finish the great final with other contestants. I just enjoyed every single moment of it.”

Kolle added, “The journey started as a super insecure little boy.  And now I’m standing here as a strong and empowering and confident woman. I’m really proud of that. And that I always got the support around me from my family and my friends and my chosen queer family. I know a lot of people don’t have that.”

Continuing, Kolle said, “They [people] told me ‘she’s a pretty girl but she can go to the trans pageantry because it [Miss Netherlands] is for real women’. So then I’m like ‘OK you’re calling me a pretty girl, but also telling me that I’m not a real woman’. For me, it’s to break boundaries and to step up and go to a beauty pageantry and tell my story, be Rikkie, enjoy every single moment of it. The pageantry gives me a stage to talk about what I want to change in society and I think that’s a really important thing. In the Netherlands, I also got a lot of backlash. It’s also showing that we’re still not there in the Netherlands and that the inclusivity is on the bare minimum now. I thought we were way further than we are. But it only gives me more inspiration to step up my goals and to achieve what I want to do now.“