Holding onto limiting ideas and beliefs while trying to break with social norms and standards can be challenging.  It's important for us to question and interrogate why we have these beliefs and examine how they limit us from expanding our horizons.  Join us at the Defiant Women's Leadership Conference on January 21, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona ➡️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/defiant-womens-leadership-conference-tickets-408409191887  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the...

In the pursuit of careers, especially in the STEM fields, one of the biggest gaps in professional development is the lack of leadership training during the early parts of the journey.  While these skills are important in helping you to advance in your career, they're also relevant in helping you overcome obstacles, negotiate changes both at work and in your personal life, and prioritize your goals.  In this episode, we discuss this gap and the ways in which Defiance Academy is hoping to...

Deqa is a premed student passionate about pursuing surgery. She's a first-generation student who lost her father at a young age and was was raised by a single mother.  As a Black Muslim woman, she found it difficult to identify with the mentors she was presented with at networking events.  Now as an alumna of the Taking UP Space Course, Deqa's mindset is transformed. Listen as she shares her journey thus far and how a mindset shift impacted her ability to dream big.  Got questions on life...

In a society that teaches you to be risk averse, can taking calculated risks in your personal and career goals be the key to overcoming obstacles? In this episode, Dr. Sondos Al Sad and I dig deep into what it means to be a Muslim woman navigating life and career while maintaining your faith and values and how calculated risks pay off.  You can reach Dr. Al Sad on Twitter @SadSondos  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below and tune into the Mentoring Moments...

Our first Mentoring Moments segment! In this episode, I answer the question  "How do you become a surgeon?" I outline the process from high school, college, medical school, all the way to fellowship.   Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below and tune into the Mentoring Moments segment for in-depth discussions. Mentoring Moments ➡️ https://www.defianceacademy.com/mentoring-moments  Interested in the Taking UP Space Course? Enroll Here...

In this episode, we discuss how we can use our biggest strengths - our families and our communities - to our advantage in building the life and career we want.  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below and tune into the Mentoring Moments segment for in-depth discussions. Mentoring Moments ➡️ https://www.defianceacademy.com/mentoring-moments  Interested in the Taking UP Space Course? Enroll Here...

In this episode, Dr. Emma Wiley shares her path into medicine how the growth mindset impacted her journey the importance of maintaining faith her incredible work with the Muslim Women of Merton in advocating for Muslim women and combatting Islamophobia her work with the British Medical Association on hijab and bear-below-elbow policy for Muslim women working in the operating room (or operating theater as they call it in the UK!) To follow Dr. Wiley's work, follow her on Twitter...

After you prove yourself and surpass all expectations, you're given the respect you deserve and opportunities to advance in your career, right? Sadly this expectation is inconsistent with the reality of the workplace, especially for the minoritized and underrepresented.  In this week's episode, we discuss the importance of developing a strategy early in your career and how you can take control of your career trajectory.  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below...

Welcome to Season 2! We’re so excited to be back. We’re picking up right where we left off after a two-year pandemic break. Our personal and professional lives have significantly changed since the start of the pandemic. So in this season, we’ll be doing things a little differently. We’ll introduce the new format of the podcast, our respective roles, and new exciting segments and projects we have in store for you. Happy listening! Submit your questions on all things life and career goals below...

Welcome back! The ladies of The Professional Muslim Women podcast sit down and catch up on all that 2020 has dropped into their lives. As front line healthcare workers in the pandemic, their personal lives have been deeply affected and they discuss what they have been up to in the intervening months. They also discuss the protests for racial justice and the ongoing struggle for racial equality, particularly through the lens of the healthcare system. They discuss the impact Covid19 has had...

Building wealth is not as hard as you think. The secrets have been out years ago. We just have to remind ourselves again and again and make a conscious effort to follow it. What comes to mind when you hear terms like the stock market, bonds, investment, and other financial jargon? It sounds intimidating and scary, right? And you feel like you’ll just lose money if you invest it, so you never really bothered. But it doesn’t have to be. After listening to this episode, you’ll learn useful...

Quitting your job to start your own business is probably one of the riskiest paths you’d ever take. It’s full of uncertainties. What if you fail? You will surely scratch your knees along the way but once you get past the trying times, the results are going to be gratifying!  Join us in this episode as Samira Ali shares her inspiring journey of entrepreneurship and how she left her secured employee position to start her own company. She shares her experience being in the field of HR and how it...

