Today we’d like to introduce you to Hajar Abdulkadir and Umaymah Massey.
Hajar and Umaymah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 2019, we both joined Junior Mu Delta Alpha Leadership Academy, a program that teaches girls skills like public speaking, professionalism and is branched off of the first Muslim sorority in the US: Mu Delta Alpha. By meeting like-minded girls in the academy, we realized the amazing feats and potential we had to change the world, which was highly emphasized by Mu Delta Alpha. While in the leadership academy, we took on many projects; one example is a PSA on bullying. It starred and was directed by all the members of the academy. Hajar was the President and Umaymah was the Vice President of the academy and we both went on to become the coordinators the following year. We worked hard to uphold our duties, such as building a safe and inclusive environment for all the members, including ourselves, and working on curriculum, among other responsibilities.
One of the projects that was brought up by Samira Maddox, the academy director, was having a podcast hosted BY girls for girls to share their voices and have a platform. We took it upon ourselves to make this a success. As young girls, we realized we didn’t have encouraging and inspirational podcasts that catered towards our age range, so we became that platform. Our main message is to encourage others to change the world and make a difference by interviewing amazing women and girls and spotlighting their achievements. We worked on the logo, branding, and content for the podcast as well as finding amazing guests to interview. After six long months of work, One Girl At A Time Podcast became a reality.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being full-time Highschool students, time management can be somewhat difficult. We have to balance leadership academy responsibilities alongside other various individual activities. Through those struggles, we’ve found balance and ways to help us be more grounded. We share and discuss some of the self-improvement tips we learned and use on the podcast with our listeners in hope that they also can benefit from it as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
One Girl At A Time is a teen podcast FOR girls BY girls WITH girls where we talk about a variety of topics that girls deal with every day from leadership to social issues as well as have interviews with amazing girls and women. It was created by the organization Mu Delta Alpha, we are a platform specifically for girls to encourage voices that have not yet been heard. We are bringing our own table, chair, and voice to inspire and represent girls everywhere. We are most proud of the amount of thought and precision we put into the content we want to discuss and release for each episode as well as the improvement we’ve shown in our speaking skills and putting them into play. We are proud to be able to do what we do and share it with the world. The fact that we are two Muslim teen girls hosting a professional podcast, which is something that you don’t see very often, is definitely what we believe sets us apart.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Hajar: I have learned the importance of being a sincere and genuine person towards others as well as how it affects how people perceive me and vice versa and it’s important because I want us to build good connections with the people we interview on the podcast.
Umaymah: I have learned how crucial it is to not stress over the little details and be patient with myself through the podcast by knowing when to take breaks. Sometimes, not everything has to be perfect and it is important to know that it’s the effort that truly counts.
Contact Info:
- Email: ogatpodcast@mudeltaalpha.org
- Website: http://onegirlatatimepodcast.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ogatpodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OGATpodcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OGATPodcast
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9KQqqcb-EZAk0wH4SJb1SA
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@onegirlatatimepodcast?lang=en
Image Credits
Kylee K. Thomas-W
