Natalia Sokolova has come a long way. Born and raised in Moscow, Miss April journeyed from the shadow of the Kremlin to the pages of Playboy by way of the University of Maryland and the Hawaiian Tropic I nternational competition in Las Vegas. But the trip wasn't easy: Five years ago, just after beginning her freshman year at Maryland, Natalia was in an auto accident that left her facing life in a wheelchair. "I returned from the dead," she says of her remarkable recovery. Now determined to explore her new life, our statuesque Russian beauty delivered her hard-earned wisdom over lunch in West Los Angeles: "My great-grandmother's favorite saying was, 'There's no such word as can't. There are only such words as don't want to.' That became my motto."
Q: How did the accident happen?
A: I fell asleep in the backseat of the car, and after that I remember only flashes. I woke up in the hospital. First the doctors thought I might not make it because I'd lost so much blood, then ...
