Sdudla Chronicles Models


Read all about them and their experiences and why they are beautiful confident women they are...

Our imperfect imperfections are a part of every single one of us, and they help tell our story.

And these are our stories...

Mabontle Portia Mphosi 

Plus size activist, Founder of Sdudla Chronicles 

Women need to understand that their bodies are MAGIC.I am simply here to shape a world were a woman doesn’t need to defend her right to be comfortable in her own skin. 

Sally Mashilwane 

one year ago I was a self-loathing sizeist. Why wouldn’t I be, when we live in a society where fat shaming is a perfectly normal thing? Women are constantly bombarded with the message – from the media, celebrity culture, the fashion industry, and advertising – that if we don’t conform to society’s image of what the “right body” is, that we are inferior; that we won’t achieve anything in our lives or find anybody to love us. I know all too well how it feels to look in the mirror and feel suffocated at the thought that my body is wrong, ugly and unhealthy. I was a serial dieter. You name the diet and I’ve done it. The potato diet was as unpleasant as it sounds.

Then one day something changed.

Knowing that I had to buy swimwear for my up-coming holiday I searched in the term “plus size swimwear” and a Facebook page came up in the search. It was from SDUDLA CHRONICLES, and it described the life and style of a beautiful girl She was a 16/18 – my size. It was hours before I finished reading, and when I closed the page, my anxiety felt a little less. MABONTLE Sdudla Chronicles founder had a profound impression on me; from there, I also stumbled upon many other body-positive pages I was so surprised, there were people out there that lived wonderful lives, that went swimming and to the beach and wore fashionable clothes. They weren’t thin but they were happy, and for me that was life-changing. It was then that I decided the diets had to go. If I was going to lose weight it couldn’t be from such a negative place.

Later, I went on to post my campaign picture from Sdudla Chronicles that I was so worried about. I was astonished by the responses from women saying they felt inspired that they too could feel comfortable in swimwear/bodysuit being plus-size.

Lerato Ruele

My name is Lerato, popularly known as Miss Black (consider myself a black diamond).

I’ve personally never struggled with hate issues, I mean the hate was there, people hated me for not having issues with my weight but it never affected me. Since birth i was never tiny, so it didn't make sense for me to NEED to be tiny. People would offer me diet recipes as if i asked. People confuse skinny with healthy, and that stigma I’m very active, but also big. I accepted a long time that I’d never be as skinny as "prescribed" and wouldn’t allow that kind of negativity to overcome me. Self-love is important, my wish is that people grow up giving themselves the same love they give to their significant others. We can’t allow our happiness to exist from the approval of others.

Dineo Malema

Growing up as a plus size girl during my childhood has never given me any
joy in life. I remember when I was in primary school I was always
discriminated of how I look, how fat I was and other kids calling me
with different names, and from there I knew that I was different from
other kids.

A day that I will never forget was when I was in grade 7, when we were
going to a ball dancing for a farewell party as everyone was going to
different schools... I was wearing my blue beautiful dress and all the
girls where queued on one side and the guys on the other side, so the
boys had to choose their date for the dance and unfortunately I was
called the big girl and they were all laughing at me and I was so sad
and I cried, and I was the last one be picked.

Even though I had a great personality it never mattered all that
mattered was that I was “fat”. As I grew up it got better with time,
each time I got the threat and being told of my weight I learned to
accept the way I am. all the negativity I got from people inspired me
to be a better person and be myself. I have a perfect body that people
are judging me for and they don’t have this body because it suits me
only.

Every day when I walk out of my house I’m proud of myself. The level
of my confidence is on steroids. Like I love my body, to all the
ladies out there self-acceptance is the key to loving your body.
Follow Sdudla Chronicles on social media and trust me your confidence
will be built right away. 

Mpheletso Moopeloa 

This is a story of a woman that has discovered her true self and capabilities both socially and in her career only through confidence and self love...and the world responded with a smile.

I used to be so self-critical of how I look and questioned if I belonged at certain places, and the most famous statement that still breaks our masses is "what will people say".

