Model Olorato Erica going places

The God fearing young woman who was born and schooled in Lobatse, was raised in the Guta Ra Mwari (Zvimiso) church. Straight from the streets of Woodhall, she went to school at Lesedi la pela before completing her secondary school at Crescent School. In school, she loved sport and took part and excelled in basketball and athletics. She started with beauty pageants in kindergarten but only fell in love with modeling in 2010. After completing her Form five, she had not performed too well and took a gap year to re-write her IGCSE examinations. She then had time to explore her other interest and that is when she found her passion in modeling. After re-writing, she went on to do short courses in business, entrepreneurship, insurance and Portuguese. This kept her busy and gave her competitive leverage in the work sector but her love for modeling remained unchanged. Moalosi says that the journey to modeling was stressful although it paid off in the end. She started off as a beauty queen and was a finalist in Miss Teen Universe Botswana Finalist in 2008 and 2013, and Miss Vision 2016 in 2013. In 2016 she made it to the top 16 of Miss Botswana and was crowned Miss Global International Botswana in 2016. She joined Gemstones in 2011. “A friend of mine believed in the potential God bestowed in me and paid for my auditions at the time. Little did I know that experience would change my life! I was top four in Gemstones and had my first magazine feature.” To date, her career highlights include Gaborone Fashion Week (2012), Independence Fashion Show (2013), Masa Square Hotel Fashion Show (2014-2017), President's Day Competitions (2014-2018), Fashion Without Borders Fashion Show (2015-2017), Woolworths Fashion Show (2016), Mascom Derby Fashion Show (2017), Forever Mark Diamond Showcase (DeBeers) Africa (2017), True Love Magazine Night Of Style Fashion Show (2018), which was held in South Africa, Zimbabwe Fashion Week (2018) and Africa Fashion International Johannesburg Fashion Week (2018) as well as Look Of The Year Competition (2018),where she was chosen out of the whole of Africa to represent Botswana in China. Moalosi says that for one to excel as a model, they should preserve and also be consistent, passionate, authentic, disciplined and professional. She points out that Botswana is still lagging behind in growing the modeling industry, but there is progress. “We need to stick together. Let's nurture and grow the talent we have. Furthermore, more seminars should be held to equip aspiring models with knowledge and skills about the industry. Just because one is tall, it does not mean one can be a model. But stakeholders such as the Ministry Of Youth Sports And Culture Development have made effort and other companies and individuals should come on board.” Moalosi says that in modeling one day in you’re in and the next you are out. “My secret weapon is prayer. I believe in the beauty of my dreams. The fact that I may not be where I aspire to be also keeps me going. I aspire to be better than Model Erica from 2011 and grab every opportunity that comes my way.” She advises aspiring models to never give up on their dreams. She also says that it is important to do research and that rejection is sometimes necessary because it is meant to be a form of motivation. She adds: “Confidence is the best outfit you can wear as a model.”