Brazilian Valentina Sampaio has made history by becoming the first openly transgender model to be featured in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.
In a post to her Instagram followers on Friday, the 23-year-old shared a photo from the upcoming edition and described her inclusion as "groundbreaking".
"I am excited and honored to be part of the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue," she wrote.
"The team at SI has created yet another groundbreaking issue by bringing together a diverse set of multitalented, beautiful women in a creative and dignified way."
Sampaio was born in a remote village in northern Brazil, a country that has some of the highest rates of violent crimes and murders against the trans community in the world.
There were 331 reported murders of trans and gender-diverse people in the last year and 130 occurred in Brazil, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring research project.
Sampio said being a member of the trans community "usually means facing closed doors to peoples’ hearts and minds".
"We face snickers, insults, fearful reactions and physical violations just for existing," she wrote in the Instagram post.
"Our options for growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school or finding dignified work are unimaginably limited and challenging."
The inclusion of Sampaio in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, due for release on 21 July, marks a new step forward for diversity at the magazine.
Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio during Sao Paulo Fashion Week in 2017. Source: AP
In 2016, Ashley Graham appeared on the magazine's cover as its first plus-sized model, while Halima Aden became the first person to appear on the cover wearing a hijab last year.
Sampaio herself is also no stranger to making history - she became the first transgender model to work for Victoria's Secret last year. She also became the first transgender person to grace the cover of Vogue Paris in 2017.
