Born in 1997 in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Halima Aden has risen to international stardom in the past four years. Her parents are Somali, having fled their home country because of the civil war. At the age of six, Halima and her family were resettled in the United States, making their home in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In 2016, at the age of 19, she participated in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant, becoming the first contestant to wear both a burkini and a hijab. The next year, she signed with IMG Models and made her debut at the New York Fashion Show in 2017. In doing so, she became the first hijab wearing model to walk international runaways and to be signed to a major modeling agency. Her modeling contract includes her hijab, which has become a non negotiable part of her work. She has also entered the world of fashion design, partnering with a modest clothing brand to design her own turban and shawl, a collection for everyone, regardless of whether they wear hijab or not. In addition to her work in fashion, she is also an advocate for humanitarian rights. She became a UNICEF ambassador in 2018 and has focused her work within the organization on the promotion of children’s rights, particular those who have refugee or IDP status. In 2020, she announced she was stepping away from a career as a model, as it forced her to compromise her identity as a Muslim woman.