Yasmine Mohammed Podcast

Though she was born and raised in Saudi, Meshair’s parents are from Somalia. She travelled for the first time when she was twenty-five years old and continued travelling ever since. Traveling the world made her mind and heart expand. It filled her with love and left no room for hate and regret. She is now married to the man of her dreams, François- a French Pastry Chef who fills her heart with love and their home with sweet smell of freshly baked cookies and lavish decorations of petit fours!

Wafa is a Tamazight Tunisian Ex-Muslim, holder of a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, and a university educator. She currently serves as the director of the Translations Project, a program of the Center for Inquiry and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. She is also a board member of Inara, the Tunisian Association of Irreligious and Free Thinkers. She is human rights and civil liberties activist, an advocate of the Ex-Muslim organizations for acceptance of religious dissent and promotion of secular values, and an activist for the linguistic and cultural rights of the indigenous Amazigh people of Tunisia and North Africa.

Born in South Africa, Ayesha is a Cape Malay woman who grew up in Australia. Despite her Western upbringing, Ayesha's story features the familiar battle for independence and freedom that many women from Muslim backgrounds experience all over the world. In the process of finding herself, Ayesha faced many losses and hardships - including losing the love and acceptance of her family. Now living happily with her partner of 8 years, Ayesha has found a new family who accepts her unconditionally for the person she truly is. With 3 university degrees and a successful career across a range of disciplines, Ayesha now works with the Free Hearts Free Minds team to empower other people across the world to embrace their individuality and be their unapologetic selves.

Raised in a traditional Omani home, Reem always found herself battling being true to herself or being aligned with her culture's traditions. The journey to being true to herself was not a easy one; from leaving her home country, to disentangling herself from a difficult divorce and being estranged from family, to finding strength in other like-minded women and meeting a partner who helped her spread her wings and fly. Reem is on her way to become a pediatric surgeon and is very passionate about women's issues in the Middle East.

Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, she came to Canada, 24 years old and covered from head to toe. After an entire shift of her worldview, a TEDx Talk, backlash and death threats from her community and family members, Amal continues to live her life standing for her rights. Today, she supports others to reclaim their power from religious, societal, and political oppression through her organization I’m All Courage.

Raised Mennonite, Deb met a charismatic Muslim man who was lecturing and debating in a local university. She was swept off her feet and soon found herself the mother of four children and in a polygamous marriage with a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir. She is now embroiled in a custody battle to protect her children- including her openly LGBT teenager with a father who believes they are an abomination.

Somali refugee, orphan, and survivor of FGM, Sara is the most earnest US patriot you will ever meet. At 17, when she arrived in the US, she didn’t even know how to write her own name. Now, thanks to the support of her new great country, she not only learned how to read and write, she is an educator. 

As her family slept, Saudi born Ghada quietly escaped from the house and eventually out of the patriarchal society she was born into. She had to lose everything in order to gain her freedom. Now, after seeking asylum in the US, she- along with her two black dogs- is about to start a new chapter of her life with her Texan groom Jim.

Though Aliya was raised in the US, at 17 she was forced to marry her 25 yr old cousin in Pakistan.  Despite all odds being stacked against her, pregnant with her second child, she decided to fight for her freedom- and ultimately, freedom for her children. Her story is truly inspiring and motivating for every person stuck in an impossible situation who cannot see a way out. She is a testament to human resilience. Her example shows us all that anything worth having is worth fighting for and that freedom is worth any cost.