Text: Paul Hofman
Photo: Leon Hendrickx
Video: Paradox Productions
Rikkie Kollé (Miss Netherlands): 'Dare to choose for yourself'. In 2023, Rikkie Kollé (23) will be elected Miss Netherlands. The news even made it to the New York Times. She is the first trans person to receive this honour. Now Rikkie is an ambassador for Pride Amsterdam. 'I am looking forward to it immensely.'
Enchanting
Her first Pride that she experienced she remembers well. 'It was an epiphany for me.' In 2023, she sailed in the Canal Parade herself. 'It was one big party. So enchanting. All those people along the side, it felt like, no what a gift.' Pride Amsterdam is important to her. 'We celebrate freedom, but also let people see and hear that we are there.' In spring 2023, she will be declared Miss Netherlands. Her dream is coming true. 'As a child, I was nicely dramatic and already loved the spotlight immensely.' In television footage, we see Rikkie emotionally receiving the crown and sash. She beams exuberantly. Her childhood dream has come true.
Rebels
She is born in Hoorn, but grows up in Den Helder. Rikkie spends a wonderful time there. 'I had a nice childhood. Everything was allowed and I had a cosy home. As a little child, I already loved being dramatic and the spotlights. She was bullied a lot, though. It visibly still hurts her when she thinks back. I was eleven when I came out of the closet.' The bullying doesn't stop. She has a nasty school time. The bullying lasted until I was sixteen. Then I started biting my head off. I started pushing the boundaries. Out of pure frustration, I think. I became very rebellious and socialised with the wrong people. I was definitely not comfortable in my own skin. It did make her more confident.
Things seem to be going in the wrong direction. Her parents are at their wit's end. She fails her high school final exams. 'Then I had to sit on the blisters.' It gets her thinking. Rikkie pulls out all the stops to still make it.
Mischief
She gets her degree after all. Rikkie is now eighteen when she decides to leave her parents' house. The world is open to her. She hasn't regretted it for a moment. She knows then what she wants to be. 'Famous,' she laughs. Via Amsterdam, she ends up in Breda, where she lives to this day. 'It was mainly a time of partying and going out. I made up for everything I had missed in Den Helder.' By day, she does a marketing course and modelling. She has her heart set on the southern city. The modelling world soon holds no secrets for Rikkie. Wherever she goes, someone is here.
'Everything I did for mischief in high school stemmed partly from insecurity about who I was. I mostly compared myself to others. You should never do that, I realise now. And confide in someone. Talking has been the key for me to find out how I was. I can recommend that to anyone in this situation.'
Holland's Next Top Model
Women on the catwalk in high heels, catch her interest. After secondary school, Rikkie ends up on the reality programme Holland's Next Top Model. At the age of seventeen, Rikkie competes in the eleventh season. She does not win but is hailed by the judges as a talent in the modelling world. She was the second trans woman, after her role model Loiza Lamers, to ever take part in the television programme. Her greatest passion remains dancing, singing and acting. A career in the musical world is definitely a possibility, she says beaming.
Miss Netherlands
Her great role model is Loiza Lamers. A transgender woman, she won the final of Holland's Next Top Model in 2015, paving the way for Rikkie, who was named Miss Netherlands last year. Her pageant became world news and even the authoritative newspaper The New York Times paid attention to Rikkie Kollé. For the first time in Dutch history, a trans woman takes the prestigious title. She looks shy.
Hate messages
It earned Rikkie not only congratulations, but also numerous hate messages and even death threats. 'I would be lying if I said it doesn't bother me. The threats have diminished.' Yet she is quite laconic about it now. 'I do watch out, I 'read' people as it were and then ask myself whether I can trust this or that person. It shows that we are far from there yet.' In no uncertain terms, she stresses that people should leave each other alone and allow each other happiness.
Mission
The fact that she has now become an ambassador makes her happy. 'It is the proverbial icing on the cake. I am super proud because at the same time it is a tribute to the lhbtiq+ community.' About her mission as an ambassador, Rikkie does not have to think long. 'I want to break the stigma on being trans by telling my personal story. And being there for trans kids.' If she wants to make her voice heard and be a role model for all young women and queer people'. Like no other, Rikkie knows what it is like to feel alone and not be surrounded by only positive thoughts.
Progressive?
She also worries about increasing anti-lhbtiq+ violence and that "we are actually going back in time. Rikkie notes that the Netherlands is increasingly moving from an inclusive to an exclusive country. For example, being a man afraid to dress yourself feminine. Or having fear as an lhbtiq+ couple, walking hand-in-hand with your boyfriend or girlfriend as an lhbtiq+ person or walking down the street as an older trans person.'
'Let each in his or her own value. The rainbow family is under great pressure. The Netherlands was so progressive but it is long gone, she says regretfully.
Little Rikkie's
Rikkie herself represents all little Rikkies who have to deal with rejection by their family and environment and their transition into the person they long to be. 'When you are alone in your little room, unable or not allowed to be yourself as a person, it is SO important that you learn to love yourself. That is what I am going to work hard for with everything in me.' She also plans to visit schools to talk about her personal story. 'It's all about raising awareness.' She will undoubtedly become a figurehead of stature. 'Above all, be yourself.'
Pride ambassador since 2024
