The Art and Business of Henna: Afnan's Journey with Amarya Henna

Join Hawa and Afnan as they celebrate Muslim women in entrepreneurship in this inspirational episode of Muslimahs In Motion. In this evocative narrative, you'll hear the remarkable journey of a Muslim woman who turned her love for henna into a thriving entrepreneurial venture. Delve into her entrepreneurial spirit, the cultural significance of henna, and the successful strategies deployed in a competitive market.

Hear Afnan talk about her experiences starting her own business and maintaining a strict adherence to her passions. She shares her journey of building her brand, weathering the global pandemic, and the importance of unwavering commitment to her vision. This episode offers a valuable lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs about pursuing their passions in a world filled with unforeseen obstacles.

Follow Amarya Henna here :

• Instagram, Pinterest & TikTok:  @ShopAmaryaHenna
• Website: https://amaryahenna.com/
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmaryaHenna

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:21 "Deserted Island, 3 things... What are you bringing ?"
• 4:14 Entrepreneurial Journey
• 10:03 Navigating Business, School, and Faith
• 24:07 Navigating Challenges in Business Growth
• 36:04 Overcoming Setbacks in Business Journey
• 41:32 "Where Can We Find Amarya Henna?"

Transcript

Afnan: 0:08

You know I've always been interested in henna. I've always liked doing it on myself. You know my family, my friends. When I started it wasn't I didn't really have the idea that it would be so big as it is now so for me. I just jumped straight into it that it would be so big as it is now, so for me

Hawa S.: 0:28

Salaam Walaikum everyone, and welcome to Muslimahs in Motion Professional Pursuits, where we celebrate the achievements of young Muslim women in tech, entrepreneurship and beyond. In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Afnan, a dynamic entrepreneur who turned her passion for henna into a thriving business. Afnan shares her incredible journey from the initial spark of an idea to the challenges she faced and overcame while building her brand from scratch. We delve into the creative process behind her branding, the cultural significance of henna and the strategies she employed to grow her business in a competitive market. Tune in to hear Afnan's insights on entrepreneurship, creativity and the power of following your passion. All right, all right, well. As-salamu alaykum, afnan. How are you? Alaykum as-salam, I'm good. That's awesome, okay. So thank you so much for just choosing to take your time to be here and stuff. I really appreciate it.

Afnan: 1:22

No, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to you know, talk with you and discuss all of this stuff.

Hawa S.: 1:28

Of course, I'm really excited just to like share your journey because, to be honest, I feel like this is very needed, especially in our community. There's so many of us who are career women, entrepreneurs, who really want to do big things, and I think, personally, I admire you and respect you a lot, mashallah, so it's like I want your story to be there, because I want people to know that A I have a cool friend, he has a cool business, but then also it's just like so inspiring.

Hawa S.: 1:59

honestly, like subhanAllah, you really do inspire a lot of people. So I feel like you're just sharing your journey. It's going to be able to like inspire so many more people. So I feel like you're just sharing your journey. It's going to be able to like inspire so many more people. So I'm really excited.

Afnan: 2:08

Thank you so much. That's so touching to hear, and also I'm so inspired by you as well with all that you're doing and all that you've done so far. So, it's mutual.

Hawa S.: 2:18

You're too kind. Thank you All right, so first things first. I have a question for you. So, deserted Island, three things. It's a classic question what are you bringing with you?

Afnan: 2:33

Okay, we don't get options, it's just Nope. You got to tell me what are the three things hmm, I never thought about this for real. Um, I guess I would bring uh my phone. What else dang out of all the things in the world?

Hawa S.: 2:55

um, I would hope you bring your glasses. Oh, I didn't gotta see, right.

Afnan: 3:00

I just thought that was a given. But yeah, I guess my glasses is deserted, so you really don't know um, yeah, okay, my glasses, because that was a given, but yeah, I guess my glasses. It's deserted, so you really don't know. Yeah, okay, my glasses, because that's a necessity. My phone, because I do a lot of things on my phone. Hopefully that would come with like data and stuff.

