No Limits

A young Malaysian took on Miss Universe, and what resulted was a challenge of the world’s standards of what a pageant should look like.

- Meghan Angelica Paul

At just the tender age of 20, nurul shamsul, a malaysian-indonesian who was born here but raised in new zealand, has cemented her role in redefining beauty standards in the world. Coming from a farm town from morrinsville, she shot to the limelight as the first hijab-wearing muslim to enter miss universe new zealand, which she has since emerged in fifth place. Not one to stop at challenges, nurul shamsul is also your above average overachiever!

"In high school, I started an amnesty international human rights group where I got the whole school to be involved and in university I had also started amnesty international. I am now the president of it , which is very cool. I ’m also a published poet—when I was 17 years old I published ‘the liberation of wine’ in the new zealand book of poetry, where I talked about the stereotypes of being a muslim woman,” she shared. In this exclusive shoot and interview, nurul shamsul met #teamcleo’s writer meghan angelica and took her through the journey that was miss universe and accepting herself completely.

What inspired you to join miss universe new zealand?