Oleksandra Nikolayenko-Ruffin (; born 3 July 1981 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) is a Ukrainian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder.

Education

She studied at the Odesa National Law Academy, and worked for Savrox Models Agency in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

. She takes an active part in charitable projects. She speaks Ukrainian,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Pageantry

She held the "Miss Odesa", "Miss Ukraine South", "Miss Ukraine", "Miss Student", "Miss Tourism-Europe", "First vice-Miss Tourism-Planet", "Miss American Dream" and "Miss Tourism International" titles. She represented Ukraine at

Miss World 2001 Miss World 2001 was the 51st edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Super Bowl of Sun City Entertainment Centre in Sun City, North West, Sun City, South Africa, on 16 November 2001. Priyanka Chopra of India crowned Agbani Darego of Nig ...

and placed among the top ten. Later, she was the 2004

Miss Ukraine Universe Miss Ukraine Universe () is national beauty pageant in Ukraine. The winner represents Ukraine at the most prestigious international beauty contest "Miss Universe". The pageant exists since 2006, after the Miss Ukraine Organization lost the Miss ...

winner and represented Ukraine at

Miss Universe 2004 Miss Universe 2004 was the 53rd Miss Universe pageant, held at the Centro de Convenciones CEMEXPO in Quito, Ecuador on 1 June 2004. At the end of the event, Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic crowned Jennifer Hawkins of Australia as Miss U ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

2004. She has received more beauty awards than any other woman in Ukraine. She was invited to judge the

Miss Universe 2005 Miss Universe 2005 was the 54th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Impact Arena in Nonthaburi Province, Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand on 31 May 2005. At the end of the event, Jennifer Hawkins of Australia crowned Natalie Glebova of C ...

finals in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Life after pageants

Donald J. Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

introduced then-72-year old

Phil Ruffin Phillip Ruffin is an American businessman. He owns the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino and Circus Circus Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, in addition to a number of other enterprises including hotels, casinos, greyhound racing tracks, oil product ...

, to Oleksandra Nikolayenko — like

Melania Trump Melania Knauss Trump (born Melanija Knavs, April26, 1970) is a Slovenian and American former model who is married to U.S. President Donald Trump. Since 2025, Melania Trump has served as the first lady of the United States, a role she previous ...

, a much younger former model. The couple were married in 2008 at

Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago ( , ) is a resort and National Historic Landmark on a barrier island in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. It spans 126 rooms and built on of land. Since 1985, it has been owned by Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of t ...

, Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, with him as best man. The men's wives are quite close, Ruffin has said, “like peas in a pod.” They have two children: Richard William Ruffin (born April 2010) and daughter Malena (born 2013).Las Vegas Journal-Review: "Ruffin, Trump pals in business, leisure" by NORM CLARKE
24 February 2013. She is currently the National Director Chairman of

. She also designed the "Oleksandra Spa & Salon" at the

Treasure Island Hotel and Casino Treasure Island Hotel and Casino (also known as Treasure Island Las Vegas and "TI") is a pirate-themed hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, U.S. It includes 2,885 rooms and a casino. The resort is owned and oper ...

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

, which is owned by her husband.

References

1981 births Beauty pageant owners Living people Miss Universe 2004 contestants Miss World 2001 delegates Models from Odesa Models from Budapest Actresses from Budapest Ukrainian beauty pageant winners Ukrainian female models {{Model-stub