Hawa S.: 3:16

I would hope Again. It's a deserted island.

Afnan: 3:19

So probably not.

Hawa S.: 3:20

So we don't know if there's even going to be any signal, because all the trees Right Don, we don't know if there's even going to be any signal, because all the trees Right. Hmm, don't let me actually don't let me influence your answer. Let me just hush, hmm.

Afnan: 3:29

I bring some water. You know you can't live without water. That's the first thing Absolutely, we love that Phone, water glasses, awesome.

Hawa S.: 3:37

I think that's a very, I think that's a very informed decision that makes sense. Yeah, we'll go from there and see what we can do with that. I mean, hopefully a rescue party will come soon, right? All right, let's get to the meat of the matter. What brought you here as in, what brought you to where you are today? What is the beginning of afnan's beautiful and a business? Tell me about it, the name, everything. What brought you, what inspired you to start?

Afnan: 4:10

I guess, Well, you know, I've always been interested in henna. I've always liked doing it on myself, you know, my family, my friends, things like that Never professionally, but just like you know, for fun. You know, growing up, you know it was nice doing henna for, like, weddings or for Eid, of course. So I've always, I've always liked to do that. Um, and so, you know, when I was in college I think this was 2019, I was working a desk job, along with, you know, going to school, of course. I was working a desk job, along with, you know, going to school, of course, and so I was thinking about different side hustles that I could do. I don't know what got me into like thinking that around the time, but that was just my like mindset. I was just looking at what side hustles I could do, and they told you to, you know, find what you're passionate about and go from there. And so I've always been interested in henna, like I said. So that was kind of like a no-brainer for me.

Afnan: 5:07

So, instead of doing it on people professionally, you know that would be the more common route to take. I figured that, you know, a more, a more, a gap in the market, as you can say, would be like mixing the henna or providing the henna as a as a product, but, yeah, providing it as a service would be the more needed thing in the market. So that's what I decided to do. That's and I started that around 2020 of January, january 2020. Sorry, so, and I didn't really start making sales until April, april of 2020. And that's when I that's when things took off and you know it's grown into what it's become now. So, alhamdulillah, I I'm really grateful for the whole journey.

Hawa S.: 5:55

Alhamdulillah, wow. So could you do you remember the exact moment where you were like, ok, like let's get this show on the road, we're going to make this into a business. Or did you just like kind of start on a smaller scale? You just kind of bought a little bit of henna, mix it yourself? Or were you just like let's dive in, let's just make this a whole business?

Afnan: 6:16

I kind of, when I was like brainstorming it in 2019, I just bought like a couple of products, like some henna powder and then the things that you need to mix it with, and so I decided to mix it myself and I didn't. I never thought that it would be what it is today. I think at the time, I was just looking for like a small side hustle. To you know, help me get through school and things like that. Yeah, so it wasn't really planned in what happened, but, Alhamdulillah, once I got on Etsy the marketplace that's when things really took off and grew almost bigger than me, and so I needed help from family and things like that, which is Alhamdulillah that I even have that option. To you know, have family to help me, and I'm not only doing this by myself. But, yeah, that's, it started small and grew to, grew to beyond me, alhamdulillah.

Hawa S.: 7:15

Alhamdulillah, all right. So Amaria Hena, beautiful name. Tabarqa Muhammad mashallah. What made you choose that name?

Afnan: 7:26

So originally, when I first started, I was brainstorming names and the name that I came up with was Hannah Heroin, like the hero, and so that was the name for I think two to three years. That was our name, and so the reason why I changed it was, I guess, for obvious reasons. You know, the, the I didn't.

Afnan: 7:51

I just didn't want it to be associated with anything negative that's fair, and my dad was also pushing me to change it because he saw that it was growing and he didn't want, yeah, like, like we said I, like I said he, we didn't want it to reflect anything negative, even as a joke or anything like that. So, yeah, we changed the name, and so the new name that we have now, amaria Hena, is really a tribute to my culture, I guess, because in Hausa, amaria means bride, amaria means bride, and so it's, I guess, loosely translates to bridal henna, which is a lot of the a lot of our customers are bridal artists or they buy our henna for their nikah. So, yeah, so that is pretty much what the name means.

