As certainly one of Sports Illustrated’s latest swimsuit fashions, Maggie Rawlins is setting pulses racing.
But Rawlins, 28, may help with that blood stress spike — she is a registered nurse.
The South Carolina native, who has modeled for lingerie model Intimissimi and landed the October cowl of Elle Croatia, labored in a Queens medical facility in the course of the top of the COVID-19 pandemic final spring.
“I was working in LA, and I booked a flight back [to South Carolina] thinking it would be a month or so,” Rawlins advised The Post. Then the decision went out for nurses, so she instantly raised her hand and headed to New York City on the finish of March 2020.
“I had the skill set as a nurse, and it was a responsibility more than anything else . . . You just hit the ground running. There were a lot of obstacles.”
Maggie Rawlins on the duvet of Sports Illustrated, hitting stands in July.James Macari /SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Asked if any sufferers or co-employees knew of her day job, she stated: “Absolutely not. And I don’t think anybody would have cared at that point.”
The 5-foot, 7-inch Rawlins was scouted for modeling as a teen. But she all the time wished to change into a nurse, like her grandmother who labored overnights in labor and supply. After ending faculty, she was working as a hematology oncology nurse in South Carolina when a Miami company reached out.
“At first I thought it was a bit of a scam, but my nurse manager said to go for it. She said to keep my license active, and if I didn’t like it, I could always return,” she stated.
Rawlins maintained her credentials by volunteering with nonprofit OneWorld Health, and has traveled to international locations similar to Uganda and Nicaragua, working as a triage nurse, earlier than leaping again in to assist the pandemic-ravaged NYC.
And in December, Rawlins, who’s married to her childhood neighbor George Douglas III and now lives in Manhattan, received one other life-altering name: She’d been tapped to pose for the celebrated bikini bible.
“I had no idea I was even on SI’s radar. I got a call from my agent saying I was up for it. Then two hours later, he said, ‘You’re confirmed for Sports Illustrated, and you’re shooting in three weeks,’ ” stated Rawlins, including that she had been indulging in crimson wine and had to rapidly bounce again into form.
“I did a lot of at-home Pilates and the Sculpt Society app with Megan Roup,” stated Rawlins, whose favourite SI swim fashions are Kathy Ireland and Elle Macpherson.
She hopes this bikini-baring second brings consideration to well being-care employees.
“I want to stress that I was only there for three weeks, which is nothing compared to the sacrifices they have made,” she stated, including, “COVID hasn’t stopped for them.”
