Miss Jamaica World 2018 Khadijah Robinson cannot stop singing the praises and benefits of her experience as the reigning queen.

The 23-year-old who hails from Carr district, near New Market in St Elizabeth, not only impressed the local panel when she was crowned in September of last year, but went on to do herself and country proud when she placed in the top five at Miss World and earned the title Continental Queen of Beauty for the Caribbean in China in December.

Since then it has been a hive of activity for the petite, chocolate-skinned beauty.

She has only just returned to the island from Iowa in the United States, where she participated in a telethon as part of a partnership with Variety Children’s Charity along with the reigning Miss World and her fellow continental queens, raising funds and living up to the pageant’s mantra of ‘Beauty With A Purpose’. This particular event raised over US$4 million for various charities.

“ This is part of the Beauty With A Purpose Tour, which will last for the whole year. Before that I was in Thailand, which is where the 2019 competition will be held, and we have many more to go until the year ends,” she noted.

A physical therapist by profession, Robinson has created her own platform here in Jamaica aimed at reducing the impact of lifestyle-related illnesses, and recently partnered with the Ministry of Health’s Jamaica Moves programme to stage a health fair in her home community.

“My project is called ‘Helping Hands in the Community’, and what it involves is using exercise to decrease the effects of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes on the lives of my community members. Jamaica Moves saw the initiative and they came on board. We had a health fair on April 6, which is actually World Physical Activity Day, and now we are working on it being a sustainable project since I’m not here all the time and I will need persons on the ground to keep it going,” she shared.

Robinson is still reflective when she speaks of her experience at Miss World in China last year.

“Going to China, the competition was a lot more intense that you would expect it to be, but overall it was an absolutely fulfilling journey and I’ve really grown a lot from the experience. Just being in China is what stood out the most for me; China was never on my list of places to visit. It is a very different culture over there and just being around the people and seeing how astonished they were to see persons of different races and colours — for that whole final night I was just in awe. My plan was just to do my best and go through the night. I was ready and prepared to accept anything that I was handed, so placing in the top five was amazing because there were so many other contestants. So its really best if you try to just enjoy the experience rather than just focus on the competition, because you will get to appreciate so much more,” said Robinson.

To that young girl out there who is thinking about entering the pageant, Robinson has nothing but encouragement.

“It is said beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and so the first thing you must do is behold your beauty for yourself. Once you are confident in your beauty then just step out with confidence and enjoy the experience.”