Miss Ireland Jasmine Gerhardt is excited to showcase what Ireland has to offer at Miss World
Miss Ireland Jasmine Gerhardt has told how she’s “excited to showcase what Ireland has to offer on an international stage” at Miss World this year.
The Dubliner is set to head to Telengana in India today [May 3] until June 1, where she’ll be representing Ireland in the competition.
And Jasmine told Chic how it has “definitely been a journey” — as she recalled how she first got started in pageants.
She said, “I’d seen it on a Facebook page when I was 17 years old.
“Somebody messaged my mom, she was in Miss Ireland, and said, ‘your daughter should do Miss Ireland, I think she’d be a great fit for it’.
“So, I went for it then first at 17 and I came top eight, winning Beauty with a Purpose.
“It was a charity project at 17 years old. So, out of all the girls, that was a big accomplishment to put together a charity project and then to go on and win.
“That was great and then I entered again when I was 24, came first runner-up. And then when I was 25 I won the title third time lucky.
“It definitely has been a journey. “
Jasmine added that she’s feeling “good” in the lead up to this year’s Miss World — and told how she’s “excited to showcase what Ireland has to offer on an international stage”.
She said, “I just have a lot of preparations, to be honest, more than anything. I’m looking forward to it.
“I have been preparing for this for over ten years realistically. I’m 27 now.
“I’m excited to showcase what Ireland has to offer on an international stage with our amazing dresses, Irish designers, Irish brands behind it — and all the preparation as well that I’ve put in with my own project, in Ireland and internationally.”
Jasmine told how the Beauty With A Purpose is an initiative that Miss World participants undertake, where they have to “create a project that impacts their community and basically puts forward their advocacy, creating some type of change”.
Her own project was called Dream In A Box — and she opened up about the inspiration behind the project.
She said, “I was the first person in my family to go to college, and education, literacy, and reading is basically the heart of why I’m in this pageant.
“It’s my passion, my purpose, and has been for so many years.
“So, I created Dream in a Box. I have my own book inside it, Sunny and the Safe Harbour, which I wrote about two years ago, all about a child deserving to feel safe and loved, inside the box as well.
“It also gave children tools and literacy kits inside. It has word searches, crosswords. It has obviously my own story, Sunny and the Safe Harbour.
“But it also has paperwork that allows you to create your own story.”
Jasmine told how the kit had been integrated into classrooms both in Ireland and abroad.
She continued, “It allows children to write their own stories and dream their own reality, or dream their existence into a reality.
“It’s a very powerful and creative, fun tool for learning and literacy, but also allowing every child to have the access to dream.
“Because a lot of these children are in areas where dreaming big things for their life isn’t always something that they think is even achievable.”
Her first children’s book, Sunny and the Safe Harbour, was written two years ago — and Jasmine opened up about the inspiration behind the children’s book.
She said, “I was doing legal work in domestic violence clinics. I was setting up in-house clinics within the shelters.
“And I felt like, you know, it wasn’t just the women — it was a women’s shelter — it wasn’t just the women who were affected by the situation that went on in the home, but it was also the children.
“I wanted to open up conversations in primary schools, talking about how important it is for a child to feel safe.
“So I wrote this book, Sunny in the Safe Harbour, and it’s all about a little girl on the beach, and a storm kind of comes, and the dolphin picks her up and brings her to a safe place.
“There’s affirmations in the book, so much stuff about self love.
“Also, what we did was when we read the book out to students in classrooms in Ireland, we asked them to draw their safe haven.
“And from a picture, you can tell a lot about a child and their living situation — it’s crazy how much you can actually depict from an image.”
Jasmine added that the response to the book has been “great” so far.
She said, “I mean, I’ve now integrated my book in over nine to ten classrooms.
“So, nearly three to four hundred students have read my book, which is mad for me to even think about that.”
Jasmine told how she has “traveled to numerous countries” after winning the title as she shared some of her favourite memories of the experience.
