Irena Arkesteijn-Pantelic (born 1981,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

) is a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She was

Miss Nederland Miss Nederland is a national Beauty pageant in the Netherlands. The pageant was founded in 1929, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe. History Former pageant From 1929 to 1931, the Netherlands held a national pageant in Amsterdam fo ...

in 2001. She represented the Netherlands at the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

pageant in Sun City, South Africa. Pantelic was born in Rotterdam, her parents are immigrants from former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. She was raised in

Capelle aan den IJssel Capelle aan den IJssel (; en, Capelle on the IJssel) is a small city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of , of which is water. It is situ ...

and attended the Nationale Hogeschool voor Toerisme en Verkeer in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

. In 2001 she first became Miss South Holland and later went on to become Miss Netherlands. In 2002 she became a candidate for the Dutch Parliament for the

Lijst Pim Fortuyn The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popul ...

. Prior to the 2002 elections, turmoil erupted in the party, because Irena Pantelic and Antonia Viljac accused two other party members of sexual harassment in a letter to the party board. This letter however, was leaked to the press and Irena Pantelic and Antonia Viljac were degraded on the candidate list. She was not elected in the elections of 2002, which took place only days after the assassination of the party's controversial leader

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

. She never returned to politics. After her internship she started working as a model again, mainly in Lebanon and South Africa. In 2007 she got married. Since 2007, she has given birth to three children. She currently lives in Rotterdam, with her husband and three children. In 2009 she began working as a model again. In 2012 she became the licence holder for Miss South Holland, the local pageant for pre-selection of candidates for Miss Netherlands. In 2013 she was awarded the Campaign Award at the Dutch Model Awards.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pantelic, Irena 1981 births Living people Miss Nederland Dutch female models Dutch people of Serbian descent Miss World 2001 delegates Models from Rotterdam