Hawa S.: 8:39

Oh, mashallah, okay cool. You know, that's actually kind of interesting. I didn't realize because, funny enough, I actually went to a school. I went to school with a girl named Amaria, but I didn't realize that Amaria translated to bridal in Hausa, and that's so cool, it's like a little, it's a beautiful name.

Afnan: 9:00

People will actually think that that's my name, Like they'll message me and they'll be like hi, Amaria.

Hawa S.: 9:04

That's so funny.

Afnan: 9:06

It's really cute. But yeah, that's what it means. I don't broadcast it as much because I don't know why I don't, but I probably will. Inshallah.

Hawa S.: 9:16

But yeah, that's what it means. Well, it's really interesting to hear how your passion for henna and kind of how the whole thing got started. Now let's talk about the timing. So I know you mentioned in the past your business started in january 2020, which is honestly like. As we know, 2020 was a year of you know, you know yeah, struggle and str yeah.

Hawa S.: 9:42

And so March is really when everything started going down. Yes, what timing. Right, two months before a pandemic. Yeah, was there anything at the time that, like, told you, ok, it's too late to turn back? Should I do this? Because the truth is, you know, at that time it was a. It was a tough time for a lot of people, especially if you had your own business right. Was there anything that told you, okay, no. Or did you make esta cara and was like, okay, like, let's keep this train going?

Afnan: 10:17

Honestly. No, I'll be honest. For me, when I started it wasn't. I didn't really have the idea that it would be so big as it is now. So for me I just jumped straight into it and I just thought it would be something that I did on the side. It would never be like my full, full time job. So when I jumped into it I didn't have any like doubts or regrets or anything like that. And even you know, as the pandemic started and you know as I even started getting sales like I said, it was a little after the pandemic even started so it even it gave me even more motivation to keep going. You know, despite all the hardship that was going on around us, it was it seeing that, seeing you know the sales grow and grow it kind of yeah, it motivated me a lot to keep moving forward and to not stop. Because at first, when I first started, I was like, oh well, you know I'm not getting sales, so is it, is it even worth it? Like, like anyone would.

Hawa S.: 11:49

But, alhamdulillah, I didn't have any doubts at the time. In fact, now that we've grown more, I feel like I have more doubts nowadays than I did before. Before, I was much more fearless and ambitious in terms of just not having any, any doubts. Um so, yeah, that yeah okay, cool, interesting, yeah. So timing it really is everything. But alhamdulillah, like, in spite of all that hardship, I mean, your business was still able to flourish. It's almost like a reaffirmation from allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's just oh cool, Even with all the garbage happening around me, I think you know. It just goes to show that, like you know, when you're doing something and you really have good intentions behind it, you just never know yeah we can't tell the future anything.

Hawa S.: 12:21

We just have to have faith, right, especially if you really want to do something.

Afnan: 12:24

So alhamdulillah, right, you know, I think that's really cool right, despite all the, all the garbage, like you said, that's going on around us. It's even though, even though there's so much going on, this one thing is going well. So it's like it just gives you hope. It gives you, you know, motivation. It gives you courage to to keep going, no matter what, or no matter what you're doing or what the scenario is. It just gives, it gives you motivation.

Hawa S.: 12:49

Alhamdulillah, so were you in school during this time as well, because I know like January 2020, right. So yeah, I was an undergrad.

Afnan: 13:05

I was. I was in my third or fourth year. I think, yeah, 2020 was my fourth year. I was an undergrad. I was. I was in my third or fourth year. I think, yeah, 2020 was my fourth year. I was supposed to graduate 2020, but I I ended up taking a, taking a little bit longer and I was also working at the time too, so both work and school and then the side hustle, so alhamdulillah alhamdulillah, I mean work already tough.

