Queenie in a beanie: Meet the post-grad just crowned Miss Leicester 2015

Meet Jessica Louise Blake- Masters student in Marketing, philanthropist, part-time commercial model, and now the reigning Miss Leicester 2015 (but don’t let that intimidate you).

Jessica juggles uni and her modelling career

Tom Wren Photography

While most of us haven’t thought past what festivals we’ll be attending this summer, and how much alcohol we can ingest once exams have finished, Jessica has it all sorted. Not only does she have a big summer ahead of her working towards the title of Miss Great Britain in September, but she is also setting up her own charity to support those suffering with anxiety.

Jessica struggled with the illness since starting university and hopes her position as our reigning Queen will raise awareness, and help her towards her goal of setting up a safe community for sufferers to discuss mental illness and seek help and advice.

You would think that the cut-throat world of beauty pageantry would not be the best place for someone who suffers from anxiety, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth in Jessica’s case.

She says: “Of course there is some stress before you go on stage, you’re back there on your own and you don’t know how everyone else is doing, but once you are up there under the lights, and in the dress, you feel amazing. I love it.”

Jessica looks breathtakingly gorgeous in her figure-hugging red dress as she picks up her title, but being a Queen doesn’t come cheap.

Pageant dresses can cost anything from £650 to £1,000.  So how does she afford her eleganza when most of us balk at the thought of spending more than £3.50 on a pint?

Jessica explains: “The red dress is actually my sister’s- she did pageants before me and was the one who got me in to doing them. It does cost a lot of money to compete and I had to save up for ages to buy my black dress, it cost around £500. I put aside a lot of birthday and Christmas money for that one.”

Tom Wren Photography

Beauty and success obviously run in Jessica’s family – her older sister won Miss London City last year. But Jessica insists there’s no sibling rivalry between them, and says her sister even did her make-up for the Miss Leicester pageant.

She said: “Me and my sister are best friends. I always look up to her- she’s my big sister y’know? I used to copy everything about her style, even down to her hair. My family are my biggest support.”

Sister Sister- they could almost be twins

Not only does she have the support from her family, but also the other contestants within the Miss Great Britain pageant. Surprisingly, it’s not all handbags at dawn and tiara-snatching. In fact Jessica sees the other girls as sisters.

“Everyone is really lovely, the other winners are really nice and I can’t wait to see them again in the finals.”

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for some outside of the competition, where Jessica has been forced to deal with cruel jibes from other girls.

The Masters student says: “I’ve had a lot of backlash over Twitter, a lot of girls were taking the mick saying that I couldn’t be suffering from anxiety because of what I do.

“But they don’t get that my life on social media is completely different to me in real life. You put on a front.”

In reality Jessica is completely down-to-earth and astonishingly humble about her win.

Uh-oh! Hope it wasn’t a pageant dress!

And outside of the pageant world she’s remarkably relaxed about her appearance. Jessica says: “At uni I put a beanie hat on and get up and go. I don’t really enjoy exercise, but I won a gym membership with my title so it’s an excuse to get fit for the next competition. I am so unfit- I was panting when I was going up the stairs in those dresses.”

Let the gains begin

Alongside her gym membership Jessica also won a £50 voucher to spend on her next dress, so she’s already hard at it working on saving up for another crown-stealing gown. Despite the popularity of the red dress, she’s thinking blue next time.

We wish Jessica the best of luck in the coming months with her degree, pageant and charity work.

Long live the Queen.

Follow Jessica on Twitter: @jessloublake