A Nation’s Pride: Miss Botswana 2021, Palesa Molefe

In a year that the nation experienced more sorrow than joy, Palesa Molefe is certainly akin to the Biblical metaphor, the ‘balm in Gilead’! Arguably the rosiest flower to blossom on the world stage since Mpule Kwelagobe won Miss Universe in 1999, the Mochudi marvel is just what the doctor ordered!

In the last two weeks, the 22-year-old has garnered support across the world; one only has to listen to her to see why.

Not only has she captivated online audiences with her natural beauty and sunny disposition, but as well with an effortless magnetism in front of the camera; the multi-talented starlet speaks from the heart and with conviction.

Looking spectacular in her ‘Beauty with a purpose’ YouTube video, the actress-cum-writer/producer, introduces her ‘Le ojwa le sale metsi’ (Nurture and develop them while they’re young) project, which is focusing on children’s mental health. She explains, “It was birthed by the need to ensure that our children aim to achieve better based on the lessons that they learnt when they were younger.”

In the video, the ‘Children’s welfare advocate’, as she refers to herself, motivates young schoolgirls on the value of sound mental health.

“Mental health refers to the state of our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It impacts the way we feel, the way we act, the way we think and this makes it a very important aspect of our lives … how we can become great contributors of our society. And, I believe without positive mental health, it is difficult and almost impossible to unlock your true potential.”
In her introductory video, Molefe proudly presents our beautiful country and names her mom as her biggest inspiration.

“I was raised by a fighter, a woman who not only fought for herself but for everyone around her. She sees the good in everyone… I am a product of love, peace and cultural traditions, and in that I had to discover how I wanted to navigate the world.”

With almost 30, 000 followers on MobStar, so far the 2021/22 queen has successfully made it into the Talent Semi Final, and if the positive comments from the diverse audience on YouTube during Group 8’s Head to Head Challenge (whose winner will be decided upon by the public) are anything to go by, Molefe should emerge the winner in her group, and ultimately the final challenge.

The group comprised Botswana, Estonia, St Lucia, Iceland, Italy and Tunisia.

This week, the President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, endorsed the gorgeous queen after she was named No 3 on the multimedia fast track segment of the Miss World competition.

Voice Woman spoke to Miss Botswana organisers, Showtime Entertainment’s Pageantry Unit Director, Kaone Moremong.

Give us a brief background of your journey with the reigning queen.

As organisers, we started with virtual auditions where we met Palesa among 72 other applicants.

Our panel of audition judges selected our top 30 then hosted a fashion show where another panel selected the top 16, who we boot camped to get to know them – a boot camp that mirrored the current Miss World one to an extent.

We intensively trained all 16 ladies on different skill sets as if they were all going to Miss World because we knew we wouldn’t have enough time to once the winner was crowned.

After crowning, we concentrated on Palesa’s intensive training while completing all the Miss World participation regulations.

How did you go about preparing her for Miss World?

She had training on public speaking, facilitated by Kgobero Kehuparetse – a Toastmaster, walking and etiquette training by Beauty Hub Academy and fitness training by Jomo Kgaolo at Jacks Gym.

For her grooming, we engaged Fifi Fab Beauty and her wardrobe is from various local designers who came on board to sponsor it.

Palesa’s popularity and appeal is obvious.She is proudly demonstrating to the entire world that Botswana are a progressive people, yet in the past week, Batswana have not exactly reciprocated that gesture online. As the team managing her brand, are you not worried that could possibly tarnish her good image? What are you doing to address that?

We do worry a lot about the unfortunate misbehaviour of some of our people.

Cyber bullying is a serious thing and we don’t take it lightly.

It affects her mental state as she is the one out there with the ladies being bullied by our people and makes it difficult for her to socialise freely with others so she has to do a lot of PR and apologising for the nation when she should be concentrating on the competition.

The lass stands a good chance of winning; will your journey with her end on the 16th if she wins?

Should she win, her Miss Botswana contract no longer exist, the Miss World organisation takes over her management.

Our journey with her doesn’t end though, we believe in building her brand, we have gone beyond the crown and now have a deeply personal relationship as well.

She is and will always be our Miss Botswana 2021.

As the organizing team, she is our first queen to manage. We have worked before with the licence holders as service providers and when afforded this opportunity this year, we decided that for the first time, we wouldn’t just host the event but also manage the queen, her princesses and other finalists.

This is all inspired by our dedication to empowering as many young ladies as possible and to ensure that we instil the pride that this national brand should be associated with.

And her daily routine…

We wake her up at 0430hrs, chat to her, as she gets ready, about activities of the day.

They only get the next day’s schedule the night before, so we assist where we can with rehearsals and ideas of how to present any challenge they have.

Help select clothes as they are given dress themes everyday, liaise with her team leader about any other assistance we need, like if she isn’t feeling well, or having difficulties with the App, or just understanding the criteria used for judging or voting.

We basically provide all the support she needs from this side.