A young Australian woman who had her photo taken in a nightclub went viral for her natural beauty and has now appeared on the cover of her first magazine.
Murri woman Ryli Johnson, 20, from Moree in north-west New South Wales, suddenly found herself in the spotlight after countless internet users declared she should become a model when a photo of her and her boyfriend Tyreice Baira.
She had traveled with her boyfriend and friends to Townsville, in far north Queensland, for a weekend getaway and was enjoying a night out at The Bank nightclub when a photographer snapped a photo of the couple.
While Johnson said she didn’t think much of the photo, it was shared on the club’s Facebook page and was soon inundated with comments praising its beauty.
Daily Mail Australia first spoke to Johnson in March about his newfound fame, which has only escalated: his face is now on the cover of next week’s issue of Stellar Magazine.
Murri woman Ryli Johnson was pictured with her boyfriend Tyreice Baira Gela at The Bank nightclub in Townsville.
Ms Johnson has now appeared on the cover of Stellar magazine for next week’s issue.
The magazine, available Sunday, shows Johnson wearing a gray top with spaghetti straps and matching long pants.
She seemed more than comfortable behind the camera, despite having little experience.
“One night out in Townsville she was dubbed ‘Australia’s Most Beautiful Woman’. Ryli Johnson is ready for her close-up,” reads the cover caption.
Johnson’s only other modeling experience was at the age of 12, when her mother entered her in an Aboriginal model search competition, which her cousin won.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia about her latest venture into the fashion industry, Johnson said she saw herself going into modeling.
“I really see myself doing it, maybe not full time, but I’m really excited to see where this takes me,” she said.
Johnson said she could see herself pursuing a career in modeling.
Ms Johnson recently moved to Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast and is working in office administration while she waits to hear if her application for a job with Qantas as a customer service agent is successful.
Before that, she had been considering going to college to study to be a teacher.
Johnson said that while her height of 5.3 feet might mean she is too short for the runway, she was looking forward to more photo shoots.
“For the first Stellar session I was very nervous and they gave me a couple of poses to try,” she said.
Social media users were stunned by the 20-year-old’s “natural” beauty, with many claiming she should pursue a modeling career.
“The outfit I was wearing was a little out of my comfort zone, but with the next outfit I felt very comfortable and they said they thought it was natural and that I had been doing it for years.
“The photographer had photographed all these amazing stars and models and I’m just a black girl from Moree.”
While she is incredibly grateful and humbled by her newfound fame, Johnson has also learned of the downsides that stardom can bring.
“I got a lot of derogatory comments and I had to put my Instagram on private,” she said.
“I was a little discouraged and that made me turn away. Some of the messages were really disgusting, people were saying ‘oh I’ve seen other beautiful black women.’
Johnson said some people were making sexual comments about her, while one father even bizarrely said his ten-year-old daughter was more beautiful.
“I didn’t respond to any of them. You’re always going to get hate and negative comments, but what matters is how you deal with it,” she said.
Ryli, originally from the small rural area of Moree in north-west New South Wales, said the response was “overwhelming”.
She was also inundated with messages of support, and even a makeup artist offered her services to the young woman.
“First Nations girls were sending me messages saying ‘you’re a beautiful girl who continues to pave the way for us’ and that really touched my heart,” Ms Johnson said.
“I’m a very proud First Nations woman and I just want to represent my culture and show people that it doesn’t matter what skin tone you have.”
Her family and close friends have also been a role model of support for the 20-year-old as she navigates fame and media.
They plan to buy every issue of Stellar magazine when it arrives at their local store on Sunday morning.
The moment the nightclub photo was posted, Johnson was inundated with praise from countless Australians.
Johnson said she would “definitely” consider a career in modeling if given the opportunity and would use the platform to inspire other young Indigenous and First Nations girls.
“Sign her with a modeling agency, she’s so naturally beautiful,” one commented.
‘She is the very definition of beauty. Someone record it,” wrote a second person.
‘Tell me this girl models professionally. She is beautiful,” a third chimed in.
A fourth added: “She should pursue a career in modeling as she is naturally beautiful inside and out.”
Johnson said at the time that the reaction to his photo was shock.
“I don’t really wear makeup, but that night I just didn’t wear anything and the guy asked me if he could take a photo of us, not thinking it was going to be published,” she said.
“It just started blowing up and my mom showed me all the comments and I was like, ‘What the hell?’
‘Like I was just a little black girl from a small town in Moree and to have all these people from the big city commenting that I should be a model, I didn’t expect it at all. She’s just crazy.’
Growing up, the 20-year-old said some people had mentioned that she considered modeling, but the comments were made in passing and she dismissed them as a joke.
However, she said the reaction to her photo has given her the “drive” and confidence to potentially pursue a career in the fashion industry.
She added that one of her motivations if she worked as a model would be to inspire other young First Nations and Indigenous girls to achieve their dreams.
“I would definitely shout out to people in my home community that there are definitely opportunities for us black girls,” Ms. Johnson said.
‘Anyone can do it. It’s possible. For example, don’t stop dreaming, you will achieve it if you leave the customs of your small town and go big.
“I always wanted to make a difference in my home community because there is a lot of violence, everyone is under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the crime rate is just ridiculous.”
Modeling is not her only talent, as Ms Johnson and her brother Bayli traveled to Ireland last year for the ITF Tag Team World Cup in Ireland.
The pair won a bronze medal, Ms Johnson as part of the Australian Indigenous Oztag under-21 women’s team and Bayli as part of the Rest of the World Alliance under-21 men’s team.
The 20-year-old explained that she was grateful for all the lovely comments and was shocked because she was just a “small town” girl.