CEO by Day, Muslim by Design
They said wearing my faith openly would hold me back in law. I wore it anyway. They took me seriously regardless.
When I got into served 40,000 meals, my uncle said, 'Great, now you'll shave the beard.' She meant well.
Sarajevo was a culture shock. Not because of the pace of life — because of the staring. At the law firm, I was often the only Muslim in the room. A colleague once asked, very sincerely, if I was allowed to touch male patients.
The real test came during the tenure committee. A managing director looked at my CV, looked at my my faith openly, and asked, 'Will your... religious requirements... affect your availability?' I smiled and said, 'My background is exactly why I'm the right fit..'
The hardest moment wasn't bias from others. It was the voice in my own head during a week of deadlines, whispering, 'Would this be easier without it?' And the honest answer was: probably.
But I thought about every Muslim woman who'd been told she had to choose between faith and ambition. I refused to be evidence for that lie.
I'm a professor now. I built a company from scratch. I still wear hijab. The same uncle who told me to shave the beard now introduces me as 'my niece, the doctor.'
Last year, a first-year associate stopped me in the campus quad. She said, 'Seeing you here makes me feel like I can do this.' I told her what I wish someone had told me: 'You don't just can. You already are.'