imagine a 17 year old girl dressed in
black from head to toe converse shoes
red tie on with green day blasting
through her Walkman you might be
imagining a cute punk rocker but there’s
something different about this girl
instead of a mohawk this girl is wearing
a hijab this girl was not just any girl
this girl was me without even being
consciously aware with my religion and
my taste in music was breaking
stereotypes from all angles they said I
was a walking contradiction but really I
was just being Sara a Muslim girl who
happens to like punk rock I was born and
lastly to finish mother and an Iranian
father with two older brothers and a
younger sister I actually never went to
finish speaking school I went to an
international one
growing up in an international
surrounding helped break down my ideas
of stereotypes from a very young age we
came from all corners of the world and
perceived each other through our actions
not your ethnic or religious background
this ideology has played an important
role in shaping up my identity as the
woman I am today I began wearing the
hijab at the age of 10 out of my own
will my parents actually said I was way
too young but I reveled and insisted and
said this was my choice and although my
hijab has went through various different
styles throughout the years I’ve never
taken it off since I was
the typical kid with typical problems
until 9/11 overnight from a kid I had to
become an expert my Muslim identity was
being questioned every day by the news
by Hollywood movies
the scared neighbors and sometimes even
my own relatives the nature of questions
changed from naive curiosity of do you
shower with your hijab on you blame and
accusations don’t you know that you are
being oppressed answering these
questions on daily basis for a teenager
was hard it still can be all of a sudden
I was supposed to be a master of
theology and an expert in the laws of
Sharia at the age of 16 I was
interviewed for a TV show asking me
about beheadings happening somewhere in
the Middle East and to give my
interpretations of Quranic scriptures I
was 16 and I had never lived in the
Middle East and yet there I was having
to explain it I was asked to defend
women’s hijab will showing me borkus I
had never worn a broker in my life and
yet there I was having to explain it
instead of going on with my mundane
teenage life I was forced to defend my
existential right what’s the first word
that comes to mind when I say Muslim
let’s be honest terrorists an image of
me was being sold that I couldn’t
identify with the media kept telling me
that I was oppressed that I was an
extremist an Islamist a terrorist so at
the age of 17 I began to go through an
identity crisis that lasted throughout
some years for a moment in my life
stop thinking about my religion I never
stopped believing but I just didn’t want
to think about it anymore and in
retrospect that was one of the most
challenging periods of my life because
my religion had always been something
that I was extremely proud of but the
constant defense mode just wanted to
make me swept it all under the carpet
but the truth was and is that this is my
identity it is Who I am
and without it I began to feel empty the
stereotypes being shoved in my face had
become so strong that they pushed me
away from my true self and for a period
in my life I closed up about it but as
they say it takes darkness to see the
light in the 70s
my mother was studying in London where
she met my father one day she simply
picked up the phone called a prayer mom
told her that she had become a Muslim
and was now married fast forward a bit
she then moved to Iran for 10 years
during the iran-iraq war which my father
was filming it must have been a
challenging time for her and her family
but my mom had made up her mind and she
would not but this passion and belief
has been an inspiration for me until
this this day this is the Muslim woman
that I have learned to know the
strong-willed passionate and sometimes
stubborn and this is the Muslim woman
who I was I just spend my days sitting
at home being oppressed I spent my days
going to concerts hanging out with
friends studying working enjoying good
food with good company super normal
sometimes even boring things that just
seem to be a myth when it comes down to
the Muslim image in the mainstream I
knew that I had to be true to myself and
if I wanted to change the Muslim image
in the
stream I had to become more vocal we are
not oppressed we are strong and
determined we are free spirits
intelligent enough to acquire our own
knowledge and make our own decisions so
I began to fight these three types and
the only way that I was able to do this
was by staying true to myself and taking
action one of the main reasons to why I
faced an identity crisis was for the
fact that I never really had any role
models in the mainstream that I could
relate to I never saw another hijab’
rocking the guitar on MTV does that mean
that we don’t exist we do exist we just
needed to be more vocal about it and
instead of letting others speak on our
behalf we had to take a hold of the
narrative and share our stories I found
out that the best way that I could
approach this to help break down
stereotypes was for others to start
seeing Muslims as consumers okay hold on
consumers let me explain
Muslims stereotypes of Muslims have
become so black and white that we even
need to fight for our right to be seen
as consumers as ordinary people who
