JASMINE IS SET TO WOW THE JUDGES...
Beauty hoping to lead way for women in law to enter pageants
A HUMAN rights law expert is hoping to “break the glass ceiling” and be crowned this year’s Miss Ireland.
Stunning Jasmine Gerhardt — who has just completed her masters in European Law and Human Rights — is hoping it is second time lucky at this year’s competition.
The 24-year-old Blanchardstown beauty told us: “I entered it when I was 17 going on 18 back in 2015.
“I woke up everyday thinking about it for ages so I thought I had to pursue it if it is on my mind that much so that is why I went back in.”
She said every girl who enters Miss Ireland has a college degree and the competition showcases female empowerment. Jasmine said: “Trying to find that group of women outside of pageants is difficult so being surrounded by so many is amazing.
“We are all young women who want to empower other women who have a cause, a voice, an education.
“It is not just going in and putting on a dress.
“A lot of the girls in the pageant are young girls. It’s great for their confidence to get out there and talk about something that either you’ve gone through or people in Ireland are going through and help as much as we can towards it.”
She said she hopes that if she wins Miss Ireland, it will break the glass ceiling of female lawyers entering beauty pageants.
“There is this stigma when you do law and you do a beauty pageant that you’re not taken seriously but I think Miss Ireland has shifted more towards women empowerment... and I think that is really what the law really is all about. “I’m hoping to break the glass ceiling in August, but we shall see,” she said.
Jasmine said the competition appeals to her because her mother, Sharon O’Sullivan, competed for the same title when she was 21 years old and finished eighth overall.
“I think it is the title you have behind it and to be honest, my mam entered into Miss Ireland when I was younger, and it is always something I would’ve loved to have received the title of being Miss Ireland.
Sick
“My mam was sick. She had stage four cancer. She taught me to believe in myself and step outside my comfort zone and if it something you really want, you fight for it.”
Jasmine also hopes that winning the title gives her a platform to raise awareness and funds for her two charities she is supporting — the Laura Lynn Foundation and Aoibhneas, which is a refuge dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence.
And she said she is inspired by Amal Clooney, adding: “I have halfway achieved it with my law degree and with my masters now.
“All that is left to sit the bar.”