Confidence is beautiful
It is said one must do whatever it is with passion or not do it at all. This week tjil chats with local model and psychologist Fransiska Mbambo who is an exceptional example of this quote.
Fransiska Mbambo fell in love with beauty pageants after she entered a local competition when she was 11 years old. She tells tjil that the drive for her to do modelling at such a tender age was watching universal modelling competitions with her family, and how ordinary people transformed into queens in an instant. She never won that competition that year but her appetite for modelling and walking the catwalk was fulfilled. Today, she is a celebrated beauty pageant model although her journey was not easy. In 2011 she entered the Miss University of Namibia (Unam) beauty pageant but she did not make it into the top 10 contestants. She gave it two more attempts to enter the Unam pageant but failed dismally.
She picked herself up and decided to take part in local fashion shows and focus on her modelling career rather than letting one competition define her. “I got into my first fashion show by working with Melissa Poulton. She had auditions for an upcoming show she was planning and I decided to take part… and that’s how I got into fashion shows,” she recalled.
With a little experience from fashion shows, Mbambo started getting involved in many more local events and strutted for fashion show organisers such as Cathy Shikesho and Immanuel, and this allowed her to gain more knowledge in the fashion and pageant industries. Her big break came when she took part in Miss Grand Namibia 2015 and walked away with the Public Choice Award as well as being the first runner-up for the pageant.
“Initially, I was the second runner-up for Miss Grand Namibia but there were a few complications with the lady that had taken the first runner-up award and I was subsequently given that place,” she said. After she took part in Miss Grand Namibia she joined Miss Namibia 2013 Paulina Malulu’s modelling training workshop. “Paulina Malulu taught me a lot of things about the beauty industry and she still teaches me about what to do to this day,” she says.
Mbambo also took part Miss Youth Namibia in 2015 and didn’t make it to the top 12 contestants, but that did not deter from pursuing her dreams as a beauty queen. The same year she entered another contest in the form of Face of Namibia and won the competition.
“After I won the Face of Namibia pageant and because of my experience at Miss Grand Namibia I was granted an opportunity to take part in Face of the World pageant. The pageant was taking place in the UK and I didn’t get to go because I didn’t have the money or sponsorship to take part in it,” she said. She’s also the current second runner up for Miss Earth Namibia 2016 and took part at Miss Globe Beauty pageant in 2017. “I was the second runner up for Miss Globe and I also won the Miss Heritage prize at that pageant,” she said.
The beauty queen plans on doing her last beauty pageant this year and says she wants to focus on charity work in the future. “I might take part in a couple of pageants this year but besides that I am working on getting a charity organisation registered and dedicate myself to changing people’s lives,” she said. Mbambo believes a beauty queen has the power to change people’s lives and it’s not just about a pretty face. She says many girls are disadvantaged and don’t do so well as others because their parents don’t think taking part in modelling competitions is a career or a priority. Mbambo wants to train and mentor girls in her hometown Rundu. “I thank Paulina Malulu as she believed and paid close attention to me and sometimes she entered competitions for me when I didn’t believe myself. I am ready to pass that energy on,” she said.
June Shimuoshili
She picked herself up and decided to take part in local fashion shows and focus on her modelling career rather than letting one competition define her. “I got into my first fashion show by working with Melissa Poulton. She had auditions for an upcoming show she was planning and I decided to take part… and that’s how I got into fashion shows,” she recalled.
With a little experience from fashion shows, Mbambo started getting involved in many more local events and strutted for fashion show organisers such as Cathy Shikesho and Immanuel, and this allowed her to gain more knowledge in the fashion and pageant industries. Her big break came when she took part in Miss Grand Namibia 2015 and walked away with the Public Choice Award as well as being the first runner-up for the pageant.
“Initially, I was the second runner-up for Miss Grand Namibia but there were a few complications with the lady that had taken the first runner-up award and I was subsequently given that place,” she said. After she took part in Miss Grand Namibia she joined Miss Namibia 2013 Paulina Malulu’s modelling training workshop. “Paulina Malulu taught me a lot of things about the beauty industry and she still teaches me about what to do to this day,” she says.
Mbambo also took part Miss Youth Namibia in 2015 and didn’t make it to the top 12 contestants, but that did not deter from pursuing her dreams as a beauty queen. The same year she entered another contest in the form of Face of Namibia and won the competition.
“After I won the Face of Namibia pageant and because of my experience at Miss Grand Namibia I was granted an opportunity to take part in Face of the World pageant. The pageant was taking place in the UK and I didn’t get to go because I didn’t have the money or sponsorship to take part in it,” she said. She’s also the current second runner up for Miss Earth Namibia 2016 and took part at Miss Globe Beauty pageant in 2017. “I was the second runner up for Miss Globe and I also won the Miss Heritage prize at that pageant,” she said.
The beauty queen plans on doing her last beauty pageant this year and says she wants to focus on charity work in the future. “I might take part in a couple of pageants this year but besides that I am working on getting a charity organisation registered and dedicate myself to changing people’s lives,” she said. Mbambo believes a beauty queen has the power to change people’s lives and it’s not just about a pretty face. She says many girls are disadvantaged and don’t do so well as others because their parents don’t think taking part in modelling competitions is a career or a priority. Mbambo wants to train and mentor girls in her hometown Rundu. “I thank Paulina Malulu as she believed and paid close attention to me and sometimes she entered competitions for me when I didn’t believe myself. I am ready to pass that energy on,” she said.
June Shimuoshili
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