Bazaar Arabia’s New Columnist, Powerhouse Founder of Muslim Girl, Amani’s Generational Voice Rings Loud. We’re Listening…
The activist and author shares why she decided to launch her platform in her debut column for Bazaar Arabia here…
When I started Muslim Girl as a teenager growing up in America, I didn’t have a community to figure out the challenges I was dealing with at the time. Extreme bullying in school, no sense of belonging, and confusion about what – or who – I was, compounded by the media misrepresentation that was rife at the time. I desperately wanted friends I could connect with; to find the girls that were like me, who came from immigrant families and were figuring out their own identity and forging a new culture.
Clearly I wasn’t the only one who was feeling that way. Muslim Girl has grown to become the biggest media platform for Muslim women’s voices in America, with mainstream partnerships that have totally changed the way we see Muslim women online. From launching the first stock photo collection of Muslim women by Muslim women with Getty Images, to founding the global campaign for Muslim Women’s Day, and establishing the Soho House Iftar Series, we’ve continued to innovate new ways to connect with our global community.
A whole generation of girls who’ve lived their lives online has grown up with me. It was through that public experience that I figured out my identity, survived those confusing teen years (and a horrific Trump era), and emerged as the entrepreneur and public leader I am today.
My mother, Iman, passed away just before I began my Masters in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford in October last year. She was Palestinian, born in Jerusalem to Nakba survivors. I barely had three months to process her leaving me before my grief was forced into a collective mourning for my people in Gaza. Losing my mother also marked a reluctant new milestone in my life: the elevation of my status as the new matriarch. It shifted the tectonic plates of my world along with my purpose in it.
As I return to my studies to better sanctify the increasingly important intersection of social media and human rights, and amplify our impact during such an important time, I have a newfound pride and gratitude in being among the most well-educated and well-travelled of my father’s Jordanian tribe – especially as an Arab woman. Long before our lands were colonised, Arab women carried an ancient tradition of intellectualism, academia, entrepreneurship and leadership so it’s testament to my lifelong rebellion against any limitations placed upon us just because of our gender.
Now, I’m preparing for a new era: womanhood, and defining it on my own terms. This time, I have a whole Muslim Girl Army coming with me.
Lead Image: Supplied
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2024 issue