Hawa S.: 13:21

Then you got school. On top of that, then, subhanallah, you decided to pursue a side business. Yeah, how are you able to manage all of that?

Afnan: 13:31

Well, at the time it was a little bit different, especially with the pandemic, because I had the job back in 2019. And then towards 2020, I didn't think that the pandemic would come and, you know, put us all online and things like that. So, school we went online for my job, I think they tried to make us go online, but after May-ish, they were like, yeah, we just can't. We can't, you know, have you anymore and it was work-study, so it wasn't like it was too demanding anyways or it wasn't too much anyways, but yeah, so once May came around, then it was just school. So I definitely had a little bit more time than before to navigate running a business or running a side hustle at the time and going to school as well.

Hawa S.: 14:21

So alhamdulillah, alhamdul. Well, so the power of divine timing, yep. Now, eventually, we did go back to school in person. Actually, that's around the time we met oh, yeah, so how were you able to so? Once we did make that transition back to in person, how did things change for you? Was it a difficult transition? Was it pretty easy?

Afnan: 14:45

I mean, so I graduated, like I graduated May 2021. So I don't, I wasn't in person at all after March 2020. Only until I started my master's program in 2022. I started July. No, I started um summer 2022. So that's when, um you know, I had to balance. I had to learn how to balance both of them, especially with my master's program being a little more, being a little more rigorous than than normal. It was a, it was a cohort program, it was fast-paced, so it was definitely a learning curve to navigate all of that, but, alhamdulillah, I managed um. I don't know how, but um, definitely with help from my family and friends as well.

Hawa S.: 15:37

I guess you can say that alhamdulillah yeah, I mean you're only human right yeah um, can you think of any like tools or tips or just any resources you might have used to kind of help you throughout that journey? Or did you just pray?

Afnan: 15:54

inshallah, let's just get this done I mean, yeah, prayer is always first. You know, keeping a line mind, knowing, knowing that everything is only possible with Allah. Um, that's, that was first. Um. You know having community around you, having support, like my sister if I didn't have her I don't know where we'd be, honestly, because she's she's been there from the beginning um to help me, so, yeah, she's definitely a big part. Um, you know the rest of my family they also help too. Um, so, having community. You know keeping a law in your prayers. Um. You know definitely always learning, always staying on top of you know what your, what your path is, make sure you're staying on top of trends and things like that. That will always help you in terms of resources. Um, you know knowledge that you didn't have before. That's always helpful to to, to, to do um and yeah, okay, cool.

Hawa S.: 16:56

Well, speaking of keeping all first, you know, as I've known you, islam is a very big part of your life, as is mine. Right, we hold our rub in very high regard and keep him first whenever we're doing things. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. So how would you say? Your Islamic values influence how you run your business or how you conduct business?

Afnan: 17:20

Well, with our business, we run it. Allah is, yeah, like you said, allah is always first in our business. I make sure that everything that we do is in accordance with, you know, islam. Nothing is, you know, morally, morally, you know, questionable or anything like that. We always start with Allah in mind. Everything that we do is essentially to please Allah, essentially to, you know, make Him happy. You know this is bigger than me.

Afnan: 17:50

I don't try to, you know, broadcast or brag about you know what this is, or what I'm doing, or what my family and I are doing, because it's really a family business at this point. It's not just me but, yeah, everything that we do is in accordance with Allah. Like, for example, something as small as marketing, social media marketing. We try not to have music on our reels or videos and if it is, it's nas's nashids or yeah, nashids, or you know Quran, or something that doesn't have music playing, so it's a little more halal. Yeah, just simple things like that. We try to incorporate Allah in everything we do. We schedule our, we schedule our work times around prayer with everybody that's working with us. We make sure that we have breaks for prayer. We have breaks, prayer, we have breaks. We're not overworking ourselves. Yeah, everything we do is centered around Allah.

