Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa Archives | A Million Beautiful Pieces

Here I am in the final week of semi final judging for the Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa Women Empowerment Programme. I’m not nervous. I’m both excited and nostalgic as I think about my best moments so far.I’ve lost weight and found my energy and strength again. I’ve been forced to take better care of myself and that has been good for me. In my motivational talks to women, I always drive home the point that we must be kind to ourselves first but I did not know how to do that before this competition.

I’ve also met amazing people. The staff and owners at the BloBar and Meyersdal Nail and Beauty Studio with their vibrancy and laughter was always refreshing. My cousins too have taught me so much about belief and empowerment and love. Through their companies, Shipping and General Transport and Supreme Rubber Rollers they gifted me the opportunity to “do me” by sponsoring me for this competition.

My sister-in-law took care of all my social media so that I could juggle everything else. My mum, my aunts and my girlfriends pulled together outfits like fairy godmothers. My husband and children have been so supportive and respectful of the times I had to be away from them.

People have written to me or called me or stopped me at events to tell me that they admire me for doing this competition at this age and as a mother of three. Women have shared that they are re-evaluting their lives and weighing up what challenges they would like to tackle.

It makes me glad to know that my journey to explore my womanhood in this way is meaningful to other women too. It’s been a wonderful opportunity and I am proud of myself for doing this.

I also recognise too that I am not on a journey of discovery because I already found myself at the age of twenty-two years old. I knew then who I was and what I was made off.

This journey this year has been about showing my second daughter Talisa that life is more than just facing down one challenge after another. It’s also about enjoying the moment and having a sense of adventure. I got to step out of my comfort zone and meet people I would not ordinarily have met.

The other semi-finalists are each amazing and powerful in the own right. I couldn’t have been amongst a group of more beautiful ladies both inside and out.

So here’s to them; for their drive, their determination, their friendship and our sisterhood. I will be sad that after Friday we will never all be together again. The top twenty-five Mrs South Africa finalists will be announced and their lives will never be the same.

In all the possibilities that lie before me, I am sure of this: I’ve given all of me to the people that count and to the opportunities that were presented to me. I know for sure who I am, and that is my gift to me.

Be True To You, Always.

Yes, I’ve entered Mrs South Africa. No, I am not having a mid-life crisis or a re-visit to my years when I was a girl that dabbled a little in modelling.

I am in fact having a reawakening; a renewal if you will. I will be forty this year and I have spent all my adult life dedicated to giving my daughter Savannah, who is a person with special needs, a life of dignity and value while building our family.

I have raised my second daughter, Talisa with the understanding that life is not always fair but you still have to be fair.

Over the years Talisa watched me patiently teach her sister a great many lessons. Some of which Savannah grasped and other lessons she may never learn.

Talisa understands the fight of a mother who didn’t quit. She knows STRONG because she is raised by a strong woman and is a sibling to a strong woman.

This year Talisa will also know that strength is also Beautiful not only tired. Strength is not only long suffering but it is also Joyful. Strength is not only the ability to keep going when life doesn’t go your way but it is also the ability to do it with Grace.

Being a mother to a child with special needs already made me a strong and confident woman but the chance to compete in the Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa Women Empowerment programme makes me a strong and powerful woman with a cause beyond my community.

My community are the mothers who are caring for adult children. Those mothers who quit careers to become carers. Or who are working hard to provide for their families while coping with facing forever with an adult who will never be able to care for themselves. They are the woman who are left behind (posted on, 15 February 2018 http://amillionbeautifulpieces.co.za/2018/02/15/sue-robins-left-behind/).

My community are the mothers who make quiet sacrifices yet continue to uplift their communities. The mothers who continously fight for their child’s right to dignity and quality of life and do it without the need for recognition or being hailed as a hero. The mothers whose lives are bound to their child with special needs in ways no one else will understand, and they accept that no one ever will. Yet everyday they rise to do it all again.

For my community, and proudly as Talisa’s mother, I am excited to join with the 99 other #bonfide women as we jointly pursue the crown in honour of all women. Sounds strange doesn’t it, but it is what only women can do… Work together even though we already know there will be one winner. As women, we understand that often in life it is the journey that is often the prize, not the destination. However, the destination is a lovely reward.

For Talisa, I hope this year you will learn that being a woman is fun and exhilarating. I hope that as I put myself first, you too will learn to do the same.

For Savannah I hope as I pursue a dream, you will find your motivation again. Life is hardest on you but you are by far the strongest woman I know. I promised you “I would not change you for the world, I’d change the world for you” (author unknown), and I will always hold true to that.

For my readers, I hope you stay with me on this journey as I rediscover the joys of being a woman who already has the heart of a warrior.

Why? Because women need women, and for once I need to do something that doesn’t need reason or logic. I still get the opportunity to share myself in the way that is true to who I am, by inspiring and working alongside others for a cause.

I need you to please follow me and interact with me on the following platforms: To vote for me: Annelize I’ll add this later at my laptop.

To vote for me:

Please like the Mrs South Africa Facebook Page
Like/love my picture on their page
SMS “SABC3 DESIRAE PILLAY” to 35959

All the votes count towards getting into the top 25 in June 2018.

Thank you for following me on this journey and for your support.

#thisisme

Images credit: Brendan Croft & Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa.