Photo: Courtesy of FDNY.It's been a long time since we've been excited about a calendar. But, the FDNY's Calendar of Heroes is grabbing headlines — and we're not just talking about the models' washboard abs. The 2015 edition will be the first to feature a female firefighter.
Wearing a gray FDNY tank top paired with red suspenders and a smile that says, "I know I'm a badass," Danae Mines is the first Miss in the historically all Mister calendar — Miss March, to be precise. An 11-year veteran and member of Engine Co. 60 in the South Bronx, Mines is one of only 41 female firefighters in New York City. In fact, she was the only woman to even audition for the calendar, according to the New York Daily News.
Mines wasn't dissuaded by warnings that she'd end up looking "like a pinup girl" if she posed in the calendar. After all, she faced similar concern from her family years earlier when she first shared her desire to join the FDNY. In both scenarios, Mines let her ambition dictate her choices. “I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me I couldn’t do what I wanted to do,” she told the Daily News. "I wanted my picture in the calendar so that young girls and young women can see me and know that they can do this job." She beat out over a 100 male hopefuls for a coveted calendar spot.
Mines portrait is beautiful, strong, and empowering — her MObama-grade arms are quite impressive, too. She understands that her presence in the calendar is symbolic, and owns the responsibility. “I said I wanted to inspire people, this is just the beginning," she wrote on her Facebook page. Miss March is showing everyone how it's done.