Hawa S.: 18:48

Alhamdulillah, and may Allah reward you. Because the truth is right, especially in like a working environment, typically it's hard. It's hard to, especially when you're working for, like a non-Muslim company or for that's the reality for a lot of us who live here in the West. Yeah, right, it's hard to find that balance and, alhamdulillah, it's a privilege, like when you can work remote, we can work hybrid, or when you have an awesome you know boss or somebody who understands and is empathetic to your religion. It's not like that. So, honestly, you know, kudos to you, right, because when you center Allah or keep Allah first in what you do, the success will just, it's almost like a consequence of that.

Hawa S.: 19:32

You know, it's like a. It's a good thing, right, right, because it's almost a reward. You might think at first, oh, oh, if I schedule prayer or put prayer or I'm interrupting my business thing to go pray, um, it kind of like slows things down. It's like, yeah, whatever, but no, that's not how it works. You know, when you take the time for your creator, I mean he's just gonna reward you and on top of that, it's like you're almost sacrificing that time. Not that it's a big sacrifice, I mean, let's be honest, you pray, it's like seven minutes.

Afnan: 20:07

Right.

Hawa S.: 20:07

Max, but still, it's the little things that add up, you know, and may Allah make it easy for all of us, because I realize it's not you know, I can't sit here and be like, oh it's easy, right, everybody's on their journey, right? Um, they want to make it easy, but I think that's really cool and admirable, because I speak to so many people. I mean, they've had issues kind of transitioning to the working space, because it's it's hard when you go from, like, going to school or being home all of a sudden, you have a meeting that runs during zor time, right, and it's very annoying, right.

Hawa S.: 20:37

I mean, alhamdulillah, I'm fortunate enough to have like a boss that allows me to go to Jumu'ah.

Afnan: 20:42

Allows me to pray when.

Hawa S.: 20:43

I need to alhamdulillah. So I think it's really cool that you I mean as a Muslim business it's making that conscious effort. Excuse me, to just take the time to take those small moments in our day. You know, it means a lot, because you know it's a good thing.

Afnan: 21:05

It's very good that your boss is very understanding and is able to is understanding enough to let you, you know, go to Jummah and make those prayers on time. That's something that, you know, everyone isn't blessed with, and I definitely realize that it's a privilege to be able to set our own hours and make sure that you know we're staying on top of our deen while still working.

Hawa S.: 21:25

Alhamdulillah, and it's almost like you know a test from Allah, because you know, just as the bad things are tests, the good things are a test as well.

Afnan: 21:32

Right.

Hawa S.: 21:32

Allah is saying okay, I'm giving you this mashallah, tabarakallah, successful business, giving you flexibility in your time and your hours. What are you going to do with that time, right? Are you still going to take time for me? Are you going to make? Are you going to say, oh, let me just finish this one thing and then I can go pray or whatever? Right? And then this one thing from five minutes turned to 10 minutes, turned to an hour, turned to this thing. Now you know, elisabela, you've missed this prayer. You yeah.

Afnan: 22:02

But alhamdulillah, I think that's like really awesome. You know, it's a really good thing. May Allah reward you truly. I mean, may Allah reward all of us for our efforts and make it easier for those who you know may not have the privilege or the luxury to be able to make adjustments in their schedule according to Allah.

Hawa S.: 22:16

I mean, yeah, it's a beautiful thing, and you know, and at the end of the day, he sees our efforts right, even if it's a beautiful thing, and you know, and at the end of the day, he sees our efforts right, even if it's not happening now, maybe it's not a no, but a not now, right, sometimes, meg Dua, and our intentions are really. You know, we really try, we can make some shake. It's not always easy, but you also get rewarded for your efforts, which is such a beautiful thing, right.

Afnan: 22:37

Yeah.

Hawa S.: 22:38

Not just about what you're doing. It's about your intentions behind it as well which I can see from how you run your business and even from how you're answering. You know these prompts questions, whatever. You're a very intentional person. So, mashallah, it's a beautiful thing I try to be. Thank you, Thank you so much, of course, of course. So as a result of that, I mean, are there any challenges that you feel like you faced uniquely in your business as a HANA business, as a Muslim business?

