Sphelele Azande Shandu is only 17 years old but she have mastered the art of facing her insecurities and dealing with low self esteem using modeling as a weapon to boost her confidence.
It all started when she was a little girl, between the age of 5 to 10 years she was chubby but as soon as she reached her teenage years she lost a lot of weight which made everyone around her to ask her questions about her weight which made her uncomfortable even her parents were worried sick about their daughter which resulted in losing self confidence. While she was going through that phase she saw the than Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi on the internet, she immediately fell in love with her confidence, she was inspired and wanted to also follow in her foot steps
Sphelele Azande Shandu is only doing Grade 11 at Thanduyise High School at Ngwelezane. She loves accounting because in a way it helps her to relax and she loves the idea of being financially literate. Because of her talent and love for drawing she is also into Engineering Graphic Design, She also loves English because it assist her with improving her knowledge as she loves reading a lot.
Though she does not engage herself in any formal extra mural activities, however on her spare time she draw designs of dresses and read a lot of books, novels in particular.
Her love for fashion and beauty made her to fall even more inlove with modeling as these two compliments each other. At age 15 she entered her first beauty pageant competition “Miss Teen Eskhawini Summer”, for the first time she was introduced in socializing with people from different backgrounds. She learnt a lot from her fellow mates through team building activities that taught them to work as a team as they were tasked with various activities like requesting for sponsorships. She also learnt about the importance of commitment, she recalls that her first day as a finalist was horrible but during the build up activities she got better and dedicated herself more into the programmes. The photoshoots sessions made her to fall more inlove with her body. The whole experience made her to discover a new family and new friends. She reached to the Top 5 and won her first titles as a Directors Choice and Charity Queen.
Her participation at the beauty pageants introduced her to Phumelela Education Training Projects, the institution is close to her heart because of how it is able to reach out to the communities with various assistance. It helps teenagers to be a better version of themselves through their empowerment programmes especially on the issue of mental health.
Sphelele Azande Shandu’s advice to those who are coming before her is to not let anything get in their way of reaching their goals. She recalls a lot of negative remarks that were said about modeling which she did not pay attention to, and she is glad she did not listen to those remarks because had she allowed those negative remarks she would probably be suffering from low self esteem or something worse than that.
“Being a model requires you to be friendly and be able to control your emotions so the challenges I have faced is having to take rejections from people when asking for donations some people would be blantaly mean for no reason” Sphelele Advise the aspiring models. And she also notes that getting votes is also a challenge because sometimes you have to text people and nag them so that they can vote.
Besides pageants she uses her beauty to promote brands, especially those who are related to beauty and fashion. She is also highly involved with charity projects.
She describes herself as someone who loves progress in everything that she does hence she is so committed in participating in anything that will uplift her career. In the next 5 years she sees her self in a University of her choice perusing Medical studies and having a solid name in the modeling industry like having to be an ambassador for a national fashion store.
Her love for animals is leading her towards having a strong desire to practice as a veterianan, it pains her to see animals being hurt hence the idea of being a vet so she can play her part in saving the animals.
She draws her inspiration from the concept of indepency, success and happiness.
