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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.