Afnan: 23:20

Anything that comes to mind maybe any know a lot of. When you're doing something for the sake of Allah, sometimes people might not be happy with that. So you know, sometimes you can get a bit of negativity from you know product reviews, different things that people don't like about certain things, and you kind of have to deal with that. Certain things and you kind of have to deal with that. You know there, yeah, you can't please everybody at the end of the day, and so that's something that you know is very challenging deciding whether to continue to do certain things or sell certain products because of you know different reviews or different, you know different things. So that is really the big challenge that you know me personally, I face in this business.

Afnan: 24:07

Another challenge would be you know, right now we're trying to scale and scaling is proving to be a little bit difficult because you know it's not, it's not everywhere that you can find reliable, reliable help or not help, but reliable team members, people who you can trust to do good work. So that is that is something that we're learning and navigating as we grow and scale and things like that. But alhamdulillah, it's been very good. We're onboarding different team members, like marketing and production. So, inshallah, we can look back and say that you know, it was easier than we thought. Inshallah.

Hawa S.: 24:54

Absolutely, absolutely.

Afnan: 25:02

And have you found that your dean opens up unique opportunities or perspective as you do business? I can definitely say that, because you know a lot of one of the things that you know we can connect on in terms of like meeting new people or like meeting people who are willing to, you know, contribute to the brand or that really enjoy the brand. We connect on the fact that it's centered around Allah.

Hawa S.: 25:29

I guess you can say yeah, yeah, interesting, I like that. Yeah, at the end of the day, right, I mean, that's the most beautiful thing, the love of Allah, bringing people together, whether it is business people or friends. You know, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah, do you have any specific situations or scenarios, examples of that happening for you.

Afnan: 25:50

I occasionally get messages of how are people coming up and telling me how you know they really love how we run the brand, or how I run the brand in terms of, like, running it with a lot in mind? Because you know to run something with a lot in mind, you have to be very intentional about it. You can't just be going with the flow, especially with you know how Islam is set up Absolutely. So you know people see that, they see the effort, and so I usually get messages saying, oh I really appreciate how you know you're doing this or you sell this product and you know it was really something that I struggle with. But when you, when I saw this product it's, you know it, it solved the problem that I had, or you know things like that. So, alhamdulillah, I definitely um, I'm grateful to to be able to connect with people in that way and provide us, provide a product that they they otherwise wouldn't have. Um or just, you know, connect on the, on the religious aspect of everything. So al alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, wow.

Hawa S.: 26:57

So January 2020 to now, today's date being May 25th 2024. Yep, four years later, four years, mashallah, tabarakallah, wow. So I would say you're pretty experienced. I don't know, or you have some experience, some experience. I know you're pretty experienced. I don't know, or you have some experience, some experience. I know you're a humble person, but to me you are very experienced, mashallah.

Afnan: 27:22

Thank you so.

Hawa S.: 27:24

I guess one thing I would like to ask is some advice. You know, what advice would you give to somebody who wants to turn their passion into a business? So like, let's say, you know, maybe one day I wake up and I really want to start a hijab business, I feel like there's a gap in the market for crinkle hijabs.

Afnan: 27:43

I want to bring them back.

Hawa S.: 27:45

How, like what are some actionable steps? What are the first things I should do?

Afnan: 27:52

Well, yeah, if you decided to sell crinkle hijabs, you definitely, you definitely be successful, because I haven't been seeing them lately, and that's what we grew up on, but alhamdulillah. So I would say, to stay consistent for one, whatever you want to do, just make your decision and stay consistent. Keep moving towards that goal. Consistent, keep moving towards that goal. Also, I would say, don't feel intimidated by what you see out there in terms of, like, saturation. Don't feel like, oh, there's so many people doing this thing, I might as well not do it. You know, I might get lost in the sauce or whatever. Don't feel like that, because there's always somebody that's looking for that product and you might be the person that you know sells to them, especially if you're doing it with good intentions, that's even better. So don't feel intimidated. Um, there was a third thing I was going to say yeah, don't be discouraged. Always keep moving forward, keep being consistent, um, and just have a law in in your mind with everything that you do Be intentional. That's what I would say.

