Ms. Black Minnesota is dedicated to empowering girls
Jasmine Clopton stopped by a community event in July and was greeted by a day care of girls telling her she was beautiful. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
By Christine Nguyen and Chris Hogland, North News Interns
When Jasmine Clopton was a little girl, her babysitter called her Miss America. Clopton would parade around the living room poised, her head held high, and pleased at the declaration.
Like her babysitter did, Clopton later began encouraging others to be their best. She serves North Minneapolis in several capacities: Empowerment mentor, advocate, and communication chair for the NAACP.
Clopton competed for and won the 2024 People's Choice Ms. Black Minnesota earlier this year. She competed in the Ms. Black USA pageant.
North News caught up with her for an interview right before she traveled to Washington, D.C., for pageant preliminaries. The interview is lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Why did you run for Ms. Black USA?
I decided to run for Ms. Black USA because the little girl in me felt that it was so important for me to do this for myself. When I was growing up, I was babysat by a Liberian woman and she would always call me Ms. America. Those simple little installations that she instilled in me when I was a kid ultimately rooted the drive in me to go do something like this.
Did you have any prior experience with pageantry?
This is my first year in pageantry, and it has been a ride and an experience. It’s been something that I didn’t know I could do. I am so proud of myself for taking on something that I didn’t see myself fully doing!
What challenges did you have to overcome?
When I was crowned in December, I had to get over feeling like I was inadequate or deserving of a title. those moments where we feel inadequate of who or what we deserve. And I think that was the biggest thing I had to go get over. My mentor said something that stuck with me: That I am deserving, and even if I don't feel like it, fake it till I make it and have faith that I can do what I want to.
How did it feel to win?
I felt everything: so undeservingly inadequate, but I was like, the little girl ballooned up like, you know, you see your first balloon, like you're like, oh my god, this is so cool. I felt beautiful, I felt scared, and excited.
What is the talent you‘ll show? Why?
Poetry/ Spoken word. When I was younger, I used to write short stories. Just like with trying for the pageant, I’m bridging what heals my inner child to showcase to the competition.
I can share the last couple of lines: “Queen!… I am you, that makes us, we, beautiful Black queens thriving and free.”
It speaks to the little kid in me. In school, I was labeled special-ed and deemed non-important. In my poem, I said that I needed to ‘think better’, and it made me feel extremely inadequate. You have to be careful when you're in education and you're pouring into children because it is so important. The nuances that they take with them throughout their lives stick, and it's so important that you always be who you can be and be kind to others.
What is the poetry of Jasmine Clopton?
I champion what I fight for. On a day-to-day basis, I am dedicated to bolstering young Black individuals and individuals of color to be able to find their potential. It is so important to understand who you are and it takes time to figure that out. I hope to help with that. I'm involved in so many community organizations that it allows me to empower other people and bring confidence into them. So you know, doing that pouring into others so others pour into me so we can pour back into the community is my poetry.
What is your goal for your platform?
My platform is truly dedicated to empowering young individuals to be the best they can be, finding the potential in themselves so they understand what they can do on a day-to-day basis, empowering them with mental health awareness, with skill development, and with an overall community love and support. It is so important to me that you have a village that moves with you, a village that cares for your mental health, your physical health, your health overall, and truly a village that empowers you to be the best that you can be.
What advice would you give a beginner at pageantry?
If you are wanting to get into pageantry, know the beauty that is already within you and run with it. When you make your beauty plain to other people, your confidence plain to other people, they will run with that, they will feel that you are just as beautiful as you are already portraying yourself.