I was not planning to be a model initially.
I actually did English Literature in uni,
and I planned to work in film,
which I am gonna go back into,
so that was not the plan.
I was scouted in a shopping center, in Westfields.
A lady was looking for real people for her roster,
and then she said H&M were interested
in using me for a campaign.
I thought nothing of it, so I just went, did the campaign,
and then that's how everything started from there.
The actual shoot itself was pretty straightforward.
I didn't need a lot of direction.
It was just "stand there and pose," basically,
but the styling side, I did have to assist a little bit
because they weren't prepared with the scarves.
Obviously no one knew how to wrap a hijab.
So the scarves they'd given me were really small,
so we had to sew there and then two scarves together
so that it was long enough
to wrap around my big head.
Initially, shooting it, I didn't think anything of it.
I just thought I was like an extra in a campaign,
the same way you'd be like an extra in a movie,
but it was only until the campaign came out.
One, it was a really good message.
It was about promoting recycling your clothes.
That was really good, and that was a few years back.
I know now more and more people and brands
are talking about sustainability,
so it was something I was proud of to do then.
So that meant a lot to me as well as the fact
that obviously I didn't realize
that using someone in a hijab had not been done before.
We already had this space,
like a modest fashion industry of our own,
but the mainstream had never recognized it as anything.
They just saw it maybe as a cultural thing,
and it hadn't really been incorporated
with mainstream fashion houses.
And that was one aspect of it,
the fact that we have, there's a demand
for more modest clothing,
but then also the aspect of representation
was also important. So one side is the actual material,
the clothing that we need,
and then the second side was we need people
that we can relate to as well
so that we know, "Oh, wow,
they're actually targeting people like us."
Initially, I did get very mixed responses, let's say,
and some of them were very hateful.
And I think it's because people didn't understand,
both from the Muslim and the non-Muslim community,
like, what's about to happen.
That was amazing, actually,
because that happened at a time where I was really down.
I left my old management.
I left my modeling agency
because I just feel like it still wasn't a big thing
where people didn't know how to necessarily work
with a woman in a hijab and how to market me.
So I was like, I'd rather just do this on my own
and work with the right person when that person comes.
And in that space, that's when I got an email
from Rihanna's team saying,
"Hey, Rihanna wants to book you.
Are you free on these dates?"
I was like, "Oh, my God."
And I was in between a new management then,
so it was perfect
because everything just all came together at once.
There's definitely been barriers, more with, I'd say,
just people understanding how to market us
because initially it was like,
great when there's a Ramadan campaign again
or when Eid's coming up.
And it's like, we don't wear hijab on holidays
or specific times of the year.
We wear hijab all year round.
That's where one of my challenges has been,
trying to get people to understand
that they should work with Muslim women
or women of all different backgrounds, cultures,
any time of the year.
It shouldn't be just a tokenistic thing
where it's for a specific moment.
It's not just gonna affect the fashion industry,
but it will change the mentality
of people that are not interested in fashion
because advertising is all around us.
If you see a Muslim woman on a billboard
and you recognize the brand,
you're then gonna be like, "Oh, wow."
And it's opened so many careers for so many more women now.
That's not a coincidence again
because a lot of them wanted to be models.
They actually had that career in mind,
but it's all post that time.
And then same with even fashion houses,
there were already some collaborations going on
with DKNY, and Uniqlo with Hana Tajima.
But I think in terms of it,
just really the bubble bursting,
the last couple of years, we've seen so much growth.
It's really good.
That's where I feel being a Muslim
is really important in what I do
because it's influenced so many different areas of my work.
Obviously, one being a model wearing a hijab.
It's because I'm a Muslim.
And then two, with the charity work I do,
because it's a part of our faith,
it's one of our pillars,
where you just have that awareness
that I need to do more than just my job
and because, again, I work for myself now,
so I had to find angles
in which I could be
a positive influence in other areas
away from just the work that I do in fashion.
Woman: You look like you're starting to sweat.
All the kids are waiting for you to eat.
They're all waiting. Look how they're watching.
I love Disney, as we know.
Disney is definitely one of my passions.
I also want to get into voiceover acting,
and that's probably connected to Disney
because I want to be a hijabi Disney princess.
Voiceover acting is another thing I'm really interested in.
And generally, I've been called a bit of a nerd,
so I'm really interested in history, culture, religion,
and that's one of the things
I'm focusing on in my filmmaking, so making documentaries.
Telling our stories that haven't really been told
and also just exploring things from a different lens.
There's just too many of them!
How are we supposed to get them out
before mommy and daddy come home? Oh no.
Aside from Rihanna, Victoria Beckham.
I really feel like for a long time now,
she's been promoting modesty without even realizing
a lot of her designs are pretty modest.
And also Quavo from Migos.
A lot of people think "What? He's a guy!"
I just like the colors. I like his style.
His energy with it as well, so yeah.
I've started saying a bit of an urban hippy.
I grew up in London, North West London,
and there's obviously that urban influence
that we've had from our music, culture.
And then the hippy side is from my mum.
She's always been a bit of a hippy.
She's always loved very cultural-ethnic prints,
so just bringing that together, an urban hippy.
Mum jeans, I'd say, and just a roll-neck top.