Linda Bezuidenhout: Tanzanian model in the US glorifies home heritage at the global level

DAR ES SALAAM: VERY proud of her Tanzanian heritage, a Tanzanian fashion designer living in the United States of America, Linda Bezuidenhout, is planning to design something big for her country and its head of state.

Linda Bezuidenhout is among the most successful Tanzanian fashion designers whose designs are today being worn by American megastars like media presenter Porsha Williams, Gizelle Bryant, and actress Michelle Williams.

She also cothed political leaders like Rolanda Hollis, the Senate of Alabama, who was a political advisor to the former US President Joe Biden, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms.

Before she emigrated to America, Miss Linda Bezuidenhout had clothed the Miss Tanzania 1999 winner, Hoyce Temu.

“ I am a fashion designer and very proud of my Wazaramo heritage. It is in me even here in the US,” she said.

She said her passion to ensure her designs reach global mileage, motivation to pursue her modeling career in the US.

Today, Linda is a mother of four girls, Leyla Bezuidenhout, Malaika Bezuidenhout, Maryam Ishtiyaq, and Marlinda Kimesera.

She said she started her fashion design career at a tender age.

“I was only eight years old then,” she recalls

She said her mother, who was a member of a tailoring group, was her biggest influence in her fashion design career.

“She used to give me a free choice on how to make my dress; therefore, I used to design it myself before my mother made it perfectly to my design,” she recalls.

It was in the early 1990s, aged 20 years, that Linda managed to buy her mother a 32-seat commuter bus as a present.

The bus christened Linda Express, operated between Mwenge and New Posta at the heart of Dar es Salaam.

At the moment, Linda says,” I feel obliged to design something big  for our beloved president, Dr Samia Suuhu Hassan, and I hope to make something very Tanzanian for her.”

Besides her excellence in fashion designing, the Tanzanian lady also owns an organization called Linda Bezuidenhout Organization, whose aim is help African women to buy plots for farming and residence in Bagamoyo district, Coast Region.

ALSO READ: Grassroots women changing the face of leadership

Besides that, her organization has been involved in humanitarian assistance like feeding orphans, construction of mosques and Islamic children’s schools, and Madrassas.

“I have done it well in those areas, but I can’t mention the areas or people whom I helped since it is not good in our religion,” she said.