Science and faith are often in conflict but our guest for today has integrated both science and faith into her own life that created the synergy to accomplish her aspirations. Join us in this episode as we discuss the rich tradition of faith and science in Islam with Oncology Hospitalist Marium Husain! She is a hematology-oncology at The Ohio State University. She actively works on community service projects and has volunteered with the WHO on nutrition-related projects. Religion is the...

Know that you will fail. Know that you will scrape your knees but you will be okay and you’ll be so much stronger. ⁠— Deqa Gelle To get to where you need to be, you must take the initiative and take action to get there. You won’t learn how to run unless you learn how to walk. In this episode, we explore Deqa’s journey in finding her path and how she started One Stone HR. Deqa is an experienced Recruitment Manager with 10 years of experience in the recruitment industry. She helped...

When you don’t know what you want or you’re not sure which path to take, go with what your gut tells you. Dr. Samira Hassan, General Practitioner, Family Medicine Specialist and vice president of the British Somali Medical Association shares with us her unconventional path to medicine. In this episode, she shares her struggles, what she did when she faced depression, how she found herself and her passion. She will also talk about her works on child activism and how she’s making a...

It’s never easy being a mom and having a full-time job. Balancing work and home is always a very challenging feat but is it really impossible to become successful at both? Recently, the Harvard Business Review published an article that talks about women, being an ideal worker or a perfect mom. The article was demeaning as it deems that women have to choose between motherhood and career if they want to excel and meet society’s high standards. Join us in this episode as we break that...

Join us in this episode as we sit with Dr. Anjabeen Ashraf to talk about trauma, depression, mental health, and social justice activism.  Dr. Anjabeen is a mental health expert, speaker, researcher, educator, and social justice activist. Her work is mainly centered on exploring the experience of American Muslims and South Asian Americans.  In this conversation, Dr. Anjabeen explains what vicarious trauma is all about and how one can heal from traumatic experiences. She also shares some of her...

Have you ever read a storybook when you were young yet you can’t seem to connect with the characters simply because they don’t look like? Most children’s books are about white characters but when it comes to people of color, you see only a few or none at all. We need more diversity when it comes to children’s books. Once children saw themselves represented in the books and literature that they see and not, not only will they feel like a part of what they are consuming but there’s also this...

As a Muslim, how should we approach parenting? Raising a child is no walk in the park. It’s confusing and daunting, especially that as a parent you’re expected to do a perfect job. But it is also rewarding at the same time, especially when your child grows into a fine, responsible, and loving adult. What should we do as parents to raise our kids properly while still keeping with the principles of Islam? Join us in this episode as we talk about parenting in the Islam perspective with Gulnaz...

Choosing a career is hard enough. Having a mentor to guide and help you with your chosen career makes all the difference and keeps you right on track. Today, our guest is Dr. Uzma Syed who is a true Muslimah trailblazer.  She is the President of Align Us, a not-for-profit organization that offers unique mentorship opportunities to help foster career development for high school students. Align Us is an after school program which helps students bridge classroom to real-world experiences. Join...

Beauty comes in all colors. But sadly, in other cultures the standard of beauty is often determined by the color of one’s skin. And for some Asian and African countries (e.g Somali), having lighter colored skin is often viewed as beautiful. This beauty standard has turned women into using lightening products in order to make their skin lighter in hopes of fitting the set beauty standard and be called beautiful. What’s worse is that these creams and skin lightening products actually...

This week, we're doing things a little differently! We will be talking about one of the most frequently requested topics of discussion: Time management. We will be tackling this subject in an interactive way with our first ever Facebook live event.  Join us in our Facebook group on Wednesday Nov 13th, 2019 at 8:30 PM EST for an interactive conversation with our PMW community!

When you look up Muslim women online, the search results you’ll mostly see are negative. It’s constantly about how oppressed we are or how we’ve been attacked.  How do we change this negative narrative that is surrounding our community? How can we create a more positive impact and encourage more Muslim women to step up and own their stories? In this episode of the Professional Muslim Women, Founder and Executive Director of Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Nausheena...

Figuring out what brings joy and fulfillment in one's life is a struggle many are faced with today. With societal pressure, it's easy to go down a path you never really intended. Listening to that tiny voice inside you that's telling you to chase after real joy. Listening to that tiny voice inside fo you that's telling you to chase after real joy is not always easy, because along the way we tend to detour or get lost. How can we become connected to ourselves and start seeking real...