Street style photographer Steven Hall had been shooting the homecoming weekend celebrations at Howard University in Washington D.C. for five hours when he spotted Anok Yai.
He immediately knew she had something special.
"Saw her right at the end of Yardfest. Stunning," he wrote, sharing the photos he took on Instagram.
The post quickly went viral, amassing more than 20,000 likes, and boosting Yai's followers to more than 107,000.
Now Yai, who came to the US in 2000 as a refugee after her family fled the Sudanese genocide, has been signed to Next Models and is the subject of a write-up by Vogue.
"I was always inclined to do art and fashion, but I didn't know how to get into the industry," Yai tells Vogue.
But the Plymouth State University student has other ambitions. She is studying biochemistry and hopes to become a doctor.
She wants to help young girls to feel confident and inspired to pursue careers in STEM fields and overcome gendered cultural expectations that may hold them back.
"I knew that I'd be able to help people and that's my overall goal in life," she tells the magazine.
"I definitely want girls to be looking into those [STEM] programs.
"Women aren't always raised to be as great as they can possibly be. They're told to care about more how they look and be extremely feminine. [As a result,] science, math, and technology are still considered male jobs."
"When I was younger, I was insecure about my skin because I looked up to people in the media and, though I looked up to black women, I never saw black women that were as dark as me," she says.
"I definitely want to be a role model for young dark-skinned girls and girls in general - I want to bring to light ideas of self-love and self-confidence."
