CEO by Day, Muslim by Design
They said wearing hijab would hold me back in tech. I wore it anyway. They took me seriously regardless.
When I got into housed 200 families, my father said, 'Great, now you'll assimilate.' She meant well.
Kampala was a culture shock. Not because of the language — because of the staring. At the conference, I was often the only hijabi in the room. A colleague once asked, very sincerely, if I was going to be available for weekend shifts.
The real test came during client pitches. A managing director looked at my CV, looked at my hijab, 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 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 teach the next generation. I still wear hijab. The same father who told me to assimilate now introduces me as 'my nephew, the professor.'
Last year, a first-year associate stopped me in the conference hallway. 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.'