Nasizo Mndende was the finalist on Miss Grace South Africa 2019, which is a beauty competition with a difference – empowering and embracing differences in women from across the continent but Nasizo is more than just a pretty face. 

She is also the chairwoman of the Bomvana Youth Forum (BYF), which was launched at Ganizule High School at Ntlonyana Village in Elliotdale, South Africa. She is an activist and youth leader and founder of Inciyo a program that encourages abstinence to teenage pregnancies and HIV and AIDS.

She is a community developer and specialises in supporting young girls with some of the challenges that they face every day. 

She was recently a finalist on Miss Grace South Africa 2019Her statement for the Miss Grace South Africa competition was ‘Womandla: Case001 100%Silence’ which provided a narrative on gender-based violence. She has been at the forefront of creating awareness on the impact of gender-based violence and coordinating events to create awareness of its impact and solutions to put an end to it. 

Nasizo is currently coordinating a cultural festival, which will be hosted in September and will bring together artists, communities and businesses to showcase the work that they are doing in uplifting their communities and raising awareness on gender-based violence. 

The festival will include a camp for young girls and boys, which will focus on upskilling and empowering them in understanding social issues that need to be changed. 

Nasizo also runs the Inciyo program, which promotes abstinence, builds life skills and encourages heritage upbringing to both young boys and girls with aims to making them aware of the dangers that face them, like crime, teen pregnancy, HIV and AIDS. She believes prevention is better than cure and says educating them while they are still young will save them from being affected by many societal issues. 

Growing up in poverty fuelled her desire to contribute towards changing communities and influencing the lives of young people. Her desire with this work is to make sure that history does not repeat itself, and to do all that she can to influence young people to realise that they can have a better future. 

Her vision is to realise growth in young people who are also going to be future leaders of tomorrow. She gives back because she wants other people to be inspired to do the same.