I'm not saying it was easy but I broke the shell and I found myself...I accepted, loved and embraced

The thick woman that I am and only then I realized that society never criticized me I did, I was trying to be like the next person when I was meant to be like me.

Today I spend no time trying to fix what is not broken but living my life the best way I possibly can.

With this campaign I wish for women in any form or size to love the creatures they were created to be and watch the world smile back.

Khothatso Mafatle 

I’ll have to be honest, I haven’t always been “okay” with my body. For years, being plus size has been a shameful and embarrassing thing for me. We are taught over and over again to hate our bodies and try by all means to lose weight just so society can accept us. I struggled to embrace my stretch marks, my cellulite, my wobbly arms and my thighs (and my VBO lol!), but instead hid them for years.

My journey to finally being confident in my skin and loving and accepting my body was not an overnight thing. It took a lot of body-image chats with other plus size women, following thousands of plus size blogs (and lots of shopping of course lol) to get to where I am. One of the hardest things to do in a society that continually dictates what the perfect body shape and weight is, is to love yourself just the way you are.

I realised that there are a lot of other plus size women who feel just the same as I do, who struggle to find their place in society, who find it easier to be invisible than voice out their opinions about body-shaming. Sharing my body-image frustrations with other plus size women definitely helped! No matter where we come from and what we do, we all have “big gurl” issues and who better to understand that than another big gurl!

It’s been a long journey of continuously loving myself, speaking out against body-shaming in my day-to-day life and pushing the boundaries set by society on what plus size women can wear/not wear. I am proud to be part of the #ThickThighsMatter campaign and hope that this will touch may plus size girls and women and help them to break out of their shells and start loving their beautiful bodies, unapologetically!

Gugulethu mhlongo

I have always been bigger than my peers grew up surrounded by thick strong proud black women I never learnt to hate myself or ever made to feel different. I know for a fact that support from family makes all the difference in the world, what you read, watch and listen too can make or break you. I’ve always had great relationships be it with my peers family or even food, was never bullied but always had a love hate relationship with clothes and that was it.

Finding clothes that fit well was and still is a struggle, I had to shop in the women's department when I wanted to be in the teenage department, had to wear skirts when in fact I wanted to fit in a pair of jeans or pants. I’m not going to lie and say I struggled in general because I was big, I grew up as big girl and that has never bothered me I've always been a chatter box and out there because family never made me different. ld like to encourage other women and say our storylines will and can never be the same you need to leave in this body. 

If you not happy about it do something but just know beauty can never be defined by anyone but you. You see that body you live in it and have the rest of your life to do so, make the most of it enjoy it and forget about the demons that say otherwise. Plus size Bodies are bodies the is none different, do what you love, dance sing travel turn that light on and just do you Girl. #BigThighsMatter #BigThighsDontLie

Ntebaleng Irish Lebitsa 

My journey to my body acceptance was a bit harsh but with family
around me I had it easy, it wasn't easy having people with
bad remarks like I asked to gain weight or planned it. I met
different people with different sizes that made it easy for me. But
I'd get remarks and mostly from old people and they made me feel so
uncomfortable around my friends.

I learned to love myself and I grew fond of fashion and I realised how you don't need to be slim to be
fashionable and stylish.I grew fond of my curves I learned to flaunt them. I love me I am fat and not swollen I'm healthy as ever and my weight doesn't restrict me in anything I do.

Being fat never stopped me from participating in sports activities or
other activities, I was flexible. lol yes and I'm still flexible. I'm content
with my flaws I wear whatever I want, I dress to feel comfortable not
to impress the next person. so yes call me Sdudla call me fatty I'm
cool with it that's me you don't have to brush it off by saying I'm
thick or plus size I'm all of those and all of the above I'm healthy
fat and magical.

When they tell you, you are not fat you are beautiful tell them
actually I am both...FAT AND BEAUTIFUL
Because girl you are amazing just the way you are.....

Make up: Blush Beauty Room

Photographer: Thabang 

Isiqhlos: Tatu Fashion(Stall based in Midrand's Boulders Shopping center)

Bodysuits: Lee Bex

Accessories: Models own

Special thank you to all these beautiful ladies for making this campaign a success...