When Zozibini Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe this past Sunday evening she took us into a historical moment. For the first time in the history of those pageants, Black women hold the crowns for Miss Universe, Miss America, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA.
We watched the newest winner’s Instagram page go from a couple hundred thousand followers to more than 2 million in 48 hours. And it makes sense. People want to look at her. Because even before being crowned Miss South Africa this year, she was serving queen of beauty realness daily.
“Society has previously been programmed in such a way that there’s nothing beautiful about being black. The furthest you are from being fair skinned the uglier you are,” she wrote in an Instagram post in September.
“That unfortunately has been the universal standard of beauty and it is very difficult for some people to unlearn it. I am going into Miss Universe with hopes to shatter whatever misconception and stereotypes people have of beauty. To whoever else thinks that Black is not beautiful I cannot wait for you to experience the depth and magic of a Black woman. I am a daughter of the African soil and I am beautiful. See your face reflected in mine,” she continued.
In that post aimed at all the negative commentary about her being a Black Miss South Africa (yes, we caught that irony too), she showed that her beauty runs deep. Zozibini Tunzi is not just a pretty face, she is a beautiful soul. But for good measure, she’ll still give you beauty icon realness. So we’ve highlighted just 10 of the moments that our new Miss Universe gave us aspirations in skin, hair, makeup. And we wait adoringly to see more.
