so I have figured out the answer to the
quintessential question what is the
purpose of my life for me I’m here to
smash the patriarchy eliminate misogyny
and dismantle racism and then I realized
I have three loads of laundry to do I
haven’t purchased groceries in a while
and I think there’s some homework that
needs to get done but honestly I do a
lot of different talks around this topic
and one of the topics I really enjoy
talking about is about Muslim women and
the contributions we have to society not
too long ago I was at my computer and I
needed to get images of Muslim women to
put into my powerpoint presentation and
so I went to my trusty little Google
search engine and I typed in Muslim
women and here’s one of the images that
popped up now I don’t have a problem
with this image per se my problem is
really around the context around the
stories around these images you see I
have a lot of family and friends who
dress this way and they have made a
profound decision on how they want to
express their faith my problem is that
it’s a very sort of monolithic image of
who Muslim women are it doesn’t
represent people who look like me and
dress like me or women that actually
don’t observe the hijab or the headscarf
so I found this really problematic and
the further I looked into it I realized
that the problem is that there is such a
negative stereotype around these images
a lot of people feel that when they see
this type of image a lot of negative
stereotypes come forth
we’re always seen in this context of
being stigmatized marginalized and
oppressed it’s always dehumanizing to
see that were the subject of
crimes and instead of being curious
about who we are people feel really
threatened by who we are and so we need
to change this perception and what I
came to realize was somebody else is
always telling our story and in order
for us to change this negative
stereotype we need to start telling our
stories ourselves because these stories
cannot be about us without us so some
friends of mine and I we got together
and we launched a storytelling project
called Muslim Shiro’s of Minnesota the
storytelling project showcases women
right here in Minnesota who are doing
amazing work changemakers and
trailblazers one of the best things
about these stories is that finally
Google has some images that I can use
those reflect my community so I’m gonna
share with you three stories that we’ve
been telling meet my friend domina now
Amana saw these stories and she was
really inspired about what she was
learning and she saw herself within
these stories and so I’m gonna decided
she wanted to get more involved and so
when the call came she decided to become
an election judge now can you imagine
ominous sitting at your polling place
looking the way she does with her pretty
floral hijab and when there’s so much
conversation right now about who is
American she’s the one who’s registering
you or checking you in and asking those
questions and then Amina didn’t just
stop there she started to learn about
boards and commissions in her City and
she decided hey I’m gonna step up and
I’m gonna serve in my community so she
went out to be a commissioner for the
Public Safety Commission again can you
imagine
Imana at a table full of people who
don’t look like her and most likely a
dominant culture but she is there again
in her beautiful
scarf representing and giving voice to a
marginalized community when you talk to
amana and you ask her about how it’s
going she will tell you how she’s lived
in her City all her life but finally she
feels like it’s really hers and that it
feels like home she has moved from
feeling welcomed to being included and
feeling like she belongs now meet these
wonderful wonderful students these are
the girls from Hopkins middle school in
high school they attended a Leadership
Conference that we hosted earlier this
year here they’re taking a picture with
if Nahash Muhammad if the Hajj is the
very first Muslim hijab wearing woman to
serve on United States Olympic team and
she’s a bronze medalist so really an
amazing Shiro now usually our conference
targets and invites women who are
already out in the workforce and adults
but these girls their teacher angela
wilcox reached out to me and asked would
it be appropriate to bring this group of
students I said absolutely the more the
merrier the girls had a wonderful time
they were able to see women that looked
like them and platforms changemakers
people that they could really aspire to
be and after the conference Angela
emailed me back saying the girls were so
inspired that they feel that they can be
and live lives that they never had
dreamt of
now what the girls are doing are really
true young leaders in our community they
went back in a presentation to their
school board members of our conference
and also started a storytelling project
about their histories they are talking
to their elders in their community and
telling the story of what Somalia used
to be before the civil war and here’s a
way for these girls to
really lead in their community and tell
their story themselves all Y all while
honoring the elders of their community
now I want you to meet my friend Sally
Bloom is an organization that I started
two years ago who try to get Muslim
sisters back out into the nature because
unfortunately a lot of us don’t get
outside enough and what better place
than like a setting like this to connect
