Michael Conlon, Chicago: A new magazine launched this month is offering 400,000 teenaged Muslim girls in the United States a chance to be a cover girl.

"The girls are eager to have their stories told," said Ausma Khan, editor of Muslim Girl Magazine, which is out with a 25,000-copy premier issue and expects its circulation to be four times that in two years. It is, she said in an interview on Friday, an under served market for both readers and advertisers.

The first cover girl is Wardah Chaudhary, 16, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where, Khan said, there is a relatively small but vibrant Muslim community. Her perseverance and energy won her the honor, the editor said, but the magazine and its Web site - http://www.muslimgirlmagazine.com - has invited other Muslim girls to vie for the cover.

In her essay, Chaudhary talks about her Pakistan-born parents, her life growing up in Oklahoma and her activities. "One thing I know for sure is that I am not behind in anything just because I wear hijab," she says referring to her Muslim style of dressing. "To all the girls that are reading this, I want them to know to be proud of who you are."

She appears on the magazine's cover wearing a red and white head covering, with tiny red, white and blue stars on her right cheek bone.

The January/February issue also has articles on a Muslim girls basketball team and a noted Muslim woman health researcher, who is photographed with a stunning shoe collection.

The magazine's tone is chatty, and its focus on beautiful women and relationships is similar to other magazines targeting young women - although the women shown tend to more modestly dressed.

A survey of Muslim teen girls done for the magazine found out that they mainly go to public school, watch a bit too much television, read teen magazines, surf the Internet, like YouTube.com, enjoy video games, talk a lot and like to shop and hang out - a profile matching most American teens.

Khan, a lawyer and writer, was teaching classes touching on human rights and international law at Northwestern University when she was recruited to head the magazine.

She said the survey was hardly a surprise to her as a Muslim who grew up in the United States, "but I think thepublisher may have been surprised at how much a part of thefabric of (US) life these girls are."

She said initial circulation efforts concentrated in areas known to have large Muslim populations, including New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; Dearborn, Michigan; Chicago, Los Angeles and areas of Texas.

The publisher, ExecuGo Media inToronto, will also distribute the magazine in Ontario and Toronto."There is information for every group," said Khan. "Our community is definitely under served."