Miss Ireland Jasmine Gerhardt says perseverance is her definition of success

Bengaluru/Hyderabad: Miss Ireland Jasmine Gerhardt knows a thing or two about perseverance and dreaming big. It took her three attempts before she could finally become a beauty queen. And now that she is at a place that she has been manifesting for so long, she says it’s only fair that she helps others dream big too.

“I have worked toward this dream three times. I competed when I was 17, when I was 24, and then I won when I was 25. But I always say, in life, perseverance is the definition of success. Because if you fail in life, I think it makes the end moment of success so much more rewarding. You see, you keep working towards something that you really want in life, it does come true,” said Gerhardt in an exclusive interview with PTI Videos.

Gerhardt’s Beauty With A Purpose (BWAP) project for the ongoing 72nd Miss World pageant is a small cardboard box filled with the right ingredients that will let children – from Cape Town to Kolkata to Dublin – dream bigger dreams. She calls it ‘Dream In A box’.

“Inside my box is my own book. It's called ‘Sunny and the Safe Harbour’, and it's all about finding a safe place as a child. I think it's very important that, as a young person in Ireland -- or anywhere in the world for that matter -- to find one's safe spot. And that's what the book's all about,” said Gerhardt.

The box is also full of other things that affirm a child’s right to dream, she added.

“Because, when you give a child the chance to dream, to imagine, to create, the most magical things begin to unfold,” writes Gerhardt in her Instagram page describing the project.

Gerhardt says, thanks to Miss World's BWAP, the box has already made its way into many schools across the world giving children something more tangible to hold on to as they navigate through their dreams.

“It's all positive affirmations, you know, like stickers, that will keep kids engaged. They can create their own story, and then they can write down their dreams on a page like I did when I was very young, and hopefully it will manifest into something more real,” Gerhardt told a news agency.

In her case, one by one, she’s ticking off what she listed when she was young. Becoming Miss Ireland is one among them.

“I was also the first person in my family to ever go to college and to graduate; that is another dream come true,” said Gerhardt, who went on to study law and human rights.

Gerhardt said over the course of time, she had volunteered in organisations that work for women's empowerment, better health and what not. But she said she always found her way back to education and literacy.

The Miss World platform, said Gerhardt, will only help her eventual goal – to advocate for systemic changes that support children’s education.

“I think education is the key to breaking out of poverty,” said Gerhardt.