She's sugar, spice and everything nice.
This Miss SA Finalist 2017 from Atlantis is proof that you are not where you come from.
Chante Holloway, 22, has fought many personal battles in her young life, including depression and a “near death experience” as a teen, while trying to escape Atlantis, a West Coast town battling social ills like drugs, unemployment and grinding poverty.
The pretty young woman says: “I am proud to be from Atlantis. The competition is tough but I love what I do. I’m speaking up for my people, yes there is drugs, gangsterism and violence in Atlantis, but I want people to know that anything is possible.
“I’m very blessed with the opportunities which have come my way, “ Chante tells Daily Voice.
In 2013, after just matriculating, this brave beauty went to the United States of America and attended the New York Film Academy, to kickstart an acting and modelling career.
“I was an extra in Grey’s Anatomy, and Fast And The Furious 7,” she says.
“I also did LA Fashion Week, Facet Fashion week and featured on Vogue magazine’s site, vogue.it."
She returned to South Africa in 2015, but it was not a happy homecoming, as her dad was diagnosed with cancer.
“I came home and within three months my father passed on. My first thoughts were: 'Who will walk me down the aisle?'” she says emotionally.
But this poppie is not just a pretty face.
Chante is a motivational speaker and spoke to group of 140 cancer survivors in Atlantis at the weekend, as cancer awareness month came to an end.
Chante says her message is all about hope and self-love.
She told the gathering: “It’s OK to be different. When I was 15, I was diagnosed with depression, and it was the worst and best moments of my life.
“I used the pageants to get out of it.
“Having had a very near-death experience [food poisoning] also made me realise just how precious life is. I tried to fit in and I lost myself in that. I was not happy at all.
“But what I can say to any and everyone is it’s OK to be different, thrive in your uniqueness.”
Chante joins five other Western Cape beauties who will be going up against 20 other contestants for the Miss South Africa crown in March next year.