If you grew up a person of color, chances are you didn’t see many people that looked like you in the media. People of color are only now being seen on billboards, movies, magazines, and more. When you rarely see people that look like you in certain professions, it can be discouraging. You may doubt yourself or think that you will be denied. It only takes one person to show everyone that, yes, it can be done. One person in particular is Halima Aden.
Halima, born in a refugee camp in Kenya, moved to St. Louis when she was just 7. She faced some difficulties because of her surroundings and became disheartened. After some time in Missouri, she started to grow only after moving to Minnesota. As a Muslim girl, she decided to wear a hijab, and soon she grew to step outside her comfort zone.
She became her schools Homecoming Queen, then was the first hijab and burkini wearing contestant in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. Competing in the pageant with her hijab put her in the national spotlight. It soon landed her a contract with IMG Models. In 2017, she became the first hijab-wearing model to grace the cover of Vogue Arabia. She then had a feature on the cover of British Vogue as one of the models “changing the face of fashion.”
Fast forward to a now 21-year-old with many “firsts” under her belt, she became the first hijab-wearing model on the pages of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. In a behind the scenes clip from the photoshoot she says, “growing up in the states, I never really felt represented, because I never could flip through a magazine and see a girl who was wearing a hijab.”
Now Halima is taking over billboards, runways, and of course magazines. She wears her hijab every day and she doesn’t let it stop her from going after her dreams. In her Ted Talk she says, “I’m not afraid to be the first, to step out on my own, to take risks and seek change, because that’s what being a minority is about. It’s about using yourself as a vessel to create change and being a human representation for the power of diversity. And now I use my platform to spread an important message of acceptance.” To all of the people of color who don’t see representation, don’t be afraid to be the first to do it.
