South Africa’s reigning Miss South Africa 2025, Qhawekazi Mazaleni, has opened up about the deeply personal experience that inspired her to pursue a career in Speech-Language Therapy. Not many people know the story of how I ended up becoming a speech therapist…Long story short, in matric (grade 12) I had no idea what speech therapy was. Rather than walking away from that experience, Qhawekazi chose to turn it into a mission. Qhawekazi studied Speech-Language Therapy and earned her bachelor’s degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Therapy from Stellenbosch University in 2023. Her recent address to the South African Speech Language and Hearing Association marked another meaningful milestone in her journey.