Fiiri means ‘to look’ or ‘to see’ in Somali, and that is what we’re about — demanding that we see all the people who are usually under represented and ignored.” So saysMona Mohammed Ali of Fiiri, Scandinavia’s first diverse model and talent agency.“We’re not just an agency, we’re a community. That’s the key thing — we are friends, we support each other, we love each other, and it feels good to be part of that.” Ali only established Fiiri a year ago in Stockholm and yet she’s already expanded across the region, garnered international press and been appointedVogue Scandinavia’s diversity andinclusion editor. All thanks to herunstoppable dedication to supportingindividuals from every minority ethnicity,background and ability — both in frontof and behind the camera.Ali’s own story makes her a positiverole model for those she now supports.Born in Somalia during civil war, her familywere forced to flee, first to Saudi Arabia,then Kenya before four-year-old Ali andher elder brother were sent to join their auntin Norrköping, Sweden. “We experienceda lot of racism. People crossed the streetwhen they saw us and put explosives in ourmailbox. At school kids would say that ifI took my headscarf off, they’d stop bullyingme,” she remembers. “It was difficult tobe a young Muslim woman but I learntthat the angrier you get, the more controlledyou become. I refused to believe thatI should simply be grateful to be alive andthat this life was all I was supposed to be.”By the time she was reunited with herparents in Norway aged 13, she decidedto follow her dreams to study fashionand received a scholarship for Regent’sUniversity in London. For the next decadeshe tried her hand at everything — styling,production, modelling, marketing andtalent management — before leaving theUK and relocating to Stockholm in 2019.“There is still a lot of segregation here andso I wanted to do something to changemindsets and culture,” she recalls.“I pitched myself to all the agencies, offeringto help them with the models of colour ontheir boards but no one showed any interest,so I had to set up my own agency.”After an intense period of networkingand research, she set up the business,started casting via Instagram and foundher first faces. She was soon invited toCopenhagen Fashion Week and wordof mouth has spread her good work eversince. Coinciding with the global BlackLives Matter protests last year, whichhighlighted the urgent need for Fiiri, Aliadvises clients on the importance ofthinking beyond the models to also bookingdiverse hair and make-up artists whounderstand their needs, as well as stylists,photographers and art directors too.Likewise for Vogue, she produces shootsthat extends her mission to celebratedifferent cultures and give creativesfinancial stability