When Deb was 19, she escaped the cult her mother had joined when she was 11. After eight years trapped in a cult, she was alone. She had zero life skills, no money, and no place to live. She was terrified, but she was free. She knew she would make it; she just didn’t know how! Eventually she married a Muslim man and had a son. Her son is a conservative Muslim living in the UAE where his wife and daughter are required to wear hijab. Join me to talk with Deb on her very tumultuous life and what she is doing today to support others who are cult survivors. "My voice was silenced in the cult, so now I speak, tell my story, connect with others and hope that by doing so, others who felt alone and were silenced find advocacy and are able to speak and tell their stories too." Thank you for watching the video, Deb D: Escaping A Methodist Cult And Marriage To A Muslim by Yasmine Mohammed and get to know more about it.

Dorothea grew up in the UK to a Pakistani family. Her independent spirit and determination was always a hinderance to her family and community around her. But yet, she persisted. Today Dorothea is able to let her authentic self shine in her life without restrictions.  She uses her negative past experiences to inform her important work as as a healthy relationship and harmful traditional practices consultant. She has over a decades practice experience working with victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, honour crimes and forced marriage.

Nada, author of Gaslight Avenue: Based on a True Hummus Story, upset the town when she swam against the tide. Now this Palestinian-born Canadian writer and womanist is addicted to helping other women reckon with the same patriarchal world she escaped from to live their best lives with full bodily autonomy, free of religious toxicity, misogyny, and conformity.

Lina grew up a minority Christian in Cairo, Egypt. Frustrated with the sexist society around her, she moved to Canada in her 20s. Here she discovered that, in the name of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, people in the West fail to realize that within every cultural community, there are some unique minds and souls that think differently, and they deserve an equal opportunity to be heard and to express their views. In order to try and correct this egregious wrong, she published a book called "Liberation – Secrets of the Soul,” it is a collection of short stories, revealing existential moments in the lives of ordinary women, from a variety of cultural backgrounds, as they journey to self-fulfillment.

Ellaf came to America as a refugee from Iraq when she was just a baby. When she was 14 years old, she was sent back to Iraq to get married. After years of sexual, mental, and physical abuse, she found the courage to escape. Join me as we listen to Ellaf tell her story of not only surviving a child marriage but of thriving as a graduate student, an entrepreneur and the proud mother of three children who she saved from the generational trauma that repeated itself unhindered until it was met with Ellaf.

Jaleh is the author of 'Public Secrets of Islam'. She was born in Iran under this current Islamic regime. She has always been a fierce supporter of women and against the brutality of political Islam. Her public criticisms have meant that she can no longer return to her homeland. In 2015 she survived an attack by an ISIS supporter at a free speech event that she had organized. Jaleh will tell us all about growing up in Iran, the terrorist attack that she survived, we will talk about her book and so much more. And, of course, she will also share with us her thoughts on the recent protests in Iran.

In some ways Anya and I are total opposites and in other ways, we lived parallel lives. While I was tyrannized by a far right ideology, her experience was that of tyranny from the far left. Anya is from the Soviet Union. As everybody else there, she was heavily brainwashed into the communist ideology. While she didn't have to wear a hijab, there was plenty she was forced to do, think, and say - whether she liked it or not. She is of Jewish descent and, due to systemic antisemitism, her options in life were limited. She had to wonder, which university is accepting Jews? Which jobs are open to Jews? etc. It took her years of reading books that were prohibited, having discussions with trusted friends and thinking, thinking, thinking to clean-up her mind and open it up to free critical thinking.

Hanna was born and raised in America with two Moroccan immigrants as parents. Her morals developed through immersion in a society that treasures individual liberties and the simultaneous exposure to the pitfalls of collectivistic culture within Islamic societies. Today, as a gay ex-Muslim, Hanna is an adamant defender of human rights and, more specifically, freedom of speech. As a Critical Thinking Fellow at the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Foundation, Hanna has hosted several events with prominent human rights advocates. Currently, Hanna is attending medical school and holds bachelor's degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Sociology.

Leorah is native Sudanese but was born and raised in Saudi Arabia where, along with her brother, started to learn Quran and Islamic Studies as soon as she could speak.  From there, their lives took very different paths- After enduring many years of abuse, as well as being buried under a niqab and being subjugated under Islamic laws, Leorah is now married to the man of her dreams. She is married to a Canadian Buddhist man who supports her in living the free life she was deprived of growing up. By stark contrast, however; her brother ended up joining the Islamic State (ISIS). Join me in speaking with Leorah about the two drastically different paths she and her brother took and how their choices have impacted themselves, each other, and all the people around them. 

Samira is half Arab, half Danish, however growing up the cultural and religious values of her father were way stronger thank her Danish side. When she became a teenager, the conflict between her two cultures caused a lot of turmoil and confusion for many years. She eventually felt the only way to free herself from the dichotomy was to leave Islam. But the break was a painful one. Her family disowned her for her choice to liberate herself and she missed her dad and her siblings. After a tragic loss of my first husband (an American non Muslim), she went back to her family with her 4 year old daughter. She was so devastated from the loss of her love that she decided to convert back to Islam and marry her cousin. Her second marriage was a disaster. Life under such strict rules was hell. After two years she left with both her kids, took off her hijab, and never looked back. But living under suppressed rules for so long had left an impact. At first after leaving Islam she was in no man's land. She felt ashamed for showing my hair and wearing normal clothes. There are so many long, difficult, and lonely phases to leaving Islam. So much rebuilding that needs to happen- especially for women. Samira and I will talk about all those challenges and offer advice for other women starting on their journey to freedom.