with God you know I was born I was
raised here in the States and so I was
raised camping and canoeing and being
outside whereas a lot of other people
they didn’t really have that connection
with nature growing up I was constantly
like taking out my friends like let’s go
canoeing let’s go do this let’s go do
that a lot of girls were likes guys like
oh how do you go horseback riding with
your dress on so we were trying to
figure out a way to do it and then when
we figured it out for just like three
people I was like this is a way so we
should do it for like 32 pence Boone was
born we started taking out bigger groups
of girls like today we’re gonna go
canoeing I never really seek out the
leadership role but sometimes it seeks
me out and so for me like I’m gonna
organizing I’m really outgoing I love
the outdoors and I have this huge
network of people it’s kind of like it
just makes sense that I do this I truly
truly believe that God has created each
one of us with very very very unique
characteristics and strengths and we
need to figure out what makes us us and
then take those things and figure out
how we can best serve our community as a
that’s the first time I watched that
video I was convinced that the closed
so Sally is the executive director of
bloom adventures which is an
organization that likes to take women
out and be one with nature when her
video first debuted she started to get
inundated with phone calls and emails
and text messages about how can she come
to other communities and start chapters
around bloom and what’s amazing about
Sally is that she can’t say no but she
knows she can’t be all over the nation
starting these chapters so she creates a
document sort of guidelines and a how-to
on starting a bloom adventure chapter in
her in other communities so Sally
doesn’t say no but instead she empowers
other women to go out and do it for
themselves and when you watch her I hope
that you started to see the images of
the saint croix of canoeing of being
outdoors and you started to forget that
you can’t see Sally’s face that you hear
her voice and you realize that it sounds
just like yours I hope that instead of
having those really threatening
stereotypes pop up into your conscious
instead you feel curiosity and you feel
like a connection with her you see we’re
all human and we all love to know about
one another
we crave that human connection we
empathize we want to be able to lift
each other up and continue telling these
stories now I’ve been telling these
stories for awhile and I invite you to
share yours as well as tell these
stories going forward now when I google
Muslim women if I scroll down just a
little bit I can find myself thank you
[Applause] [Music]
quintessential question what is the
purpose of my life for me I’m here to
smash the patriarchy eliminate misogyny
and dismantle racism and then I realized
I have three loads of laundry to do I
haven’t purchased groceries in a while
and I think there’s some homework that
needs to get done but honestly I do a
lot of different talks around this topic
and one of the topics I really enjoy
talking about is about Muslim women and
the contributions we have to society not
too long ago I was at my computer and I
needed to get images of Muslim women to
put into my powerpoint presentation and
so I went to my trusty little Google
search engine and I typed in Muslim
women and here’s one of the images that
popped up now I don’t have a problem
with this image per se my problem is
really around the context around the
stories around these images you see I
have a lot of family and friends who
dress this way and they have made a
profound decision on how they want to
express their faith my problem is that
it’s a very sort of monolithic image of
who Muslim women are it doesn’t
represent people who look like me and
dress like me or women that actually
don’t observe the hijab or the headscarf
so I found this really problematic and
the further I looked into it I realized
that the problem is that there is such a
negative stereotype around these images
a lot of people feel that when they see
this type of image a lot of negative
stereotypes come forth
we’re always seen in this context of
being stigmatized marginalized and
oppressed it’s always dehumanizing to
see that were the subject of
crimes and instead of being curious
about who we are people feel really
threatened by who we are and so we need
to change this perception and what I
came to realize was somebody else is
always telling our story and in order
for us to change this negative
stereotype we need to start telling our
stories ourselves because these stories
cannot be about us without us so some
friends of mine and I we got together
and we launched a storytelling project
called Muslim Shiro’s of Minnesota the
storytelling project showcases women
right here in Minnesota who are doing
amazing work changemakers and
trailblazers one of the best things
about these stories is that finally
Google has some images that I can use
those reflect my community so I’m gonna
share with you three stories that we’ve
been telling meet my friend domina now
Amana saw these stories and she was
really inspired about what she was
learning and she saw herself within
these stories and so I’m gonna decided
she wanted to get more involved and so
when the call came she decided to become
an election judge now can you imagine
ominous sitting at your polling place
looking the way she does with her pretty
