Oprah agrees with Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi: this is what we should be teaching young girls

One of the most nail-biting parts of any beauty pageant is when the celebrity host poses tough questions to the contestants, who have to answer them articulately and intelligently without missing a beat — or risk becoming a hilarious meme. (Just ask Miss Teen South Carolina, who has never lived down what she said on stage in 2007.)

Miss SA Zozibini Tunzi did our country proud with the insightful answers she gave during the Q&A sessions of the 2019 Miss Universe pageant. She not only impressed the judges, who awarded her the crown, but media maven Oprah Winfrey too.

Winfrey posted a message to the new Miss Universe on Twitter congratulating her on her victory, and saying she agreed with Tunzi's answer to the question: "What is the most important thing we should be teaching young girls today?"

“The most important thing we should be teaching young girls today is leadership," Tunzi replied.

"It's something that has been lacking in young girls and women for a very long time, not because we don't want to [lead], but because of what society has labelled women to be.

"I think we are the most powerful beings [in] the world and that we should be given every opportunity, and that is what we should be teaching these young girls — to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself.”

Winfrey then invited Tunzi to visit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, presumably so the beauty queen could share more inspirational words with the pupils at the school in Henley on Klip, Gauteng.

LISTEN | Zozibini Tunzi's message to SA after being crown Miss Universe