She said, “I’ve traveled to India, I’ve gone to Kolkata with the Hope Foundation as their ambassador to see the work that they do there.
“I’ve travelled to the Good Shepherd Monastery in Thailand to see the work that Sister Louise Horgan has done. She opened basically a centre for women over 61 years ago; she allows women and anyone who needs support to come in and learn a skill and then to go out into the workforce.
“It’s pretty amazing, all the things I’ve been able to achieve this year — or even last year, as well.
“I also was in Cape Town with the Mellon Educate charity. I was building schools and literacy hubs, which I hope my kits will be integrated into soon.
“That’s really exciting — the building blocks that I laid down to build that literacy hub, my project will go into. So, it was like a full 360.”
Jasmine added that she has met “so many amazing women all through the charities that I’ve worked with” over the last few years — and told how Amal Clooney is someone she looks up to.
She said, “She’s a human rights lawyer and holding a master’s in human rights as well myself, I just know that the work she does is impeccable.
“She kind of ignites me to want to follow my dreams even more than I do now in the sense that I really would love to become a diplomat.
“I feel like everything that Miss World stands for and the journey that I have been on are aligning with that role.
“I’m hoping to pursue a career like that in the future.
“She’s someone I’ve really been inspired by. When I see her work and the negotiations and peace treaties she’s gone into and the solutions she’s created for so many different war zones across the world, it’s pretty impactful.”
As for what is next for her after the Miss World competition, Jasmine told how she has “so many plans”.
She said, “I would like to continue to be an ambassador for the country but perhaps in a different type of role.
“I’d love to go into some type of diplomacy master or I might go back to college. I absolutely loved college and I’d like to do another master’s, perhaps.
“But also I’m really looking forward to finding more time to think about different aspects of my life.
“I’m also starting my own business at the moment with women’s clothing and I am looking into all of that, and creating a product that benefits women in some shape or form.
“So, I’m in the midst of starting that — and I think after Miss World, I will be able to give a lot more time to that if I don’t take on the crown.”
Jasmine added that she would like to be able to integrate her Dream in a Box into “so many other countries” — and continue to work with the charities she’s been working with over the last few years.
She said, “I would love to give them more of my time to create solutions for any kind of issues that they have arising, or raise awareness, or anything I can do to fundraise to help.
“Because obviously at the moment, it’s very busy. And though I am doing that, I’m only one person who can only really do so much, but at least when I’m finished all of this I’ll have a bit more time.”
Jasmine told how she also hopes to return to modelling after Miss World as it’s been a longtime dream of hers to be a Guess model.
She said, “I think after Miss World, I’m going to give it one shot and see if Ireland can find a Guess model here.
“That’d be one of my biggest ambitions, as well, for sure — alongside everything else.”
The Dublin native told how she’s preparing to sit the Bar exam — and noted that while there’s “a lot of work that goes into it”, she’s hopeful to sit the exam in July.
She said, “I’d love to then become a human rights attorney and then fulfil my dream of becoming a diplomat and representing the country, being an ambassador for Ireland.
“I guess I’ve already kind of put my toes into the shoe slightly, being Miss Ireland — that is a similar type of role. I’d like to take it even further.”
However, Jasmine told how her main focus at the moment is the Miss World competition and “bringing the best version of me to the world stage”.
She said, “We only have one chance to represent Ireland in our lifetime, every year, as each girl goes.
“I just want to make an example for every other young Irish girl that your dreams are achievable.
“We have so many women in this country that have so much to say and deserve to have a place on that stage.
“And that’s what I really want to nail home this year.
“I want to put us back up there with the top five; the top ten — and if I was ever privileged enough to be the winner of Miss World — and what that can give to our country and the youth who follow behind me.”
Full details on Miss Ireland 2025 and Jasmine’s Miss World Journey are available on the new Miss World App now available from Apple App Store or Google Play or from www.miss-ireland.ie or follow @missirelandorg on social media.
