Undercover Beauty

Model Kadija Diawara is part of a select group of models who are both Muslim and hijabi. She says being different sets them apart in a positive way

- Shalwah Evans

The road to modeling was far from easy for Kadija Diawara. Born in the Ivory Coast and raised in Egypt until her family immigrated to the United States when she was 6, Diawara has been through some challenging times. She considers all of it part of the mix that has made her into the woman she is today. Growing up in New Jersey as a Muslim with a large immediate family (14 brothers and sisters) and parents who didn’t speak English—she spoke only the West African language Bambara when she first arrived—she had an uphill battle. She recalls living in a small house that had no lights or heat, where the family showered with rainwater they caught in buckets, and her mother cooked their food outside on a charcoal grill.