Muslims Doing Things

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Deena Shakir is a venture capitalist Aug 22, 2021

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Deena Shakir always optimized her career for impact — though she could have never imagined that it would land her in venture capital. After a brief career in journalism, Deena served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. State Department under Secretary Clinton. Listen to Deena’s unconventional (though very logical) journey from D.C., to Google.org, to a partner at LUX Capital where she invests in health tech startups today.

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Omar Sayyed is the CEO of Ties.com Aug 15, 2021

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Omar Sayyed was born in Afghanistan moving to America as a refugee. Growing up, Omar watched his father build a new career in the States while learning a new language and skills. By his young adulthood, Omar had built and exited two companies. Omar was approached by his co-founders at Ties.com to build the company from the ground up with his team. Omar and his team bootstrapped the company to where it is now, where Omar currently serves as the CEO.

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Dr Nahla is a mental health advocate Aug 08, 2021

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@imdoctornahla always knew that she wanted to practice medicine, but the path that would get her to mental heath advocacy was not one that she would wish on anyone. After experiencing a traumatic relationship, Nahla spoke out about the experiences that she endured in order to help other women navigate their way through abuse.

Nahla’s fearless approach on taboo subjects landed her instant internet visibility — and you can catch her on TikTok and Instagram educating others as she completes her residency training in psychiatry.

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Kashif Shaikh founded the Pillars Fund Aug 01, 2021

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Kashif Shaikh was an English major when he got into philanthropy on a whim, per the advice of his college counselor. When tides were shifting and the first Muslim Congressperson was elected to office in the United States, Kashif started ideating his own philanthropic fund that could serve the Muslim community. From there, alongside his co-founder and team, Pillars Fund was birthed.

Pillars Fund amplifies the leadership, narratives, and talents of Muslims in the United States to advance opportunity and justice for all. They have distributed $6m in grants, and recently made waves with their work on elevating Muslim voices and representation in Hollywood alongside Oscar nominee Riz Ahmed.

Pillar Artist Fellowship applications are open!

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Shahzad Younas founded Muzz Jul 25, 2021

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Shahzad Younas is the founder and CEO of Muzz, the world’s largest faith-based dating app for single Muslims. In 2011, Muzz was a website that Shahzad hacked together. As generic matchmaking apps took off, the Muslim community found itself with seemingly few options online. Shahzad built a solution to that problem through Muzz, and left a promising career in finance to dedicate his life to matchmaking online. Listen to Shahzad's journey through proving out the concept, guerilla marketing at masjids, and building out a community that boasts 5 million active users a day. And, not to mention, 300 marriages a day.

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Dr. Seun Adigun has competed in the Summer and Winter Olympics Jul 18, 2021

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In 2018, the International Olympic Committee recognized Dr. Seun Adigun as the first African to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. What isn’t immediately clear in the recognition is the Dr. Seun founded the Nigerian bobsled team, making her team Nigeria’s first-ever Winter Olympians. Nor does it represent that she learned the bobsled after an Olympic-level career in track and field. Today, Dr. Seun works professionally as a chiropractor and biomechanist with the mission of revolutionizing sports medicine. And her academic accomplishments are as impressive and rigorous as her athletic accolades. Listen to my chat with Dr. Seun on today’s episode!

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Rana el Kaliouby built and sold her tech company Jul 11, 2021

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Growing up in Egypt, Dr. Rana el Kaliouby (@ranaelkaliouby) envisioned a life in academia. What the future would hold for Rana was on the cutting edge of research and innovation, though not quite academia. Rana moved from Egypt to the UK for her PhD, where she had the opportunity to connect with her academic idol Roz Picard who ran research at the MIT Media Lab. Rana co-founded (the recently acquired) Affectiva with Roz as a Media Lab spinout in 2009, and is now deputy CEO at Smart Eye. At Affectiva, Rana built a team and company that developed software that can detect and understand human emotion. Listen to Rana's amazing journey through the making of a company -- and as a single mom, no less.

Read Rana's memoir, Girl Decoded

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Lena Khan directed a Disney movie Jul 04, 2021

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Lena Khan went to UCLA with an interest in film — but no intention to pursue it as a career. Fast forward to today and her IMDB profile credits her for a Disney+ film, Flora and Ulysses, and her own full-length film, The Tiger Hunter. Lena has become a pillar within the intimate Muslim-American circle in Hollywood, and most recently co-signed Riz Ahmed’s campaign to get more Muslims in film.
Listen to Lena’s journey on today’s epi, and how she has navigated her successful career as a director.
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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit laylool.substack.com/subscribe

Rana Abdelhamid is running for Congress Jun 27, 2021

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Rana Abdelhamid is a community organizer and non-profit leader born and raised in Queens, New York. Rana attended New York City public schools and grew up in a working-class community. She is the Founder and Executive Director of a gender justice nonprofit and formerly one of the youngest elected board members of Amnesty International USA. After living in the thick of the COVID-19 crisis in NYC, Rana decided to put a campaign together and was endorsed by Justice Democrats. Listen to Rana’s journey as she builds a campaign with the goal of becoming the Congresswoman of New York’s 12th district.

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Aadil Abedi is a professional artist Jun 20, 2021

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Aadil Abedi never thought that he would end up as a fine artist after acting school (or after a stint in the corporate world, no less) — but a year in Bollywood turned his dreams upside down. After a serendipitous series of events, Aadil has built a career as an artist and calligrapher whose work is seen across celebrity garb, magazines, and architecture. Listen to Aadil’s career story, which started in the UK and took him across the globe where he built a team to support the operation behind his work.

Check out Aadil’s work on his Instagram, and follow him there. Or find him on TikTok

And as always, find me on IG @laylool and subscribe to the pod to hear about more cool folks.

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