Afërdita Dreshaj (; born 19 July 1986) is an Albanian-American singer and model. Crowned as Miss Universe Kosovo 2011, Dreshaj represented the nation at the

Miss Universe 2011 Miss Universe 2011 was the 60th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011. At the end of the event, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico crowned Leila Lopes of Angola as Miss Universe 2011. It is the f ...

pageant and finished among the top 16.

Life and career

1986–2011: Early life and Miss Universe

Afërdita Dreshaj was born on 19 July 1986 into an Albanian family in the city of

Titograd Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro forme ...

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

(present-day Podgorica,

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

). In January 2011, Dreshaj was crowned as

Miss Universe Kosovo Miss Universe Kosova is a national beauty pageant that sends representatives from Kosovo to the Miss Universe pageant. History In 2008, On 4 April 2008, Fadil Berisha - photographer of Miss Universe's official photos - hosted Kosova's inaugu ...

and the nation's representative at the

pageant. Held in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Brazil, Dreshaj advanced from a total of 89 contestants into semi-finals of Miss Universe 2011 finishing among the top 16.

Personal life

She began her career as a model at age 17, upon being discovered by a photographer. She was previously engaged to Albanian singer

Shpat Kasapi Shpat Kasapi ( mk, Шпат Касапи, translit=Špat Kasapi; born 1 May 1985) is an Albanian-Macedonian singer and songwriter. Biography Shpat Kasapi was born on 1 May 1985 into an Albanian family in the city of Tetovo, then part of SF ...

.Dreshaj currently lives in Michigan USA, with her husband, the Czech

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

Jakub Kindl. Since March 2021 she became a mother to a boy named Sky Blue Kindl.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreshaj, Aferdita 1986 births Living people Albanian-language singers Musicians from Podgorica Kosovan female models Albanian female models 21st-century Albanian women singers Kosovan beauty pageant winners Miss Universe 2011 contestants Albanians in Montenegro Albanian Roman Catholics 21st-century Albanian models