Muslims Doing Things

04/06/2023

and that wraps season 2! plus a peek at what i was doing while drafting the note. the last slide is what siri caught while i was multitasking and trying to draft this note 😅🫡🫨 ill be back inshallah!

28/05/2023

Sidra Trajcevska founded Jasmine + Marigold on the heels of a successful corporate career. Sidra found herself on the tough end of the celebration equation as mom to a half-Macedonian/half-Pakistani child. When Sidra realized that there weren’t onesies available to celebrate Eid, she created her own. Between that moment and today, Sidra figured out how to build, scale, and automate a garment business for children. She openly talks about the nuts and bolts behind her business, and the savvy she has accrued.

Follow Sidra at

⁠https://www.instagram.com/whatsidraloves/⁠

Follow Jasmine + Marigold at

https://jasmineandmarigold.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jasmineandmarigold/

21/05/2023

Sarah Ahmed’s LinkedIn refers to her as an “experienced Clinical Social Worker with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry.” But Sarah, on social media, is the POC therapist. .poc.therapist

Sarah’s social media presence addresses a variety of mental health related topics in an accessible way. Separately, she went from working in a large scale health system, to starting her own private practice, to employing other practitioners, to most recently enabling Canada-wide mental health services through a technology platform, Leena

07/05/2023

When Afshan Nasseri () did not get the corporate job she thought she should get amidst a pandemic, as a fresh-COVID-grad of McGill University. So, Afshan just started her own agency (yes — just like that! The story is amazing). Aam Creative is a team is made of women of color from around the world who focus on social media strategy, storytelling, brand strategy, and cultural consulting. Aam has worked with over 41 companies. The website highlights 17 women working towards the agency’s goals.

I love convos with self starters, so I really enjoyed this chat. Afshan goes into the weeds, tactically, of how she created an opportunity amidst global turmoil. Also, Aam’s brand is amazing: https://www.aamcreative.co/

23/04/2023

19/03/2023

Sabrina Siddiqui knew she wanted to be a journalist as a Pakistani-American teenager living in Italy, but did not realize her choices would land her a coveted position as a White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Sabrina covers the Biden presidency right now. Listen to Sabrina and I talk about her journey to political reporting and what a day in the life is like as a White House correspondent. Spoiler: it may include an anecdote about a recent top secret trip on Air Force One with the President.

13/03/2023

Ali Baluch started his career in video on YouTube — by joining FouseyTube in its early days. Ali worked with Yousef to take the channel from 500k to 10m (and over 1.5b views), creating one of the early YouTube phenomenons (which I learned was..stunted!). Ali’s journey in production and cinematography is a journey that spans through household names like Nickelodeon, HBO Max, and MTV. And outside of those names, Ali is behind a few podcasts (The Apartment and the Fahim Anwar Dance Hour) where he chats with some of the most popular names in the industry. What is Ali up to next? More film, he suspects.

This is a chilling-with-friends-in-your-living room type of episode, with more of a hair down vibe than the typical epi. The backstory is that Ali is a friend who came by to chat about a media project on a Friday night. I asked Ali to record a pod in return, so I have the very rare in person epi. With a lot of Friday night, barely made it through the week a (childcare fell through at home, work was demanding as usual) laughs. What makes this episode even more funny is that Ali is a professional video and audio dude — and I have him sharing a mic on a MacBook pro as my setup.

Enjoy! I did.

05/03/2023

Ameena Soliman is a pro scout for the Philadelphia Eagles, where she also serves as Director of Personnel Operations. In this episode, Ameena breaks down her journey to scoutdom, which reveals a breakneck speed through the ranks at the NFL. Ameena provides a tactical approach to how to get into sport while revealing a razor sharp intelligence and hyperfocused work ethic. It goes without much assumption that Ameena is the first Muslim woman in her role. And she is believed to be the first female scout, period, for the Eagles. For context, the first female scout for the NFL at large was hired in 2021. By 2022, there were a total of 33 female scouts across the NFL in its entirety. In short, Ameena's path is extraordinary.

Also...Go Birds!

26/02/2023

Amna Nawaz is an American broadcast journalist and a co-anchor of the PBS NewsHour alongside Geoff Bennett. Before joining PBS in April 2018, Nawaz was an anchor and correspondent at ABC News and NBC News. And before that, a foreign correspondent. Amna dives into her path to the co-anchor seat, including time in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and how her husband has played a key role in their co-parenting journey. Amna’s accolades include an Emmy Award and a Society for Features Journalism award.

19/02/2023

If you’re on TikTok, you have seen the hysterical (and sometimes unhinged) Duolingo posts. And if you were interested in learning a language (like my husband was, actually), you probably converted into a Duolingo user because of the prevalence of Duo the owl on TikTok. I was stunned to find out that all 6m of us Duo stans were actually following a fresh-out-of-college Pakistani American, Zaria Parvez

In two short years and with a marketing budget of 0 dollars, Zaria built a cult around the language learning app. The Duolingo account has 121.6m likes, including some from a video from just yesterday with 2m views (a figure 300,000 north of the entire population of Bahrain).

Listen to Zaria’s incredible story. This journey is especially cool because she is early in her career, but has already been recognized as a marketing genius. Experience doesn’t always equate to stature or seniority, and Zaria’s story is a testament to that reality.

12/02/2023

As an Iraqi-American, the parents of saw athletic talent in him and nurtured it through high school and into college. Audie played football at UCLA before a fight got him kicked out of the school and landed him at Idaho State. The racial undercurrents of the fight, grounded in Islamophobia, did not stop Audie’s team at UCLA from working hard to get him back on their side. Shortly after, Audie made his way back to UCLA before graduating and landing a role as an NFL agent. That was the start of Audie’s sports management journey — and since then, he founded Paradigm Sports (). Audie is referred to as “one of combat sports most powerful agents” according to an article in a 2017 MMA.com article, in case you are wondering how that’s going. Audie manages a roster of talent across the NFL, MMA, MLB, and beyond - including household names like Conor McGregor, Jozy Altidore, and Rico Verhoeven.

06/02/2023

Manal Alman knew who she admired: Martha Stewart. She went to college with the goal of figuring out the business of Martha, and graduated into an editorial job for the DIY queen herself. Within a few short years, Manal figured out how to get her own line into Crate and Barrel to celebrate Ramadan (yes, that advent calendar — the one we all lost it for). Listen to Manal’s journey

Shop the collection at HelloHolyDays.com

Follow on Instagram

15/01/2023

Yusra Siddiqui is an Associate Fashion Editor at Who What Wear, and at her core she is a journalist. Yusra talks about what it takes to build a career in fashion journalism, how she got to where she is, and her recent cover stories with Jenna Ortega and Madelyn Cline. Listen to Yusra lay out the power of connection, not giving up, and what her life looks like as a Fashion Editor (sneak peak: she publishes 5-6 pieces a week).

Find Yusra on IG and TikTok

08/01/2023

Anoosha Syed is a Pakistani-Canadian freelance illustrator + character designer for animation, based in Toronto. If you have kids, you likely have come across her work (Bilal Cooks Daal and That’s Not My Name are both on Kamila’s bookshelf!).

Since graduating, Anoosha has worked as a character designer for preschool series in development working with clients like Disney, Netflix and Nick. After illustrating over 25 books for children, she is now working on several author/illustrator titles — and recently published her her debut book, That’s Not My Name.

Anoosha has not only built an amazing career, but she has recreated her path through a series of YouTube tutorials, and shows her work behind the scenes across social media. Listen to Anoosha talk about her journey, and what it takes to build a career in illustration and children's books.

02/01/2023

no episode today - ended 2022 slowly this week 🤎