"I love who I am. I love my skin tone.”
When model Nyakim Gatwech was in middle school, she cried herself to sleep thinking she wasn't beautiful enough. Now, the 24 year old South Sudanese model has become an icon of beauty and an inspiration to young women everywhere. Her secret? Self-love.
“It takes time to love who you are. Be confident in whatever the situation is,” Nyakim said in an interview with Teen Vogue, “If you love yourself other people will see. It will shine through you and then they have the choice to accept you or walk away.”
Nyakim went viral after posting a story of her interaction with an Uber driver on Instagram. When the Uber driver asked her if she would bleach her skin for $10,000, Nyakim laughed it off. “I would never do that. I consider my skin to be a blessing,” she told him.
Ever since, Nyakim has been nicknamed the “Queen of the Dark” by her fans and has proven her royalty in her fierce photos and motivational captions. Nyakim has become a woman that little girls look up to when, they too, are in search of self-love.
“When I put a picture up I'm telling people that no matter what you say, I love who I am. I love my skin tone. I’m telling people that I am beautiful even though I look different than the majority of people in this world I live in,” Nyakim said.
With the power of her 260K+ followers on Instagram, Nyakim has used her recent fame to challenge American beauty standards. Nyakim, who spent the majority of her childhood among the lighter-skinned people of Ethiopia and Kenya, said she never experienced colorism until she came to the US.
"I never had a problem with my skin until I came to America, went to my middle school and realized everyone was staring at me. The kids made fun of me," Nyakim said.
Now, the model has embraced her darkly pigmented skin and challenges representation in modeling through every photos she takes. Though her skin might look different than others, beauty is diverse, she said.
Nyakim is finishing up Minneapolis Community College this fall. After graduation, Nyakim plans on devoting herself to her modeling, but knows one day she will be an elementary school teacher.
“My goal is to continue with school, continue with modeling, and give back. It's not all about me, I want to help others who went through what I went through. I want to give back to my community in whatever way possible,” Nyakim said.
Nyakim, who immigrated to the US when she was 14, first learned what the word “model” meant in the grocery store. Nyakim had a long journey coming to the US from South Sudan, immigrating by her bare feet from a refugee camp in Ethiopia to a refugee camp in Kenya, and finally to the US. Nyakim lost two siblings along the way, but never gave up hope. The model came to the US in 2007 with her mom and siblings by her side.
This story was first published in Teen Vogue. Written by Mirabella Roberts
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