A NOTE FROM ZOZI

To me, ambition is the determination to achieve whatever it is that our hearts truly desire.

Becoming Miss Universe was a solid reminder that everything I dream of and work hard towards, I am more than capable of realizing.

There is no limitation to whom I can become-- regardless of my social class, my race, and my gender.

I hope becoming Miss Universe means the same to others watching my journey as well: They, too, are capable.

Beauty pageants, like many things, have evolved. In 1952, no one could have ever imagined that a Black girl with short natural hair from former apartheid South Africa would be Miss Universe. Beauty never looked like me. I was not the standard.

When people think of me, I want them to know that there is no such thing as dreaming the impossible. There is no one exempt from greatness; we are all born with it inside us. The only thing we have to do is find what it is that we are great at -- our purpose -- and take up that space. That is my legacy: the one who came and took up space.

Miss Universe 2019 Zozi Tunzi