WHEN she underwent chemotherapy years ago and lost all her hair, she was too afraid to hold her son because she thought that she looked like a ghost and would scare him.
Now, eight years into remission, local cancer survivor and motivational speaker, Yolanda Bukani, has launched a modelling academy, Black Excellence Models, after years of struggling with self-esteem issues, something that only worsened when she was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012.
“I have always thought about one day running a modelling academy because growing up, I was a tomboy. I really struggled with confidence and my self-esteem throughout my schooling career was very low. I was an athlete in school and a 100m sprinter, so I was very athletic and would always get teased for being fit.
“I remember in high school, a friend of mine even said that I would never get a boyfriend because I was like one of the boys,” she explained.
Bukani, who is also the founder of a non-profit organisation, The Yolanda Bukani Foundation, aimed at educating and empowering families affected by life-threatening illnesses, said that losing all her hair, even her eyebrows and eyelashes, made her confidence plummet.
“This was very difficult for me because I was a student and, back then, I associated beauty with appearance. I even remember there were days when I couldn’t go to lectures because I was afraid of my wig blowing away.
“I didn’t hug people because I was always so scared that my wig would fall off.
“My doctors and nurses at the hospitals used to tell me how beautiful I was being bald and I would just break down and cry because I didn’t feel beautiful,” she said.
Bukani explained that when she received a stem cell transplant in 2013, one of her doctors said that she should consider modelling because she was beautiful and looked like a model.
“I cried so much and got really upset because I couldn’t understand why she would say that when I was lying there without any facial hair and nothing on my head.
“I was sick and skinny and wouldn’t even look at myself in the mirror. I didn’t see what she saw, but now, when I look at some of the pictures I took as journal entries for my son, I see the beauty that the doctors and nurses spoke about when I was fighting for my life. I see a young, courageous woman fighting for her life for the sake of her son and for me there is nothing in this world more beautiful than that.”
She said that, since then, her idea of beauty had changed and she realised that it comes from within and has nothing to do with appearance, but having a good heart, being able to smile through adversity and just being a good and kind person.
“I even entered the presenter search on SABC 3 in 2018, because I wanted to encourage young and old women fighting cancer and show them that they were still so beautiful, even without hair and with all the scars from the biopsies and operations. That is why I started Black Excellence Models. Our motto is that you should come as you are. It doesn’t matter what size, height, colour or nationality you are.
“We will support you in your journey towards gaining back your confidence.”
Black Excellence Models, funded by The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA’s) youth development programme, will not only offer modelling services, but also life skills, etiquette classes, healthy lifestyle programmes and public speaking lessons.
Registration will take place on Saturday, and Sunday, March 6-7, at the Tramways Building and sessions are scheduled to start on April 1.
More details can be found the academy’s social media pages: Instagram:- @blackexcellencemodels_ and Facebook: Black Excellence Models.
