South Florida Nurse Shares Her Pageant Journey

One South Florida nurse is proving she’s got beauty and brains. When she’s not in the hospital, you can usually find her on the pageant stage.

Jackson Memorial Hospital nurse Ramina Ashfaque looks like any other health professional — scrubs, a mask and constantly on the go, but she leads a who other life when she’s not at her day job. We asked how she juggles working as a nurse and competing in beauty pageants.

“I don’t even know how I do that. honestly. It’s crazy,” she said. “I mean, I work so much over here, like 12-hour shifts. By the time I get home, I’m exhausted. I have to do interview prep, I have to do walking coaching. I have so much preparation that my four to three days off here is not enough to prepare for this.”

From Miss West Broward USA to Miss Florida and Miss World Florida, she dominated the domestic pageant scene before tackling international beauty competitions. She eventually won Miss Pakistan World in 2016.

Since Pakistan does not allow beauty pageants, this Pakistani heritage pageant is representing women of Pakistani heritage around the world.

“Someone very close to me passed due to negligence of a nurse. so that hit me hard,” she said, “so I went back to nursing school. I put everything on hold. I stopped everything completely the last two years, and here I am today. I’m really proud to be a nurse here.”

She’s ready to represent her parents’ native Pakistan at the Miss Grand International 2021 in Thailand in December.

She’ll be pacing the floors of the hospital where she works before her next pageant, giving comfort to South Florida patients concerned about COVID-19 or other health issues.

“It feels good to be able to help calm people down and build confidence for them that they’re going to be OK,” she said.