Rikkie Valerie Kollé, Miss Netherlands 2023, can nonetheless hardly consider she gained her nation’s annual pageant.

She spent all day on Saturday making ready for and having fun with each second of the ceremony that evening, which was attended by the reigning Miss Universe, the American R’Bonney Gabriel.

The present, which began at 8 p.m., flew by, “and two and a half hours later I was Miss Netherlands,” Ms. Kollé, 22, stated in a telephone interview on Tuesday, including that her victory “had finally sunk in.”

Ms. Kollé’s win is historic: She is the primary trans girl to win the pageant within the Netherlands, and she or he would be the second brazenly trans girl to compete in a Miss Universe competitors when she represents her nation in El Salvador later this yr.

As the primary trans girl to be named Miss Netherlands, Ms. Kollé stated she hoped to be there for her group and assist younger queer individuals, in addition to increase consciousness of the lengthy ready occasions for transgender well being care within the Netherlands.

“I’m going to be an open book,” she stated. In February, a post on her Instagram account outlined her experiences as a toddler and her therapies as a youngster in addition to an replace about her gender-transition surgical procedure.

But being an open e book on social media comes with a number of hate, too, and avoiding on-line negativity might be tough. Ms. Kollé stated she had confronted a number of on-line abuse and insults since profitable the pageant, as had a few of her shut members of the family, together with her mom and sister.

Ms. Kollé isn’t the primary Dutch trans girl to achieve the Miss Netherlands finals. Solange Dekker, a finalist from final yr’s competitors who took house the title of Miss Social Media, went on to turn into the primary Dutch Miss International Queen 2023 final month, an annual pageant for trans ladies.

When she goes to El Salvador, Ms. Kollé would be the second trans girl to partake in a Miss Universe competitors. Spain’s Angela Ponce, additionally a trans girl, was a finalist in 2018.

“We’re really looking for the most beautiful woman in the Netherlands,” stated Monica van Ee, a member of the jury who selected Ms. Kollé this weekend. She can be the nationwide director of Miss Netherlands.

She stated that whereas nationwide and worldwide media had been to speak about Ms. Kollé’s victory, lots of people had despatched upsetting and threatening messages attacking Ms. Kollé.

Anne Jakrajutatip, the proprietor of the father or mother firm of Miss Universe who’s a trans girl herself, celebrated Ms. Kollé’s win in an announcement.

“My Miss Universe superfan conversion was sitting in the front row while Angela Ponce, the first trans Miss Universe Spain, walked the runway for the first time,” Ms. Jakrajutatip stated, including that she was glad to make an announcement that “trans women are women — and we are here to celebrate women.”

Ms. Kollé, who’s from the southern Dutch metropolis of Breda, has modeled since she was a youngster. She stated she selected to use to turn into Miss Netherlands as a result of pageants supplied her an opportunity to inform her story.

As a mannequin, she stated, “you’re a bit of a clothes hanger. Otherwise you mostly have to be quiet.” But on the planet of pageantry, she stated, “it’s also important that you have something to say.”

Ms. van Ee, Miss Netherlands’s nationwide director, stated that over the past decade or so, the pageant had modernized. Now, moms, divorced ladies and trans ladies can take part, she stated. “I took over Miss Netherlands because I wanted to make women stronger,” Ms. van Ee stated. “I want to inspire young girls.”

She stated she had been shocked by the variety of unfavorable responses from women and men.

The excellent winner of a Miss Netherlands competitors should have a powerful presence and make heads flip when she walks right into a room. She additionally wants a message that may encourage others, Ms. van Ee stated. “Beauty comes from the inside,” she stated.

She stated that Ms. Kollé had been the strongest contender. “Throughout the whole process, she was the most beautiful woman,” Ms. van Ee stated.

“I was chosen for who I am and my story,” Ms. Kollé stated, “and not because I’m a trans woman.”