Let’s get this week started right, thank you very much: CoverGirl has named its new beauty ambassador, and it’s beauty YouTuber, Nura Afia!
[Pause for cheering]
The appointment is in the name of the brand’s #LashEquality campaign and will see Afia fronting for its So Lashy! BlastPro Mascara.
Which is a super-smart move for CoverGirl, considering the blogger has over 200,000 YouTube subscribers and a massive Instagram following. She’s also one of few Muslim women to have been featured in a national cosmetics campaign, and will be seen in commercials and on billboards (on Times Square, even, thanks), while wearing her hijab.
“I grew up being insecure about wearing the hijab, and I never thought I would see Muslim women represented on such a large scale,” she told Refinery29. “I hope it will show Muslim women that brands care about us and we’re important, especially hijabis. We can be featured on TV, can be featured on Billboards in Times Square, can be represented.”
Afia also announced the news via Instagram post (linking to a feature in Allure). Best.
Of course, this news follows the announcement last week that 17-year-old James Charles would be CoverGirl’s first Cover Boy, which is also part of the #LashEquality campaign, a means of creating equality in the beauty industry.
“I’m doing this because I want there to be a time when my daughter grows up when she knows she can be anything she wants to be,” Afia added. “It doesn’t matter what her beliefs are are or what she looks like.”
Afia joins Charles (duh), Chloe and Halle, Sofia Vargara, Amy Pham and Katy Perry as brand ambassadors, who we’ll be seeing more and more of as the campaign rolls out. Coolest!