Hammasa Kohestani Stood Up Against Racism and Islamophobia and Became The First Muslim Woman to be Crowned Miss England
Publisher |
Baktash Ahadi
Media Type |
audio
Publication Date |
Sep 29, 2020
Episode Duration |
00:38:53

When people asked young Hammasa Kohestani what she wanted to be when she grew up, she responded that she was *going* to be a model, not that she *wanted* to be a model. She had this dream since she was 6 years old, but it started to feel further and further away as she entered her teenage years.

 

That’s because she was born to Afghan parents, spent her early childhood in Russia, and then moved to the UK as a teen. Models and pageant queens in England simply didn’t look or talk like her.  

 

But that didn’t stop her. At 18 years old, Hammasa Kohestani was the first British-Afghan Muslim to be crowned Miss England in 2005. She’s been in the fashion and modeling industry for 20 years, an uncommonly long time, and has faced immense racism and sexism throughout her career. All the while, she stuck to her values and encourages other young women to do the same.

 

In this episode of Stories of Transformation, hear about Hammasa’s experience as an Afghan Muslim model and how hard she fought to be accepted, how she made global headlines by calling out the British Prime Minister on his Islamophobic remarks, and much more.

For full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/podcast

 

Connect with Hammasa Kohestani

Website 

Twitter 

Instagram

Youtube

 

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Produced by: Dana Drahos 

Edited by: Joseph Gangemi 

Digital Marketing by: Katherine An 

Theme music by: Qais Essar

Artwork by: Masheed Ahadi 

 

Episode Music Credits

Philip Daniel Zach- Quieting the Mind

The SoundKeeper- For Theresa Mighty Captain

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