The breakout model Amira Ahmed is more than just a beautiful face framed by a short, edgy haircut. For the half-Somali, half-Filipino, who surfs the West Coast — “I love waiting for that special wave” — and hits the Tignes in the French Alps to snowboard between fashion seasons (“simply a must!”), modeling is as much about traveling and maintaining the routine-less lifestyle she knows so well as it is a job. Born in Stockholm, the 22-year-old grew up on her stepfather’s boat, where, she says “the sea became my playground.” Upon coming ashore, she attended boarding school in Prague, then college in London where she studied international relations. “It’s natural that I would find work that I could do everywhere,” she says. Now based in Brooklyn, the Ahmed most recently landed campaigns for Gap, AllSaints and L’Oreal. Just don’t expect her to start nesting anytime soon.
