What do you do when you cannot find a community that serves your needs?  If you are Michaela Corning, you create it.

As an entrepreneur, an outgoing sales person, an amplifier, a woman, and a Muslim, Michaela found herself in the middle of an “intersectionality twister” game in workplaces that were not safe for her and she could not find the community that she envisioned. One that provided regenerative well-being and joy for her and other Muslim women.

So in 2021, she created Barakah Beauty Collective – the first women only salon and boutique in Seattle focused on uplifting Muslim women economically, spiritually, and physically.  

And with love, business smarts, and a boatload of hard work and perseverance, Barakah Beauty Collective is thriving. 

And she has built something that is serving the needs of Muslim and non-Muslim woman, and inspiring the next generation of Muslim girls to dream and achieve bigger.

In this episode, Michaela answers the following questions:
 - How to build community?
 - How to build community where one does not exist?
 - What is modest fashion?
 - Is it necessary to have a cat to make a video go viral?

My favorite quote from the episode: “I made you into nations and tribes so you can get to know each other.” 

This is from the Qur’an, and as Michaela shares, it is God is talking about valuing the differences in each other and to find joy in discovering the connective in the collective. 

(Close second favorite: “If the white lady in a hijab is your diversity hire, you don't know what the hell you're doing.” Was also very memorable and powerful.) 

What I know to be true about the episode: I continue to be impressed and inspired by Michaela in her courage, authenticity, and determination to create something valuable for her community that fuels all who participate in it, and is an inspiration to the next generation.  

What I learned from the episode: A good friend, Lakshmi Gopalkrishnan, just shared with me the idea that whatever you have been told that you are too much of, or too little, that thing you are “not the right amount of” is your superpower and your strength, and you need to find the place where that can shine. Michaela is proof positive of that.

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

- Michaela’s Modest Fashion Company: https://michaelacorning.com/

- Barakah Beauty Collective: https://barakahbeautycollective.com/

If you like the episode, please do us a favor by leaving a review, hitting that like button, and subscribing. This helps others discover the podcast. 

Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner. 

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superpower, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential. 

For more information about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ 

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/