Meet the world’s only hijab wearing super model Halima Aden.
A simple girl from Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, a place that 60,000 people call home.
This 19-year-old beauty has been signed by a major agency walking in international shows, is redefining beauty.
In November 2016, Denise Wallace, Executive Co-Director of the Miss Minnesota USA pageant got a phone call from 19-year-old Halima Aden, a freshman of St. Cloud State University asking if she could compete – while wearing her hijab.
“Her photo popped up. And I remember distinctly going, “Wow, she is beautiful. I mean I just remember that reaction that I had,” Ms. Wallace said.
“I wear the hijab every day,” Ms. Aden told Reuters.
“It was a no-brainer.”
In America, she was an A student and also the homecoming queen but she had no Muslim-American role model to look up to.
For any hijab-denouncers, Ms. Aden always stresses that she started wearing hers in the hopes to resemble her mom.
“Anything in life, if it’s not your choice, it’s oppressive. So I’m not going to argue against that. But for the majority, it’s a choice. Like for me, it was a choice,” she said.