enjoy we see hundreds of ads on a daily
basis and I realized that none of them
had ever spoken to me directly and I
wanted to change that because
recognition in the ad and marketing
world initiates acceptance and speaks or
coexistence and we as well are included
and have a place in this society that’s
me
inside of shopping center it is creating
the first Ramadan and Eid campaign in
Finland the campaign ended with a Big
East celebration commemorating the end
of Ramadan which is a holy fasting month
for Muslims it was the first time that a
major company took a stand and
recognized Muslims as consumers and
although it was a commercial opportunity
at first it really had an impact that we
did not see coming when we first started
there were protests lasting for months
calling for the stop of Islamization but
there are also thousands of people
positively impacted because they finally
felt like they belong it served as a
meeting point for for people from all
backgrounds join together simply to
celebrate this was more than about
consumption or a campaign I’ll never
forget that 15 year old boy who came up
to me he had lived his whole life in
Finland he came up to me and said it
feels like Eid for the first time in my
life imagine someone coming up to you
and saying it feels like Christmas for
the first time this is Halima Aden she
is the first a job’ model to walk the
New York Fashion Week runway this is
empty Haj Mohammed she is an Olympic
bronze medal winner for fencing this is
Yuna known for recording with superstars
like Usher and this is Malala winning
the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17
these are only handful of the millions
of Muslim women who are changing the
game breaking stereotypes and being role
models for young Muslim girls and this
here is Nike announcing the launch of
pro hitch up sportswear designed for
most
women this is only one brand of the many
currently aspiring to recognize Muslims
as consumers and I can say it’s all
thanks to the hard work of Muslim women
themselves for taking hold of the
narrative it hasn’t been an easy road
and we still have a long way to go but I
say it with confidence that the future
looks bright I may have grown up in my
teens without a role model in the
mainstream but I had a role model that
nurtured me from the start my role model
was and still is my mother and like my
mother was to me I know that I’ll be a
role model to my daughter and I know
that by staying true to herself she will
break down every stereotype that comes
down her path and when my time comes I
will rest in peace knowing that a hijabi
punk-rock girl is no longer breaking
stereotypes but she’s just a girl with
great taste in music
[Applause]
[Music]
black from head to toe converse shoes
red tie on with green day blasting
through her Walkman you might be
imagining a cute punk rocker but there’s
something different about this girl
instead of a mohawk this girl is wearing
a hijab this girl was not just any girl
this girl was me without even being
consciously aware with my religion and
my taste in music was breaking
stereotypes from all angles they said I
was a walking contradiction but really I
was just being Sara a Muslim girl who
happens to like punk rock I was born and
lastly to finish mother and an Iranian
father with two older brothers and a
younger sister I actually never went to
finish speaking school I went to an
international one
growing up in an international
surrounding helped break down my ideas
of stereotypes from a very young age we
came from all corners of the world and
perceived each other through our actions
not your ethnic or religious background
this ideology has played an important
role in shaping up my identity as the
woman I am today I began wearing the
hijab at the age of 10 out of my own
will my parents actually said I was way
too young but I reveled and insisted and
said this was my choice and although my
hijab has went through various different
styles throughout the years I’ve never
taken it off since I was
the typical kid with typical problems
until 9/11 overnight from a kid I had to
become an expert my Muslim identity was
being questioned every day by the news
by Hollywood movies
the scared neighbors and sometimes even
my own relatives the nature of questions
changed from naive curiosity of do you
shower with your hijab on you blame and
accusations don’t you know that you are
being oppressed answering these
questions on daily basis for a teenager
was hard it still can be all of a sudden
I was supposed to be a master of
theology and an expert in the laws of
Sharia at the age of 16 I was
interviewed for a TV show asking me
about beheadings happening somewhere in
the Middle East and to give my
interpretations of Quranic scriptures I
was 16 and I had never lived in the
Middle East and yet there I was having
to explain it I was asked to defend
women’s hijab will showing me borkus I
had never worn a broker in my life and
yet there I was having to explain it
instead of going on with my mundane
teenage life I was forced to defend my
existential right what’s the first word
that comes to mind when I say Muslim
let’s be honest terrorists an image of
me was being sold that I couldn’t
identify with the media kept telling me
that I was oppressed that I was an
extremist an Islamist a terrorist so at
the age of 17 I began to go through an
identity crisis that lasted throughout
some years for a moment in my life
