--- title: CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is Proud to Represent Muslim Women description: CoverGirl brand ambassador Nura Afia is the first Muslim woman to be given the role and she opens up about her experience with the brand. canonical: https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-19T21:42:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:27.014Z og:title: CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is ‘Honored’ to Represent Muslim Women og:description: 'There really aren’t words to describe the feeling’ og:url: https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79238e4784906b7c/6988acd58e0601066e4681c0/nura-afia-covergirl-brand-ambassador.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: DJ, host, model and actress Amy Pham and beauty blogger Nura Afia offer a sneak peek at the new COVERGIRL So Lashy mascara and commercial that promotes #LashEquality in New York City og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is ‘Honored’ to Represent Muslim Women twitter:description: 'There really aren’t words to describe the feeling’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79238e4784906b7c/6988acd58e0601066e4681c0/nura-afia-covergirl-brand-ambassador.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is ‘Honored’ to Represent Muslim Women by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 19, 2017 9:42 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: DJ, host, model and actress Amy Pham and beauty blogger Nura Afia (pictured) offer a sneak peek at the new COVERGIRL So Lashy mascara and commercial that promotes #LashEquality on November 1, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for COVERGIRL) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: DJ, host, model and actress Amy Pham and beauty blogger Nura Afia (pictured) offer a sneak peek at the new COVERGIRL So Lashy mascara and commercial that promotes #LashEquality on November 1, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for COVERGIRL)Cindy Ord—COVERGIRL/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 19, 2017 9:42 PM UTC CoverGirl recently named [Nura Afia](http://motto.time.com/4556178/nura-afia-covergirl-brand-ambassador/) a brand ambassador, making her the first Muslim woman to be given that role. Afia, a beauty vlogger who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and YouTube, is continuing to take the [makeup](http://motto.time.com/4598013/fall-asleep-makeup-remover/) world by storm. In an [interview](http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a42237/nura-afia-covergirl-beauty-tips/) with _Elle_, Afia opens up about how surreal the experience feels and offers some of her best [makeup tips](http://motto.time.com/4314923/makeup-organizing-hacks/). Afia explains that makeup has served as a means of self-discovery when she was growing up. “I felt like it helped me gain my confidence,” she said. “It’s just another version of expressing ourselves. I can play up or play down or express myself using makeup.” Being proud of her identity and sense of self didn’t stop with makeup. Afia feels “honored” to represent Muslims and women who wear hijab. “There really aren’t words to describe the feeling,” she said. Afia almost didn’t believe the request from CoverGirl to star in her own campaign: “I thought it was a scam!” In a CoverGirl Instagram [video](https://www.instagram.com/p/BMbtOO7gKTA/), Afia explained why she feels so “ecstatic” to be a part of the company: “I never thought I’d see women like me represented in such a global brand, so it means to world to me and for me to be that woman representing women like me is unimaginable.” In October, CoverGirl also named its first male brand ambassador, [James Charles](http://time.com/4527279/covergirls-first-male-spokesperson-james-charles/). Afia told _Elle_ how much she loved working with Charles and being “part of such an awesome campaign that represents diversity and equality for all. Especially at this time.” \[[_Elle_](http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a42237/nura-afia-covergirl-beauty-tips/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/"},"headline":"CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is ‘Honored’ to Represent Muslim Women","datePublished":"2017-01-19T21:42:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:27.014Z","description":"'There really aren’t words to describe the feeling’","url":"https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79238e4784906b7c/6988acd58e0601066e4681c0/nura-afia-covergirl-brand-ambassador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79238e4784906b7c/6988acd58e0601066e4681c0/nura-afia-covergirl-brand-ambassador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"DJ, host, model and actress Amy Pham and beauty blogger Nura Afia offer a sneak peek at the new COVERGIRL So Lashy mascara and commercial that promotes #LashEquality in New York City","caption":"DJ, host, model and actress Amy Pham and beauty blogger Nura Afia offer a sneak peek at the new COVERGIRL So Lashy mascara and commercial that promotes #LashEquality in New York City","creditText":"Cindy Ord—COVERGIRL/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4639703/nura-afia-covergirl-represent-muslim-women/","name":"CoverGirl's Nura Afia Is ‘Honored’ to Represent Muslim Women"}}]}] ```