Miss South Africa wins 2019 Miss Universe pageant

ATLANTA, Georgia -- For the second time since 2017, Miss South Africa has been crowned Miss Universe.

Zozibini Tunzi, 26, took the victory Sunday night during the pageant hosted by comedian and game show host Steve Harvey at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to her biography on the pageant website, Tunzi hails from Tsolo, South Africa and is "a passionate activist and engaged in the fight against gender based violence."

She also devoted her social media campaign to "changing the narrative around gender stereotypes" and worked to promote natural beauty as well as women loving themselves.

"I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me with my kind of skin and my kind of hair was never considered to be beautiful. And I think it's time that stops today. I want children to look at me and see my face and see theirs reflected in mine," she said during the contest.

After the show, Tunzi echoed that statement on Twitter saying, "Tonight a door was opened and I could not be more grateful to have been the one to have walked through it."

Tunzi beat out nearly 90 other contestants for the crown. The two runners-up were Miss Mexico and Miss Puerto Rico.

South Africa was also represented in 2017 when Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters won.

She congratulated Tunzi, saying, "What a woman you are!" and captioned one of her tweets, "Sisterhood!"

Even Steve Harvey appeared to be enamored with Tunzi, asking her to sign his jacket, something he said he's never asked a contestant to do before.