Founder and Patron of Miss Curvy Africa Mercy Mushaninga has said the pageant is not just about curves but pushing for women’s empowerment and promoting one’s country.
In an in-depth interview with Zimbuzz Mushaninga said they were also appealing to empowerment organisations such as EEG to support young women.
“This year we are pushing for Women Empowerment, and our theme is #ProjectMissCury for Women Empowerment. We are expecting our Curvy Finalists to be creative in terms of brand creation and being productive in their communities,” she said.
“It’s not about just the curves, it’s about the creativity that the models have in promoting Zimbabwe Tourism, country development, and economic empowerment, hence we are calling organizations like EEG and the Tourism sector to support young Women through Modeling.”
Miss Curvy started in 2011 with Zimbabwe being the first country to hold such a pageant that appreciates Curvy Women as Models.
Mushaninga was speaking after the recently held Miss Curvy Africa Harare auditions where they was an overwhelming turn up from all curvy corners of the City.
“The Harare turn up surpassed our expectations, since most Curvy women struggle with confidence because of the society that body shames them,” she revealed.
She said the judges were looking for models who can work on growing the economy through projects in their communities and someone confident, smart and innovative.
So far they have done auditions in Harare Metropolitan Province and will be going to all 10 provinces, in Harare 13 Curvy Models made it to the semi-finals and in other provinces, a shortlist will also be made to determine who goes for the semi-finals and ultimately battle for the finals.
Sixteen finalists are expected to go into boot camp.
For this year’s edition, various activities are planned for Project Miss Curvy for Women Empowerment.
“On the 3rd of July 2022, we will be doing our Fun Run where the models will be judged in the Most fitness model category followed by Curvy Kitchen Traditional Dish Day on the 21st of August where models will be cooking their favourite traditional dishes like nhopi, sadza rezviyo, mukuyu unedovi, and more depending on the area they come from,” said Mushaninga.
On the 27th of August, they will host Culture Festival Presentation, where models are expected to showcase their cultural pride through Dance, Music, Poetry and Fashion.
Added Mercy Mushaninga: “We have the Soccer Ambassadors Fun Day Soccer Match on the 4th of September where the models will go on the field and play soccer with fans, we would like the models to wear soccer jerseys of their favourite teams one local and one international.
“On September, 7 we are going to do charity work through our project called Models Against Hunger in Africa which gives back to orphans in the community by going back to our Chiefs since they have ana ‘Musarapavana’ in the communities who need food to feed the orphans.
Ultimately the grand finale will be on the 10th of September, and the following will be crowned in the respective categories:
1. Miss Curvy Africa-Zimbabwe Queen
2. Miss Curvy Africa-Zimbabwe Brand Ambassador
3. Miss Curvy Africa-Zimbabwe People’s Choice
4. Best in Fitness
5. Best in Culture
6. Best Traditional Dish
Share Your Comments