The highly anticipated Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue cover was finally unveiled Tuesday morning, and the cover girl is a fresh face to the pages of SI. Instead of tapping a swimsuit issue regular, the editors of SI Swim went with newcomer Danielle Herrington, who was first featured as a Rookie in 2017. Her very first big photo shoot was for SI Swim last year as part of the Rookie class (which includes Olivia Culpo, Hunter McGrady and Ebonee Davis this year). Ben Watts 
 
 This year's issue of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit was shot in the Caribbean, where 20...make that now 21 covers have been shot over the magazine's 54-year history. Little did she know her life was about to change forever. “I’m so grateful to Carine [Roitfeld] and her team for casting me in the Philipp Plein show, which was my New York Fashion Week debut,” she told CR Fashion Book. Herrington revealed that she always aspired to have a career like Sports Illustrated Swimsuit two-time cover star Tyra Banks. Danielle becomes just the third African-American to appear on the cover, joining Tyra Banks (1997) and Beyonce (2005).
– Danielle Herrington is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model for 2018. The magazine revealed its swimsuit edition cover Tuesday. Herrington is the third black woman to appear on the cover of the annual issue that launched in 1964, the AP reports. Beyonce appeared on the cover in 2007, while Tyra Banks was the cover model in 1996 and 1997. Herrington first appeared in the magazine's swimsuit issue last year. SI details the ruse used to reveal the big news to Herrington: Staff lured her to a studio for what she thought would be a virtual reality shoot, only to be told the real reason for her visit by Banks herself. Herrington only started her modeling career last year, SI notes. "Danielle was a shy girl, who went from taking her first photos last year to showing up this year a completely different person," says MJ Day, the Swimsuit Issue's editor. "All the good things about her seemed to be magnified." Day notes, however, that even though the issue was conceived and shot before the #MeToo movement heated up last fall, it's about more than just women in swimsuits. Day says the magazine is "creating and giving platforms to these women" and presenting them as multidimensional people. See the emotional moment when the 24-year-old Herrington finds out she's the one at Sports Illustrated, or find out more about her at People.