Who:

Lwazi Madlopa -- @lwazimadlopa -- 5'5.5" -- South African.

Where:

South Africa

Agencies:

Topco Models (Cape Town)

-- Did you always want to be a model? Tell us about how you were discovered.

I didn’t always want to be a model, the very first occupation I wanted to be was actually a nurse and then a professional netball player. I played every sport a girl could — except swimming I hated it. I was an incredibly sporty child and teenager and for most of my years I thought that was the only thing I was good at. Sports always came naturally to me, it felt like second nature the way I was always excelling at many different sports. If anything, Netball was my first love.

In the same breadth of me loving sports so much, I found my passion for modelling but didn’t allow myself to believe that I could. I really loved fashion and dressing up as a child and discovered the world of fashion through magazines around the house. From a very early age I was always told by family members or strangers in passing that I look like a little “model” but I think I attribute that to being really tiny all my life haha! I was always made fun of by how skinny I was a child (even now in adulthood) and told I was just “skin and bones” or that I look like a "stick", which back then it definitely was the culture to talk about a young girl’s body that way as it unfortunately was the norm. But even with that still existing I grew to love the idea of being a model and that was through fashion magazines and watching runway shows. The one fashion show that ignited and solidified my passion for being a model was Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show - as it is for many women who are models today. I watched that show every year and would find any and every living picture on the internet and make it my wallpaper! Call it an obsession. But really I was in such awe of these incredibly beautiful women exuding such confidence and power in the way that they walked, talked, and moved that I had never seen before. I felt like I discovered something extraordinary. As a child those shows really left a huge impression on me and I watched with such fierce intent I felt like I was right there on the catwalk. I would envision myself one day becoming a woman and doing what they do and knew in my heart (with every fibre of my little being) that I would be a model.

I was discovered as a model when I moved to cape Tow to pursue my studies. The first time I was scouted I was walking on the road after having just bought a cone of ice cream when a lady drove into the the street in her car, rolled down her window and started honking at me yelling “Stop! Stop! You’re really beautiful, can you hold on for a sec!" She hailed me down and parked her car and asked me a bunch of questions on if I was interested in modelling and would like to schedule a meeting with me.

The second time I was scouted I was waitressing on one of the busiest nights of the month and two ladies asked me if I would like to model for their agency (the agency I am now signed with). I took off my apron and they began snapping away pictures of me as I left so many tables unattended. Loved every minute of that haha!

-- What was your most recent impulsive buy?

My most memorable impulsive buy was expensive tickets to a music festival called Rolling Loud in Munich (I live in South Africa). Those tickets were so expensive considering I was a South African earning in Rands but it was part of a tripped I had planned to visit one my friends in Munich and Vienna that all in all turned into the best and most memorable experience of my 20s as I got to visit one of my most cherished friends and experience the best Euro Summer I’ve had so far. Wouldn’t change a thing.

-- What other passions do you have aside from modeling?

Aside from modeling, I’ve actually just finished my degree in Strategic Brand Communications which I am really passionate about. I love the world of marketing and branding, it lights me up. Additionally, I really love videography and cinematography and I hope one day I can dabble into that world and create really beautiful things and express myself that way as I have always wanted to. Cinematography really speaks to me and I appreciate its art form in a way words may never allow.