Minnesota Model Makes History In SI Swimsuit Issue

MINNESOTA — St. Cloud State graduate Halima Aden made history at the age of 19 when she became the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. Now, the Minnesotan is making history again, this time in the pages of Sports Illustrated's "Swimsuit" edition.

Aden — who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya before growing up in Minnesota — is the magazine's first model to pose wearing a hijab and a burkini. The model traveled back to her birth country for the photoshoot with photographer Yu Tsai.

"I keep thinking [back] to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp," Halima told the magazine.

"So to grow up to live the American dream [and] to come back to Kenya and shoot for SI in the most beautiful parts of Kenya–I don’t think that’s a story that anybody could make up."

Read more about Aden's story over at Sports Illustrated.