When an advert for Mrs South Africa popped up on her phone, Tracey Elliott showed it to her husband, Mark. “Why don’t you go for it?” he asked, to which she responded, “No, I don’t think so.” But she looked into it anyway and was pleasantly surprised. “What won me over was discovering that Mrs South Africa celebrates women of all creeds, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, sizes and religious backgrounds.”
Today, she is one of the Top 30 Finalists in Mrs South Africa 2026 and, at 55, just made the competition’s cut-off age.
“I was in ICU last year, fighting for my life, and now I am standing on this platform thriving and shining,” says Elliott. “Somebody had to be the oldest, and I’m thrilled it’s me because it just proves that it is never too late to chase your dreams.”
Elliott knows how precious new beginnings are. On 30 August 2008, she was on her way to the Pretoria Zoo with her husband and their two small boys when a taxi ran a red light and slammed into their car. She suffered 15 broken bones, including her pelvis and sacrum, and spent almost a year in a wheelchair, learning to walk again. Years later, a specialist told her she came within millimetres of paraplegia.
In 2021, a tumour on her parathyroid gland triggered kidney stones, pancreatitis and a blood clot in her spleen. She spent seven months in and out of hospital and lost 20 kilograms. Then, in February 2025, she underwent an eight-hour operation to remove her pancreas and spleen. She now has to manage Type 1 diabetes but is, in her words, thriving and happily back in the kitchen cooking for her family.
A committed Christian, Elliott attributes her resilience to her faith and to her husband, Mark, whose encouragement, support, and care have sustained her over an eighteen‑year healing journey.
She also recalls the amazing kindness of family, friends and many others during this time, moments she describes as ‘God’s fingerprints’. She says she is heading into the finals as a messenger of hope, explaining: “You are not your diagnosis or what has happened to you; it doesn’t need to define you. God has written a beautiful story for your life.”
Elliott made the Top 30 at the semi-finals week at Hotel Sky in Sandton in July, an achievement she says that’s meant the world to her.
“Semi-finals week was overwhelming in the best way, with leadership roundtables, mentorship sessions, interviews and a buzzing on-stage Semi-final Showcase,” she notes. “The finalists then spent three days in workshops on media relations, business and social responsibility, and had their first professional photo and video shoots.”
“This programme has been life-changing. It’s helped me develop my public speaking, presentation and networking skills, while also building my confidence and teaching me to value myself,” she adds.
But there’s more to making the Top 30 than what happens on stage as Joani Jacobs, CEO of Mrs South Africa, explains. “Our judges searched for genuine signs of both depth and growth in each woman’s personal development and leadership. What truly matters is the work they do in their communities, the lives they transform, and the way they lead.”
Elliott has run Abundant Life Health and Wellness since 2019 and is studying trauma counselling with Pathway to Purpose. Her vision is to pair trauma counselling with skills development, helping young gender-based violence (GBV) survivors build sustainable livelihoods.
She also supports Beth Rapha (House of Healing), a safe house for GBV survivors and a home for abused and abandoned children, and Ladles of Love, which feeds children daily. She volunteered with Strathyre Girls Home in Johannesburg from 2018 to 2020, and recently hosted a High Tea and Creative Workshop to raise funds for the 4Change Foundation, which equips young people with life skills.
Currently writing her first book, Elliott also hopes to use her newfound confidence and public speaking skills to become a keynote speaker. “I want to use my story to show women that abundance can follow brokenness and hardship.”
And with the finals in November, she is ready to share her message of hope on the biggest stage of her journey so far.
