Nina Cash Is Using Her SI Swimsuit Platform to Inspire

The 57-year-old made her brand debut after co-winning the 2023 SI Swim Search.

Nina Cash was photographed by Ben Watts in Portugal. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

For Nina Cash, modeling has never been a full-time endeavor. She found some success with it in her late teens and early twenties before pivoting to college, a career and raising a family.

Now, at 57, she is retired from her job as a university associate dean and embracing her former passion. While she applied to the 2023 SI Swim Search on a whim, ever since she found out that she was a co-winner and would be featured in the 2024 SI Swimsuit magazine as a rookie, she has been fully invested in the experience.

“I didn’t go on a special diet or anything. I didn’t exercise more. I didn’t change my hair. As an educator, I feel like people are looking to me for realness,” she expressed in an interview with People. “I want women to know it’s O.K. to slay the gray. It’s O.K. if you have bumps. It’s O.K. if you have stretch marks. It’s O.K. if you have spider veins. It’s O.K. if you have varicose veins. It’s all good. You only got one of you. Love yourself.”

Nina Cash was photographed by Ben Watts in Portugal. Swimsuit by Agua by Agua Bendita. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

It was with that mentality that she traveled to Porto and the North, Portugal, for her rookie SI Swimsuit photo shoot. In the European destination, Cash posed for photos captured by Ben Watts, putting her natural beauty on display.

Ultimately, she wants her experience to serve as inspiration for others. “Given this opportunity, you better believe that I’m going to bring up other folks as well,” she said to People. “You can do anything. Life is so short and the only one that’s keeping you from doing something is you.”