From Dog Stories and Happy Hours to Quran Reflections and Eid Pictures
My story of going from working in corporate America to the fastest growing Islamic Startup in the US.
It was the week before the Thanksgiving holiday. My manager came up to me and asked “Any plans for the long weekend?”
“Yeah I’m going to Chicago!”
Manager: “Just for fun?”
Me: “I’m actually going for a conference. American Muslims for Palestine”
Manager *looking a bit confused*: “Muslim…?”
Me: “…Yeah?”
Manager: “Aren’t you Palestinian?”
Me: “…Yeah?”
Manager: “I thought all Palestinians were Christian. I didn’t know you were Muslim”
**facepalm**
I had been working with my manager for 8 months. I wore Hijab. I didn’t drink. I fasted Ramadan and took Eid day off. I even wore an abaya to work once or twice. I was very visibly Muslim — or so I thought 😂
Mama I made it 🙌
After college, I had taken up a job with a large consulting firm. I loved it. It was the big corporate job that I dreamed of. It involved travel. Working with people from all over the world. Dressing up in business clothes. Working for clients and using fancy tools and lingo.
The company itself was great too. I had interned with them. They had let me take a couple of months off after graduation before starting full-time. Everyone I met through the company was extremely nice and willing to help. They had a culture focused on acceptance and diversity. I felt very comfortable being the person I wanted to be.
But then I quickly came to realize —
You can have all the diversity trainings you want — but it isn’t diversity unless it’s actually diverse.
While I was there:
I heard enough dog stories from my co-workers to write a dog book 🐶
I skipped more happy hours than I can count 🍺
And I was always amused by how little people knew and were involved in beyond just their work and personal lives 🤔
I was really enjoying work and my co-workers. But to me, work was work and that was it. Everything related to work ended for me the minute I stepped out of the office. It didn’t serve a bigger purpose beyond making a living. I knew that eventually I would want to find something I was more passionate about.
Biryani in Bloomington
In December of last year, I got an email from Amany that she was coming to Minnesota. Being the LG fan that I was, I was totally going to take her up on her offer to meet up. I reached out to Amany and we agreed to go out for Chai after her last event here.
Amany is really popular. Like really popular. So after the event, she was held up for over an hour while people talked to her. By the time we got into my car, it was late, it was dark, and there was nothing I knew of that was open. Amany also had a flight early the next morning.
So what did I do? I drove around aimlessly for 15 minutes trying to make conversation while also hoping to find anything that was open.
And then I came across India Cafe.
I had never heard of this place. I had never tried it. But it was the only thing open. I said a little dua and pulled in. I was just hoping I wouldn’t make her sick the night before her flight 😅
To my pleasant surprise, the restaurant turned out to be Muslim-owned and very delicious Alhamdulilah. Amany and I ended up having some really good conversation over Biryani and mango lassi that night. We talked about everything from LaunchGood to sports to books and podcasts.
One of the coolest things that Amany told me about was a program they had in Detroit that provided open gym opportunities for Muslim women to play sports. That idea from Amany inspired me to start MN-Muslimah Sports (MMS) with one of my friends, Meryem Maameri. It was a MN version of what Amany had described where we organize events for Muslimahs to meet up and play sports.
The Fellowship
In March of this year, a few months after meeting Amany, I emailed her wondering if LaunchGood offered Fellowship programs. I didn’t have any plans to leave my job but I wanted to see if there was any way I could still be involved with LaunchGood on the side.
Next thing I knew I was on a call with Chris. He asked me if I would be able to commit to being full-time during the month of Ramadan so that I can help with coaching and support during their busy season.
The timing worked out perfectly as the time was coming for me to roll off my current project at work. So I requested a leave of absence and got approved to take the month of Ramadan off. With that, I began my Spring Fellowship with LaunchGood as a US Campaign Coach.
I was told we would be busy during Ramadan — and they were not kidding. The Fellowship experience was amazing because we got to learn so much so fast. We were managing over 1000 campaigns and answering hundreds of tickets every day. It was also really awesome to get to work with a Muslim team who observed the month of Ramadan and one that was working from all parts of the world. I was absolutely loving working with LaunchGood.
The Big Decision
I was set to go back to work in June after Ramadan and Eid. However, as I was looking into projects to go back to, I was presented with the opportunity to join LaunchGood full-time.
I had known that I wouldn’t be working a corporate job for my whole life. It wasn’t for me. I wasn’t being inspired or challenged in the ways that I wanted to be. However, I hadn’t been planning on leaving just 1.5 years into it. I felt like I still had a lot to experience and learn from being a part of this kind of firm. At the same time, the LaunchGood offer felt like a once in a life time opportunity to join a company that I had admired for so long.
Ultimately the decision came down to where I felt the most personally rewarded. It’s where I fit in. I felt truly passionate about the work and mission of the company. I could connect with my co-workers on so many levels. The remote nature of the job also provided a flexibility that was beyond the structured nature of my other job and was something that I needed.
So after lots of thinking and doing istikhara, I accepted the offer and joined LaunchGood full-time.
The LaunchGood Difference
To say that my work experience has changed is a gross understatement.
Besides the obvious differences between working for a Fortune 500 company as a consultant in an office setting and a completely remote job for an Islamic tech startup — here’s what’s also different:
We start and end our team meetings with dua.
Our CEO sends us Quran reflections over WhatsApp.
Instead of dog pictures, I get Eid pictures from my co-workers :)
They may seem like little things — but they make a world of a difference. Having a job and co-workers that align with your identity as a Muslim is a huge blessing that I am thankful for everyday.
Our team is small but has more diversity on it than the entire firm that I used to work for. A diversity that we didn’t need to train employees for nor create policies to meet — but one that happens naturally with Islam.
Our bottom line goes beyond just making profit. We are slaves, not to a corporation, but the One who created us. We believe in our purpose to bring about good to this Earth and we believe that good work needs to be sustainable.
A year ago, I came across LaunchGood’s values.
Today I get to see how they’re lived out in the company every single day. Alhamdulilah 🙏
