Second time’s the charm for new Miss Ja World

For the newly crowned Miss Jamaica World 2024, Tahje Bennett, the second time was definitely the charm. Moments after Bennett received her crown last Friday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, all 19 contestants gathered around the teary-eyed new queen in what seemed like approval of the choice. Hailing from Spanish Town, St Catherine, Bennett also nabbed the trophy for this year’s Beauty with a Purpose for her initiative, Fix Your Crown.

Explaining the importance of it to The Sunday Gleaner she said, “It’s my personal story. I grew up in an abusive household and this story is a story I was always afraid to share and I decided that I am going to share this story with confidence, with strength, with passion to uplift somebody else. Because I’ve never met a woman without a story. Just being able to share my story, I’ve seen how it has inspired other people and that is my drive to continue sharing and uplifting these women.”

Bennett who also entered the completion in 2022, had previously placed third. Returning with renewed purpose, she explained, “This time I did not just participate. I fully embraced the opportunity that would have been given to me to use this platform to uplift others. And I think that going back to the drawing board, refining my advocacy and coming back with even more determination and dedication, is definitively a testimony to that.”

‘A complete package’

Franchise holder Dahlia Harris said though Bennett has been through this process before, she was very happy about the humility in her approach this year.

“I think what is important is that Tahje, this year, didn’t come into the competition believing that she had an advantage. She didn’t come in feeling like, I’ve done this before so I don’t have to work. If you look at all of the fast-track events, she placed in all of them. She was in the top three of fitness, she was in the top three of modelling, [and] top three of beach beauty, the only one she didn’t place in was talent and she won Beauty with a Purpose. And so I feel like from day one, she kept putting in the work and this is the reward that she reaped from it.”

She continued, “I think Jamaica will receive her very well because Miss World is a complete package you know. Carol Joan Crawford, our very first queen, still holds the record for being the shortest Miss World ever. She’s very articulate and the project that she is about, femicide, is a big issue globally. So I feel like she can represent not only women in Jamaica but women around the world and I think she will do very well.”

Speaking on the diverse group of women who entered this year’s pageant Harris said any of them would have been a fine choice.

“You know, to be honest, whatever three they gave me out of the 20 (girls) I would have been fine,” she mused. “I like to tell my team that at the end of the day, we can nurture them and we can have our own emotions but when they walk into the pre-judging room, that’s really what makes the difference. And then what you see on stage really enhances the engagement they already have with the judges and that’s how it is at Miss World. I trust the judges every year and since I’ve been franchise holder they have never led me wrong.”

Now as the prospective lawyer and self-proclaimed fashionista looks ahead to representing Jamaica at the next staging of the Miss World pageant, Harris says she is excited to work on the Fix Your Crown initiative with her.

“Gender-based violence is very important to me and I hope that as the Miss Jamaica World Organization, we can really make a difference as far as that is concerned in Jamaica. I’m happy to say GK One is a big sponsor of our Beauty with a Purpose and they poured into it and will continue to do so, so I’m really excited to see what happens.”

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com