Fatima Siad was born on January 1, 1986, in Mogadishu, Somalia. She grew up as a child of three (girls) from parents of mixed African ancestry (her mother is Somali, and her father is Ethipoian). She is also a child of divorce, and has said that she used to live in a "shack, with no running water." During the Civil War in Somalia, Fatima's two sisters were killed, and when she was thirteen her mother immigrated to America with her. They lived in Boston, Massachusetts, for a time, and Fatima attended Bryn Mawr College in 2004, attended Spelman College in Atlanta, GA for one year in 2006, and then transferred to New York University, pre-med (also to study political science).When Fatima became a finalist on America's Next Top Model, she gained much sympathy with her early admission of having been circumcised when she was seven years old. Immediately recognized as stunningly beautiful, she went far in the competition -- she was even able to progress when she lost her passport in Atlanta, Georgia (which she needed in order to go overseas), although she missed that week's photo-shoot to settle things with customs/immigration. Fatima ended up placing third in the competition, behind Anya Rozova (runner-up) and Whitney Thompson (winner).After Cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model was over, Fatima transferred back to Bryn Mawr College.
