Being one of the newest models of Sports Illustrated swimwear, Maggie Rawlins launches impulse racing.
But Rawlins, 28, can help raise blood pressure – she’s a registered nurse.
The South Carolina native, who modeled the lingerie brand Intimissimi and landed the October cover of Elle Croatia, worked in a medical unit in Queens during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring.
“I was working in LA and I booked a flight back [to South Carolina] thinking it’s going to be about a month, “Rawlins told The Post. Then the call came out for nurses, so he immediately raised his hand and headed to New York at the end of March 2020.
“I had the skills established as a nurse and it was a responsibility more than anything else. . . You just hit the ground running. There were a lot of obstacles. ”
Asked if any patients or co-workers knew about her day-to-day work, she said: “Absolutely not. And I don’t think anyone cared at the time. “
The 5-foot, 7-inch rawlins were researched to be modeled in adolescence. But she always wanted to become a nurse, like her grandmother who worked overnight in labor and birth. After graduating from school, she was working as a hematologic oncology nurse in South Carolina when she was contacted by an agency in Miami.
“At first I thought it was a bit of a scam, but my assistant manager told me to start. She told me to keep my license active and, if I didn’t like it, I could always come back, “she said.
Rawlins kept his credentials by volunteering with the nonprofit OneWorld Health and traveled to countries such as Uganda and Nicaragua, working as a triage nurse, before returning to help pandemic-devastated New York.
And in December, Rawlins, who is married to her childhood neighbor George Douglas III and now lives in Manhattan, received another life-changing call: she was intercepted to pose for the prestigious bikini bible.
“I had no idea I was right on SI’s radar. I got a call from my agent telling me I was ready. Then, two hours later, he said, “You’re confirmed for Sports Illustrated and you’re shooting in three weeks,” Rawlins said, adding that he was indulging in red wine and needed to get back in shape quickly.
“I’ve done a lot of Pilates at home and the Sculpt Society with Megan Roup,” said Rawlins, whose favorite SI swimming models are Kathy Ireland and Elle Macpherson.
She hopes that this moment of bikini-drawing will attract the attention of health workers.
“I want to emphasize that I was only there for three weeks, which is nothing compared to the sacrifices they made,” she said, adding “COVID did not stop for them.”