Crown business

As a Mrs South Africa finalist, local resident Lorna Greyling, went on to represent Africa in the Mrs Transcontinental Pageant in 2017 after which she won the world title in America in the same year. She now is the pageant director of the Kormorant Miss/Mr Hartbeespoort, known for being the first beauty pageant and youth empowerment programme to be held on top of a mountain. Lorna is no newcomer to the business world.

She trained as a somatologist after matric and then opened her own Day spa and Wellness centre in Melville, Johannesburg. Since winning the titles, doors have opened for her and she became a TV-presenter, public speaker and actress. However, she never realised how much work a beauty pageant would be. It takes much more than a pretty face and just to smile and wave. “As a beauty pageant finalist you must be able to handle criticism, rejection and gossip. You may even lose friends. Not all women support those who follow their dreams.” Lorna says as a Mrs South Africa finalist, she had to raise funds and awareness for different campaigns, find sponsors and still try and look good and presentable while doing this. “It takes courage to approach a sponsor and to take ‘no’ for an answer up till ten times a day and still keep trying. It was emotionally draining.” Pageants taught her though that if at first you do not succeed, you should just keep on trying.

Beauty pageants really
empowered me to
become all that God
created me to be.

Lorna Greyling

Lorna became involved with the youth development programmes in Hartbeespoort, after she saw a need for teenagers to discover themselves and to help them understand what their goals in life is. “It is important to display self-confidence and wisdom when working with teenagers”, says Lorna a mother of three daughters of whom two are teenagers. She has been happily married to Nick Greyling, a sound engineer with MNet for 19 years. They met in 1999 during the Rugby World Cup in London. “The choices we make from a place of self confidence is totally different from those made from a place of low self-esteem. The first choice is based on faith and the second on fear.”

“Beauty pageants really empowered me to become all that God created me to be. I used to be shy and I battled with public speaking and crowds. I lacked self-confidence. But through my involvement with these pageants my ability to believe in myself grew.

It is never too late to learn skills and at the age of 39 Lorna took up acting, public speaking and TV presenting. In 2018 Lorna was invited to the New York film academy and starred in her first film as Sarah Roos, in Blouwyn, a romantic comedy directed by Johnny Taute which will be launched in June this year. She can also be seen on DSTV channel 173 as a TV-presenter as well as on her own YouTube channel where she presents Stories of Hope. She also established her own NPO called Woman- Power, a platform to create jobs and opportunities  `through training provided by WomanMPower. “Pageants do not necessarily open new doors for you, but they do lead you to interesting people and places as you are invited to numerous functions.”

As the owner of a day spa in Johannesburg, she took girls from the streets and trained them. Some are managers and other owners of their own salons today. In her youth development programme workshops the teenagers are trained in acting, public speaking, ramp modelling and skin care. “Some of them are doing extremely well and have started their own charities and businesses. They visit children’s homes and animal shelters. I am immensely proud of them.”