CEO by Day, Muslim by Design
They said wearing a beard would hold me back in finance. I wore it anyway. They took me seriously regardless.
When I got into built something beautiful from nothing, my father said, 'Great, now you'll shave the beard.' She meant well.
Córdoba was a culture shock. Not because of the pace of life — because of the staring. At the university, I was often the only hijabi 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 programme director looked at my CV, looked at my a beard, and asked, 'How will you handle situations that conflict with your beliefs?' I smiled and said, 'I've never had a client complain about my competence..'
The hardest moment wasn't bias from others. It was the voice in my own head during a 30-hour shift, 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 director now. I run a department. I still pray five times a day. The same father who told me to shave the beard now introduces me as 'my nephew, the professor.'
Last year, a first-year associate stopped me in the hospital corridor. 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.'