Slađana Božović, Executive Director of Nordic Business Alliance - Beauty queen connects businessmen

(Slađana Božović)

She is not interested in entering reality show Farma (the Farm), she has no plans to make a record, and she will not take a microphone, except, maybe, to host a TV show. Slađana Božović, former Miss Diaspora, Miss FR Yugoslavia first runner-up and Yugoslav representative at the Miss Universe and Miss Earth pageants, decided to make a business career instead of a Show Business career.

She has recently been appointed as the Executive Director of newly formed Nordic Business Alliance in Belgrade and, as she explained, her primary goal is to contribute to better business cooperation between the companies from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden and the businessmen from Serbia. The Alliance, of which office is in Topličin Venac Street, has been founded with the aim of creating a platform for an exchange of ideas and experiences within the Nordic Business Alliance in Serbia, promoting and strengthening cooperation between Nordic companies and the Republic of Serbia, as well as contributing to the development of business relationships and activities between the Nordic countries and Serbia.

Beautiful, lovely, charming and a bit modest, she emphasizes that smile is her strongest weapon and that optimism is her eternal dependence. According to her, that is why she got the job because, in addition to the fact that she speaks Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English and knows the business policy of the "West", her energy stimulates positive thinking and the position that everything can be achieved.

She was born in Malmo in Sweden less than thirty years ago. She used to work in the consulate of the Republic of Serbia and for several local companies. She was coming to Serbia on vacation every year, and this is what she said when asked if she came to Serbia to stay:

- I am enjoying myself in Belgrade and everything suits me, but I miss my family. Many people who think that the life abroad is much nicer and simpler are only partially right because the majority of our people have the wish to come back to Serbia. Although I came here to stay temporarily, one never knows what can happen.

She is surprised by how complicated administrative procedure in Serbia is, the fact that queues are everywhere, and standard reply - "We are not authorized to do that".

- We had to wait for one month for the account for the Nordic Business Alliance to be opened in a bank - a million documents, copies of ID cards, stairways in courts... You have to go to ten places just to do one thing.

The Božović family originates from Kragujevac, Slađana has two brothers and nephews, she is connected to Kragujevac, but she points out that she likes Malmo the most.

- I was born in Malmo. It is a beautiful small town with magnificent beaches and seaside. Sweden is, indeed, a cold country in the north and the summer there is much shorter than in Serbia, but we go swimming when the temperature reaches 30 degrees Centigrade. The city is connected with Copenhagen by a bridge and it literally takes half an hour to reach the capital city of Denmark.

People say that modesty is always rewarded with generosity, while the reward for arrogance is envy. Maybe the qualities of our interlocutor leave rarely any person indifferent because she does not insist on them. That is how she won the title of Miss Diaspora in 2001.

- When Miss Yu agency organized the Miss Diaspora pageant in Sweden, I was in the audience. The contest was hosted by Milovan Ilić Minimaks who came to me and asked me in astonishment why I was not competing. I really wasn't interested in all that and that is what I told him. He and Vesna Jugović insisted on me taking part in the contest. They were so persistent that they later sent me a flying ticket to Paris where the Miss Diaspora finals were held.

Just like in case of most beauty queens, Slađana's mom made the decision.

- I was not interested in competing although I worked some fashion shows and was a model for artistic photos before, but mom bought two more tickets for my father and her and all three of us flew to the City of Light - says our interlocutor.

She won in Paris and won the title of Miss Charm and the first runner-up in Belgrade. She later represented Yugoslavia at the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico and at the Miss Earth event on the Philipines where she was the second runner-up and Miss Earth and Water. In 2002, she was among the world's 50 most beautiful women.

All these successes did not prevent her from living a normal life. She loves movies and theater, and she loves to dance and draw. She accepts no compromise in love.

- I rarely fall in love and I believe the the real love happens to everybody at some time in life, but trust me when I say that the real love is worth waiting. I do not accept superficial relationships and financial security. I just want strong and sincere emotions.

She is not fascinated by the offers of millionaires, football players and businessmen, or headlines in yellow press because that does not make her happy. What does make her happy is a normal life, health, family and love.