again.
I think pageants like Miss Universe give young women a platform to follow the field we want, a platform to voice our opinions and make us stronger.
We want for everyone to be treated with dignity and respect in any situation. And so we've been thinking about how do we use our platform to empower women. More than half of our hosts are women, and many are using the extra income to start their own businesses.
Listen, trials and difficult times can help you become better and move forward, or they can cause you to step backward. It's how you handle those situations that shows who you can become.
South Africa is regarded as being an extraordinarily important country - not just for South Africa, but for Southern Africa, for the BRICS, working now in a new way in which power is becoming more shared - thankfully.
Winning the Miss Universe title was not only a personal victory but a victory for the whole rainbow nation. I couldn't be more proud to represent South Africa. I hope this will inspire every single girl with a dream, that with hard work and dedication any dream is reachable.
Saks helps to empower women through how they look and feel - and Bumble wants to give all women a platform to connect with other empowered women, whether that's in dating, friendship, or business.
I think Miss Universe is wonderful platform that we promote diversity and women empowerment. Why? Because we are achieved women who have stories, who have passions, who have careers.
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