Muslims Doing Things

Pious Ali immigrated from Ghana to New York in 2000 in hopes of purchasing photography equipment for his flourishing photography career back home. Like many other Muslims, the events that took place on September 11th, 2001 changed the course of his life — as he realized he was in his moment to pursue a version of his American dream. Pious moved to Maine in 2002, got involved at the grassroots to earn himself a spot on the Portland Public Schools Board, then City Council — where he was just elected for his second term.

Listen to Pious’s journey and follow Pious on Instagram

pic credit: Ryan Caron King for NENC

For the first time in the pod's history, we have a guest come back -- a year later! Yasamine Durali is a content creator and my SIL. Last year, she laid out her roadmap to getting TikTok famous, and a year later she shares how far the journey has come, from expanding platforms, to getting managed, to building the confidence needed to take more steps forward.

I enjoyed this epi because Yasi is a sis to me, but also because it is a cool opportunity to watch a career arc in real time.

Follow Yasamine on:

IG

YouTube

TikTok

Photo credit: @beautyisboring

Sumbul Siddiqui is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 77th mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Siddiqui was elected mayor in 2020 by the Cambridge City Council, after serving in the body for 3 years, becoming the first Muslim mayor in Massachusetts history. Listen to Sumbul's journey.

I recorded this epi a few weeks ago, before experimenting with video! It will be my last audio only interview, as I am totally sold on video. Sorry for the video free epi!  

Follow Sumbul on IG

Follow Sumbul on Twitter

The City of Cambridge, MA

Sarah Khan (@bysarahkhan) is an an award-winning journalist with 18 years of writing and editing experience, most recently as Editor in Chief of Condé Nast Traveller Middle East. Sarah has reported from six continents (almost 7!!) for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, and many others. Earlier in Sarah's career, she worked at Travel + Leisure and Gotham magazines in New York. Listen to Sarah's journey on this week's episode.

Check out a portfolio of Sarah's  published work at www.bysarahkhan.com

Follow Sarah on Instagram

Lorraine Ali is an Iraqi-American journalist who serves as a culture writer and a TV critic. She is a juror for the George Foster Peabody Awards. Lorraine works for the LA Times, where she was previously a senior writer and music editor. Her work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, the New York Times, GQ, and Newsweek. Listen to Lorraine and I talk about her career as a real-life influencer, as her job entails critiquing the work made for us to culturally consume. And get a tidbit into an unexpected and shared experience that Lorraine and I had nearly a decade ago.   Follow Lorraine on Twitter and check out her work at LA Times.

Follow the pod @MuslimsDoingThings on IG and the me @laylool on IG     

Photo from LA Times 

@Ramy Youssef’s show follows a namesake character that is played by him, but the title is not an eponym — to be clear! Ramy has received global acclaim in the form of endless thought pieces, Twitter threads, a Golden Globe (to Ramy himself!), a Peabody Award, and 3 Emmy noms for the show. And Ramy won’t forget to remind you that the accolades are to be spread across the team behind the series. Ramy grew up in New Jersey, and loved to create content with his closest friends. Part way through college, an acting gig got him to Los Angeles. Listen to Ramy’s journey, learn about how he got his show on Hulu, and listen to us chat about the evolution of our representation as Muslim millennials.

Watch Ramy’s show on Hulu today, where Season 3 just dropped. And follow @Ramy on Instagram to keep up.

Follow the pod on IG @MuslimsDoingThigns and me, the host, @laylool

Podcast image is a shot from the show.

Tareq Azim (@Tareq) is a seven-time World Championship attending coach in combat sports, a former Division I linebacker at Fresno State, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, an author, and a philanthropist. He also created the first Afghan Women's Boxing Federation in 2004. Listen to Tareq and I chat about his non-linear path -- from his beginnings as an Afghan refugee, through his very cool career journey  (including his work with Marshawn Lynch), to his recent memoir (and roadmap for life), Empower: Conquering the Disease of Fear. 

Follow Tareq on Instagram @tareq and find his book on Amazon 

Huda Idrees is CEO and founder of Dot Health -- a simple and secure way to access your health records. Huda was in college (but, as you will hear, over a decade into her career) when she started her startup journey at a company that was later purchased for half a billion dollars. Shortly after, she become CPO at a company that has since blown up with over 1000 employees. While CPO, Huda left her position to start her own company: Dot Health. Listen to Huda's journey and find Huda on Twitter or email Huda at [email protected].

Ibtihaj Muhammad found out that she had qualified for the 2016 Olympics through a Google alert — not from her team, Team USA. Ibtihaj’s story is one of resilience, triumph, and tenacity — despite adversity — to the top. Ibtihaj started fencing in high school and dedicated herself to becoming one of the world’s best fencers, culminating in an Olympic medal. She is the first woman in Hijab to represent Team USA at the Olympics. Today, she is an author (read her memoir, Proud, or her children’s book The Proudest Blue), a businesswoman (shop Louella for modest fashion), a Barbie (seriously, check this out), and an endless source of inspiration for many.

Where to find Ibtihaj

• Follow her on IG


• Follow her on FB


• Check out her website


• Shop her brand, Louella

While Sharaf Mowjood had always known that he was interested in film and media, he couldn't have guessed that he would be producing breaking news for the nation. Sharaf attended film school before studying at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, where his career started with a bang through a front-page story on the New York Times . After landing at NBC news, Sharaf produced for the Huffpost and is now with CBS Evening News. Listen to Sharaf's journey -- and for those interested in journalism, take him up on his very generous offer to extend feedback and advice (spoiler: he shares his email in the epi).

• Follow Sharaf on Twitter @mowjood


• Follow Sharaf on IG @smowjood