stop thinking about my religion I never
stopped believing but I just didn’t want
to think about it anymore and in
retrospect that was one of the most
challenging periods of my life because
my religion had always been something
that I was extremely proud of but the
constant defense mode just wanted to
make me swept it all under the carpet
but the truth was and is that this is my
identity it is Who I am
and without it I began to feel empty the
stereotypes being shoved in my face had
become so strong that they pushed me
away from my true self and for a period
in my life I closed up about it but as
they say it takes darkness to see the
light in the 70s
my mother was studying in London where
she met my father one day she simply
picked up the phone called a prayer mom
told her that she had become a Muslim
and was now married fast forward a bit
she then moved to Iran for 10 years
during the iran-iraq war which my father
was filming it must have been a
challenging time for her and her family
but my mom had made up her mind and she
would not but this passion and belief
has been an inspiration for me until
this this day this is the Muslim woman
that I have learned to know the
strong-willed passionate and sometimes
stubborn and this is the Muslim woman
who I was I just spend my days sitting
at home being oppressed I spent my days
going to concerts hanging out with
friends studying working enjoying good
food with good company super normal
sometimes even boring things that just
seem to be a myth when it comes down to
the Muslim image in the mainstream I
knew that I had to be true to myself and
if I wanted to change the Muslim image
in the
stream I had to become more vocal we are
not oppressed we are strong and
determined we are free spirits
intelligent enough to acquire our own
knowledge and make our own decisions so
I began to fight these three types and
the only way that I was able to do this
was by staying true to myself and taking
action one of the main reasons to why I
faced an identity crisis was for the
fact that I never really had any role
models in the mainstream that I could
relate to I never saw another hijab’
rocking the guitar on MTV does that mean
that we don’t exist we do exist we just
needed to be more vocal about it and
instead of letting others speak on our
behalf we had to take a hold of the
narrative and share our stories I found
out that the best way that I could
approach this to help break down
stereotypes was for others to start
seeing Muslims as consumers okay hold on
consumers let me explain
Muslims stereotypes of Muslims have
become so black and white that we even
need to fight for our right to be seen
as consumers as ordinary people who
enjoy we see hundreds of ads on a daily
basis and I realized that none of them
had ever spoken to me directly and I
wanted to change that because
recognition in the ad and marketing
world initiates acceptance and speaks or
coexistence and we as well are included
and have a place in this society that’s
me
inside of shopping center it is creating
the first Ramadan and Eid campaign in
Finland the campaign ended with a Big
East celebration commemorating the end
of Ramadan which is a holy fasting month
for Muslims it was the first time that a
major company took a stand and
recognized Muslims as consumers and
although it was a commercial opportunity
at first it really had an impact that we
did not see coming when we first started
there were protests lasting for months
calling for the stop of Islamization but
there are also thousands of people
positively impacted because they finally
felt like they belong it served as a
meeting point for for people from all
backgrounds join together simply to
celebrate this was more than about
consumption or a campaign I’ll never
forget that 15 year old boy who came up
to me he had lived his whole life in
Finland he came up to me and said it
feels like Eid for the first time in my
life imagine someone coming up to you
and saying it feels like Christmas for
the first time this is Halima Aden she
is the first a job’ model to walk the
New York Fashion Week runway this is
empty Haj Mohammed she is an Olympic
bronze medal winner for fencing this is
Yuna known for recording with superstars
like Usher and this is Malala winning
the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17
these are only handful of the millions
of Muslim women who are changing the
game breaking stereotypes and being role
models for young Muslim girls and this
here is Nike announcing the launch of
pro hitch up sportswear designed for
most
women this is only one brand of the many
currently aspiring to recognize Muslims
as consumers and I can say it’s all
thanks to the hard work of Muslim women
themselves for taking hold of the
narrative it hasn’t been an easy road
and we still have a long way to go but I
say it with confidence that the future
looks bright I may have grown up in my
teens without a role model in the
mainstream but I had a role model that
nurtured me from the start my role model
was and still is my mother and like my
mother was to me I know that I’ll be a
role model to my daughter and I know
that by staying true to herself she will
break down every stereotype that comes
down her path and when my time comes I
will rest in peace knowing that a hijabi
punk-rock girl is no longer breaking
stereotypes but she’s just a girl with
great taste in music
[Applause]
[Music]
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