By Stephanie Pertuiset - MONTREAL
With her long silky hair and deep brown eyes, Nazanin Afshin-Jam will officially carry the Canadian maple leaf in the Miss World contest in December, but also will become the first - unofficial - representative of her homeland, Iran.
"There had been beauty contests before the arrival of Islamic fundamentalists to power in Iran, but there has never been a candidate for the Miss World pageant. I'm the first," the 24-year-old beauty said.
"I'm very honored, but it really doesn't have a symbolic value for me," said. "I'm a woman, I'm Iranian, I'm Canadian and as Canada is a very multi-cultural country, so if I won the title, it's like I'd represent everyone around the world."
Her parents fled Iran with the overthrown of the Shah. She was only one year old at the time and has never returned.
The audiovisual journalism major in Canada's west coast city of Vancouver models for magazines where she has already shown off her navel and left the rest of her near perfect figure to the viewer's imagination.
At five feet eight inches (174 cm) tall, her measurements, which budge little despite her penchant for chocolate, have already earned her the title of Miss Swimsuit Canada 2003.
Even if her candidacy causes some stirring of opinion in Iran, she thinks that the perception of beauty pageants is going to change as younger generations - who demand the same human rights as in the West - age.
"I think the Conservatives should be proud of me, even themselves, because it's the year where, we, Iranian women are showing our freedom," she said, referring to Shirine Ebadi, the recent Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Afshin-Jam, who has been a volunteer for two years at the Red Cross, dreams of the Nobel herself, maybe someday.
But the Miss World title seem more attainable.
"I'd like to make a difference in this world," she said, saying the Miss World crown would allow her to "promote humanitarian aid for children worldwide, especially those affected by war or anti-personnel mines."
A graduate of international relations and political science, this polyglot student who speaks Persian, English, French and a bit of Spanish would like to become a foreign correspondent or a producer of documentaries.
Her role model is Christiane Amanpour, CNN's star correspondent, who is also of Iranian descent.
Recently, the death of Montreal-based journalist of Iranian descent, Zahra Kazemi, following her arrest for reporting on a prison in northern Teheran, has shocked Afshin-Jam whose title is Miss World Canada 2003.
"It was horrible what happened and I hope that the trial will resolve this affair because it's intolerable," she said.
Afshin-Jam is keen to remain at her best ahead of the December 6 Miss World Contest in Sanya, China.
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