Been there, done that: Jesinta Franklin dishes out tough love to sash hungry beauty queens

SORRY girls, top model Jesinta Franklin has some tough love for beauty queens looking for fame saying a sash does not entitle you to a career.

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JESINTA Franklin has offered sage words of advice for sash hungry beauty queens taking part in pageant season saying winning a title does not entitle you to a career.

Franklin won the Miss Universe Australia quest in 2010 and placed third in the international final that year.

She has since forged a career as a model, brand ambassador for the likes of Cadbury, David Jones and Olay, and TV presenter through hard work and by building a good team around her.

“It (the pageant) was really right for me at the time. It was something I went into with little expectation, it was not that long after Jen Hawkins (had won) and there was that buzz around it,” Franklin said.

Jesinta Franklin has some words of advice for upcoming beauty queens. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“But I think these days girls enter it with this expectation that they are going to have an automatic career.

“It has to be a stepping stone to another thing, it can’t just be ‘I want to be famous’. “Like everything in life you have to do it with intention and have vision and think about the big picture.

“I owe so much to that pageant. If it wasn’t for that pageant I would not have had the kickstart that I got, but like I said it does not warrant automatic success or a great career. It is the work that you put in afterwards that counts.”

Jesinta Franklin winning Miss Universe Australia in 2010. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Jesinta Franklin in 2010 modelling the Miss Universe Australia national costume.

Winter in Melbourne has become pageant season with Melbourne resident Olivia Rogers crowned Miss Universe Australia for 2017 on Thursday and the Miss World Australia national final set to take place at the Grand Hyatt on July 14.

Franklin said while grateful for her experience she believed it was time for the Miss Universe pageant to evolve.

“I think it could undergo a little bit of renovation in the way they go about things,” she said.

“I would love to see the pageant evolve and become really applicable to this time, but I don’t think it is irrelevant. I think it still does have its place and I think it brings a lot of confidence to young women too.

“You have to enter it for the right reasons and that is what I would encourage all women to do who are entering.

“Don’t enter it to be the next Jen, or Jesinta, or Erin or Laura. It is a platform to be able to grow and experience, and for me it was great for my public speaking and my confidence, so absolutely, if you want to enter it, enter it with the right intentions.”

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