It seems like just yesterday that this unlikely beauty queen was crowned Miss Namibia 2015. With a background in sports science, Steffi van Wyk has owned the title of Miss Namibia with pride and although she had some stumbling blocks along the way, she managed to stand tall.
From criticism on the designers who were tasked to create a Miss World wardrobe for her to the highs and lows of the Miss World pageant, Steffi’s year may have been shorter than her predecessors but it was not short of excitement. ””’As the sporty and spunky beauty prepares to hand over her crown, she chats to The Weekender about pageant politics, controversy, and a possible career in entertainment…
Beautiful, challenging, fulfilling.
I didn’t have expectations. To be honest, I took a chance on entering and managed to become Miss Namibia. It’s just an amazing opportunity to be entrusted with being an ambassador for the country.
Obviously it was a major disappointment. I prepared with limited resources and devoted time and energy to prepare. Pageants like Miss World involve a lot of politics so I am just happy about the exposure for Namibia.
Although my year is ending, it doesn’t mean I am done with my charity work, and as you know my reign is only 11 months. But I will continue to do whatever it takes to help raise awareness for youth sports development. Right now, our paralympians need help to get to Rio and that’s my primary goal at the moment.
I still stand by my decision. I came from a sports world and didn’t know anyone from the fashion world. I didn’t know any designers and the South African designer is a friend of mine. I still say the Namibian designers could have approached me and offered to make garments for me. It should come from both ways.
I was driving in the Miss Namibia (sponsored) car dressed in track pants and a hoody when someone stood by the car and started taking pictures of me with their phone. I didn’t want to leave the car but somehow this person managed to come and take shots anyway. It was the funniest thing ever.
Everything is a learning process, although, my friend who is a make-up artist helped me a lot. She gave me some tutorials and a few basic looks that I could try out whenever. But you know, I’ve always liked to look beautiful despite my interest in sports so the transition to a ‘beauty queen’ wasn’t too hard. But there are some days that I want to go out without make-up and wearing a hoodie but as Miss Namibia, you somehow belong to the public and at any point someone is going to take a photo of you.
That’s a little bit too private for me to talk about.
I will continue setting myself up in the sports world and would like to continue helping the youth wherever I can in terms of sports development. I’ve made a few connections and grabbed networking opportunities. I will look into getting into the entertainment world, perhaps presenting.
