‏Kamaliya‏

Natalia Shmarenkova, wife of Kyiv Post publisher Mohammad Zahoor, is 2008 Mrs. World. She also has a singing and acting career and is excited about her upcoming role in a Hollywood movie.

For someone crowned Mrs. World 2008, Natalia Shmarenkova's demeanor is refreshingly devoid of elitism and celebrity arrogance. In Ukraine, she is more known as a pop singer under the stage name of Kamaliya. She hopes the world will know her soon as a movie actress.

Shmarenkova is the wife of new Kyiv Post owner and publisher, Mohammad Zahoor. Outside of business circles, he was the lesser-known of the pair, at least until he started spending some of his fortune to buy real estate and media companies.

Married in 2003, the couple has lofty ambitions, talent and the financial means to achieve them.

A professional musician, singer, model and rising actress, she did not get it all just by marrying the right man. Before meeting Zahoor, she worked on her own career and racked up awards at state festivals. Although never topping the charts or filling stadiums, she has an audience appreciative of her soprano and waist-deep blond hair.

Winning the Mrs. World beauty pageant for married women in 2008 was one of the highest points in her career. "I wanted to show women in Ukraine that being married does not mean it's the end of it all. We can always be beautiful," Kamaliya said. "Moreover, the contest is about family values, self-accomplishment and helping those less fortunate."

She was born to a military family in far-off Chita Oblast in Russia. When Kamaliya turned three, her father was deployed in Budapest, thus starting their lifelong wandering around the world. "We never really had a home," said Inna Shmarenkova, Kamaliya's mother. "So we had enough of this feeling of nostalgia and now want to be in one place."

Shmarenkova never detached herself from her pre-school daughter from the moment she walked her to the vocals studio for the first time. A professional singer herself, she remains Kamaliya's producer, agent and sidekick to this day.

Failing to strike powerful friendships in turbulent 1990s, they did not secure mainstream fame. After the fall of the Soviet Union, newly minted millionaires not only ran steel mills and grain factories. They also made inroads into show business as well.

Exuberant and spontaneous, Kamaliya does not seem to be put off by the fickle fortunes of her past. Beauty contests and film roles are good enough omens for long-term prospects on stage.

The couple could be based anywhere - Russia, England, the United States or even Pakistan - but they have chosen to remain in Ukraine.

Talkative and energetic, she appears eager for a big break in her career - on the big screen or on TV. She started filming a pilot TV program "Coffee with Kamaliya," in which she interviews celebrities about their climb to fame. "The idea is to show younger people that popularity does not come by accident but is rather a product of hard work." She also plans to shoot another program about charity.