17 Feb 2020

When God moves through people, it is hard not to recognise the radiance that transforms everything around it.

One such Godly person is One Segojwe, the director of Beauty Hub Academy Finishing School, who is always a marvel to watch and listen to when she inspires young girls.

When she speaks, you hear passion resonating with purpose and destiny.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born, I sanctified you,” she said at an event to celebrate Valentine’s Day hosted by Stepping Stones International (SSI) and Beauty Hub Academy Finishing School in Mochudi on February 14. Segojwe said the words were what drove her everyday to inspire and encourage girls to be what God created them for.

“I formed Beauty Hub in 2017 and from as early as I was 10-years-old, I took part in beauty pageants. This organisation allows me to groom young girls and share with them my journey,” she said.

“I want to empower young girls in the beauty industry to pursue the many various sectors this industry has and lay a foundation that is set on God,” she said.

She said it was important for young girls to be trained on how to carry themselves, and to have confidence by walking on the path that would lead them to their dreams. “We have pageant and modelling coaching, public speaking and presentation skills, basic etiquette and make-up artistry among others,” she said.

Segojwe said there were many young girls who were battling low self-esteem, adding that her drive came from wanting to see them walk and speak with confidence in everything they did.

She encouraged young girls to never let a man define who they were in life.

“Some of them think because they have money and come from better households, it gives them the right to control and dictate who and what you can become. But I have news for you, only God dictates who and what you become, and what you say and think is what you become,” Segojwe said.

Segojwe noted that in most cases, young girls allowed circumstances of how they were born, parents or household to define who they were.

“Whether you are a result of rape or your parents abandoned you, it does not matter, do not let it define who you are inside because what you put inside of you is what comes out, and if God is your centre everything around will not have a choice but to conform to what God commands,” she said.

For her part, Gorata Koitsiwe, assistant life skills officer at SSI, said the event was meant to be the first step of many in restoring the dignity of the girl child.

She said over the years, culture and religion had given people different perspectives of how the girl-child was viewed, explaining that the event was a platform to help girls understand and know who and what they were.

Koitsiwe said it was important to instil a positive image into girls from a young age so they could stand firm in the world that had constantly cut them down. ENDS