floral hijab and when there’s so much
conversation right now about who is
American she’s the one who’s registering
you or checking you in and asking those
questions and then Amina didn’t just
stop there she started to learn about
boards and commissions in her City and
she decided hey I’m gonna step up and
I’m gonna serve in my community so she
went out to be a commissioner for the
Public Safety Commission again can you
imagine
Imana at a table full of people who
don’t look like her and most likely a
dominant culture but she is there again
in her beautiful
scarf representing and giving voice to a
marginalized community when you talk to
amana and you ask her about how it’s
going she will tell you how she’s lived
in her City all her life but finally she
feels like it’s really hers and that it
feels like home she has moved from
feeling welcomed to being included and
feeling like she belongs now meet these
wonderful wonderful students these are
the girls from Hopkins middle school in
high school they attended a Leadership
Conference that we hosted earlier this
year here they’re taking a picture with
if Nahash Muhammad if the Hajj is the
very first Muslim hijab wearing woman to
serve on United States Olympic team and
she’s a bronze medalist so really an
amazing Shiro now usually our conference
targets and invites women who are
already out in the workforce and adults
but these girls their teacher angela
wilcox reached out to me and asked would
it be appropriate to bring this group of
students I said absolutely the more the
merrier the girls had a wonderful time
they were able to see women that looked
like them and platforms changemakers
people that they could really aspire to
be and after the conference Angela
emailed me back saying the girls were so
inspired that they feel that they can be
and live lives that they never had
dreamt of
now what the girls are doing are really
true young leaders in our community they
went back in a presentation to their
school board members of our conference
and also started a storytelling project
about their histories they are talking
to their elders in their community and
telling the story of what Somalia used
to be before the civil war and here’s a
way for these girls to
really lead in their community and tell
their story themselves all Y all while
honoring the elders of their community
now I want you to meet my friend Sally
Bloom is an organization that I started
two years ago who try to get Muslim
sisters back out into the nature because
unfortunately a lot of us don’t get
outside enough and what better place
than like a setting like this to connect
with God you know I was born I was
raised here in the States and so I was
raised camping and canoeing and being
outside whereas a lot of other people
they didn’t really have that connection
with nature growing up I was constantly
like taking out my friends like let’s go
canoeing let’s go do this let’s go do
that a lot of girls were likes guys like
oh how do you go horseback riding with
your dress on so we were trying to
figure out a way to do it and then when
we figured it out for just like three
people I was like this is a way so we
should do it for like 32 pence Boone was
born we started taking out bigger groups
of girls like today we’re gonna go
canoeing I never really seek out the
leadership role but sometimes it seeks
me out and so for me like I’m gonna
organizing I’m really outgoing I love
the outdoors and I have this huge
network of people it’s kind of like it
just makes sense that I do this I truly
truly believe that God has created each
one of us with very very very unique
characteristics and strengths and we
need to figure out what makes us us and
then take those things and figure out
how we can best serve our community as a
that’s the first time I watched that
video I was convinced that the closed
so Sally is the executive director of
bloom adventures which is an
organization that likes to take women
out and be one with nature when her
video first debuted she started to get
inundated with phone calls and emails
and text messages about how can she come
to other communities and start chapters
around bloom and what’s amazing about
Sally is that she can’t say no but she
knows she can’t be all over the nation
starting these chapters so she creates a
document sort of guidelines and a how-to
on starting a bloom adventure chapter in
her in other communities so Sally
doesn’t say no but instead she empowers
other women to go out and do it for
themselves and when you watch her I hope
that you started to see the images of
the saint croix of canoeing of being
outdoors and you started to forget that
you can’t see Sally’s face that you hear
her voice and you realize that it sounds
just like yours I hope that instead of
having those really threatening
stereotypes pop up into your conscious
instead you feel curiosity and you feel
like a connection with her you see we’re
all human and we all love to know about
one another
we crave that human connection we
empathize we want to be able to lift
each other up and continue telling these
stories now I’ve been telling these
stories for awhile and I invite you to
share yours as well as tell these
stories going forward now when I google
Muslim women if I scroll down just a
little bit I can find myself thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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