- I feel like a badass bitch when I wear my hijab. (laughs)
(upbeat music)
- Hijab is not just a piece of cloth
that we put on our head.
- It's a symbol, to me, about being seen
for your intelligence, before your beauty.
- Wearing the hijab has made me unapologetic
about who I am, as a person.
- When I started wearing hijab, I was scared
of like, "What's this person gonna say?"
I went through 21 years of not wearing it.
- Once I came to that realization,
that I think that wearing the hijab will
make me a better person, and hopefully help me
become the kind of person I want to be in the future.
That's when I was like, "Nope, I need to do this."
So I went in, the first day of sophomore year
of high school, with, I remember,
it was like a bright pink hijab. (laughs)
- I was actually encouraged by other people,
and relatives, to take it off, and not wear it.
So, it was my choice to put it on,
and it was my decision to practice this part of my faith.
- Well, my mother was very much against me
wearing the hijab, because my parents are both Muslim,
but they're from Iran, and over there, wearing the hijab
is something that is enforced among everybody.
It is a political tool.
Well, I put my religious beliefs out there,
and possibly be harmed.
- It's unfortunate, that people have
this negative opinion about the hijab.
People who think that the hijab oppresses women,
but I hope to be an example,
that I'm not an oppressed woman who wears the hijab.
- I had to keep explaining that this is not about
trying to prove what a good Muslim I am.
Whether you wear hijab or not is between you and God,
it is no one's place to judge.
I don't care if you're a stripper at night,
and you wear hijab during the day.
That is your business, you wear hijab on your terms, honey,
and that's what I do.
- When I go up on stage at open mics, and I perform,
I definitely shock people because I'm the only one
wearing hijab, that gets up on these public open mics.
And they have the stereotypical thing, when I walk in,
like, "Oh, what is that person doing here?"
And then, all of a sudden, I'm up there on stage,
and I'm performing about a breakup,
or a relationship, or death, or divorce,
or things like that, and people are like, "Oh, she's human."
It's like, "Surprise! We are."
- I have changed the way I look, to represent who I am.
And because my identity is so out there,
and I have to embrace it, and I have to embrace that,
yes, sometimes, I'm going to be looked at and get questions.
You have no choice but to become more confident about it,
because you are wearing your identity on your sleeve.
- I do identify myself as a feminist, and so I do write
a lot about social issues, and cultural issues,
that transcend all these barriers.
And the fact that I'm speaking up about these things,
in a hijab, it breaks that stereotype, too,
that we're the introverted, domesticated, submissive
kind of women, when, no.
We have a lot of outspoken, very strong independent females,
who do practice this part of the faith.
- It's awesome that earlier this year, Ibtihaj Muhammad
went to the Olympics, wearing the hijab, as a fencer there,
representing the US team.
And it just goes to show, again, that she wasn't there
because she wore her hijab.
She was there because she is good at what she does.
- And honestly, whenever I see any Muslim woman in hijab
doing amazing things, making it to magazine covers,
and succeeding in different elements of cooking,
or baking, or fashion, or business, in finance,
it's a huge empowering feeling.
It's an inspiration, you see it, and you feel like,
"Yeah, someone else could do it, so can I."
So I'm going to keep doing what I do,
practicing my faith the way that I am.
- I see women sexualized to the core,
I see women having to feel validation from how they look,
and I have struggled through trying to seek that validation
through how I look, as well.
And to cover my hair, and to have everything covered,
to me, is a symbol of, "I want nothing to do with that,
"for myself, and I am taking my beauty back."
- With the rise of social media, you see that
there's not just one way for a woman
who wears hijab to look.
You can have so many different styles.
- Having that opportunity to do fun stuff with our hijabs
is really nice, to be able to add colors,
and add sparkles, and wrap it certain ways,
so that we get to express our feelings of beauty,
in a certain way, as well.
(happy music)