Halima Aden knew she would make history as the first Muslim model to grace the pages of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition wearing a hijab and burkini, but she didn't think she would change lives.
"I was hoping it would be perceived well but I've just been blown away," the model told AAP.
"When you hear young girls telling you you've changed their entire life and they're going out swimming, trying out these things they thought weren't for them, I can't help but feel really proud."
Speaking from her hotel room in Sydney on Thursday, the 21-year-old is a world away from Kakuma - a refugee camp in northwestern Kenya where she spent most of her childhood, having been forced to flee with her family the horrors of the Somalian civil war.
Aden and her family later moved to the United States and settled in Minnesota, where at 19 she first made headlines competing in the Miss USA beauty pageant wearing a hijab. During the swimwear portion of the competition, she wore a burkini - a swimsuit which covers the entire body except for the face, hands and feet.
"I wanted to experience pageantry, it's not Somali culture, but it's very much American tradition - it's the one event that brings together women from all over Minnesota," Aden said.
Since the pageant, she's appeared on Vogue covers, walked in New York Fashion Week and collaborated with singer Rihanna's cosmetics brand.
But for Aden, the Sports Illustrated spread - shot in Kenya earlier this year - was "life coming full circle".
"What started and launched my career was the swimsuit," she said.
Aden embraces the title of trailblazer and is proud to see young Muslim women follow in her footsteps. A year after her appearance at the Miss USA Minnesota competition, eight girls participated in hijabs.
"It shows me that it's not that girls don't want to participate in these kinds of events - it's because they haven't seen somebody that they could relate to do it before," she explains.
"So they always thought 'this is off limits for me, I can't reach this, or I can't try this.' It's been a barrier. And I'm here to crush those barriers and tell my girls it's okay, give it a try.
"I've always said, if I don't go out and try who will?"
Aden is in Australia to attend the final show of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia on Thursday, as well as the official closing party as a guest of telco giant Huawei.
She's "obsessed" with Australian designers, including mother-daughter duo Carla Zampatti and Bianca Spender.
"I just think the style here is just very feminine, very easy to wear, very chic and beautiful," Aden said.
* Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia runs until May 18
