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When I came across the photo of the woman above on Sephora’s website I was immediately stopped in my tracks. Her beautiful curls, glowing bronze skin, tribal tattoo, and facial piercing all commanded my attention, but little did I know I was looking at a woman making history.

Fast forward a day or two and I came across the same photo on my Twitter feed, this time with a message from the model, 23-year-old Taija Kerr, who was sharing the news that she is the first Afro-Hawaiian woman to be displayed on a beauty campaign.

Taija is actually a makeup artist at Sephora’s 99th and Columbus location in New York City and is one of 10 of the company’s employees selected to be a part of its holiday campaign. In her ad, the Beauty Class Facilitator who was raised in Texas but calls herself a “Hawaii girl at heart,” talked about how her entrance into the industry helped her get to know herself better. “After I started getting into beauty I truly started to find who I was and how I wanted to be portrayed,” she stated.

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News of Taija’s “first” quickly went viral on Twitter and the young artist is now hoping to gain the attention of Rihanna in hopes of starring in a future Fenty Beauty campaign.

We can absolutely see it. Check out more of Taija’s stunning photos on the next few pages.

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