Dunstable’s Miss England semi finalist wants to make a difference

Gemma Corkett, 19, from Dunstable, wants to raise money for the charities and support the work they are doing.

Leading up to the competition’s semi final in June, Gemma will be raising money for Beauty With A Purpose and PAPYRUS.

Beauty With A Purpose raises money and participates in humanitarian projects across the world and PAPYRUS is a national charity dedicated to preventing young suicide.

She said: “I want to use this platform to raise awareness of the charities and the work they do. Both are amazing and help so many people, I am hoping to raise £3,000 and split it between them.

“I want to create a fashion show with a difference, it will be about people sharing their experiences and how they turned their lives around or made a difference. I want people to feel confident enough to stand up and share their stories.”

Last year Gemma won Miss Charity and Miss Eco at the Miss Bedfordshire awards, this year she did not have to compete in the regional heats of the Miss England competition.

She wants to use the competition and her experience to encourage women that they can change their lives and she says the competition has helped improve her confidence.

The former Manshead student said: “I was very shy and experienced anxiety from being in a physical and emotional abusive relationship in the past, this stopped me in believing in myself.

“Since leaving the relationship and being a finalist it has given me strength to go out of my confidence zone.

“My overall goal is to encourage women everywhere to believe in themselves and most importantly to know that there is a way out of a bad relationship.”