Halima Aden has been a trailblazing model since she made her runway debut in New York Fashion Week’s Fall 2021 season. For her first runway show, the 19-year-old Somali-American model wore a hijab and burkini, making history as the first model to wear a hijab at a major show. On Monday, she made news again after announcing that she is leaving modeling for good, citing the lack of diversity in high fashion as the reason.

Halima Aden is a Somali-American model who is known for being the first hijab-wearing model to compete in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. In 2017, she was named one of the 20 most influential teens by Time magazine, and was the first woman to wear a hijab in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. She was also the first ever hijab-wearing model to be featured in Vogue, in a segment on models of color.

Halima Aden has been in the spotlight for over a year now. At the beginning of 2017, Aden made headlines when she became the first model to wear a hijab and burkini on the runway. She walked in New York Fashion Week, as well as in London Fashion Week, and has appeared in Vogue Italia and Elle. She has been a spokesperson for H&M and Garnier, and has been written about in Teen Vogue, New York Times, and the Guardian. But in June 2017, Aden made headlines again when she quit modeling to focus on her studies. She had just finished her first year at St. Cloud State University and said she was struggling to balance school, modeling, and her new-found fame. But now, it looks like Aden is ready to take on the modeling world once again. In an interview with Today, she said she is “back in the game” and has signed with IMG Models.