Hawa S.: 28:58

Absolutely. And to your point about, you know, worrying about the market being saturated. There's so many perspectives, right, so many ways. One thing can be offered.

Afnan: 29:09

Right.

Hawa S.: 29:10

I mean, let's do the most simple of examples Uber and Lyft, right, they both do the same thing, but these businesses still exist within the market. Are they competitors? Yes, but they exist. There's so many different brands of bread, you know, but at the end of the day, everybody still has their piece of the market right, their market share. Everybody still has their piece of the market right, their market share. I mean one of the statistics I looked at. Um said like the global halal market, encompassing food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and lifestyle, according to the global islamic economy report, is projected to be worth over 2.4 trillion dollars by 2024. Like that's a lot, lot, it's a lot of space on the market.

Hawa S.: 29:56

So, for those of you who feel like the market is saturated, it is not because, at the end of the day, everybody has their own unique brand. Everybody has something they can share, they can offer. I mean, how many henna businesses are there out there? Not one state where you like or I don't know, but to me, right there, not one step where you like or I don't know, but to me, right, it's not like you sat there and were like you know, there's over a hundred hannah businesses. Let me just sit down and not do it because already so many people are doing it. Right, you know, you have your own beautiful brand, masha'allah tabarakallah. You or you have your own unique offering to your specific subset of people, right, right, I mean, you never know what opportunities you get, like the, the market, essentially, is just too big for everybody to sit there and be like oh, whatever I got, it's not gonna add up to anything, let me just sit down right you know there's too many people out there no, there's not.

Afnan: 30:51

That's even. That's even more reason for you to do it. There's so many people out there.

Hawa S.: 30:55

I mean how many people are on this earth and then we're gonna sit there and be like oh, I can't sell nothing, the market is already taken right, I mean, that is just not fair it's not fair to yourself, honestly.

Afnan: 31:06

So yeah, I, I definitely agree you have your own unique, like you said, you have your own unique um thing that you'll be selling to, that you'll be providing to. You know, your potential customers like may, whether it be good customer service, or there's this product that does this one thing that all the other products that people sell they don't have. You know, there's always that one thing that you bring that other people may not bring, and that's what will make you different. That's what will make you different.

Hawa S.: 31:35

That's what will make you successful? Inshallah, inshallah. And sometimes people just buy stuff from people because they like them.

Afnan: 31:40

Exactly.

Hawa S.: 31:42

MashaAllah, tabarak Allah, you're an amazing person. I mean, I remember I was so excited when I heard that you even had a business because I was like, wow, there's one more way to support this person. That's really awesome, you know. So it just goes to show when you have an amazing, you know, personality and just an amazing, you know how do I say? Like a radiant right, just shining, mashallah. I appreciate that so much you want to support your friends, you want to support people you care about, so it's really easy to do that right um, yeah, there's always going to be an audience for you.

Hawa S.: 32:14

You don't know who it is, maybe you don't know when you're going to blow up, but there are people out there who want to hear you. They want to know what you have to say. They want to know what you have to offer. You just never know who you could reach. So yeah you know, I think that's really cool, honestly.

Afnan: 32:31

And there's one thing that I want to add to that as well. You know there's so many people that are starting their own. You know side hustles or businesses that don't even show their face. You know, on social media or you know, anywhere they don't that you don't have to navigate in terms of, you know, being seen and things like that. So there's so many people that if, if you don't want to, if you don't want to, you know, be the face of your business, that is perfectly fine.

Afnan: 33:03

That's something that I know I have definitely struggled with and I know that for me, I can. I can tell you that I'm definitely not the face of my business, because I mean for, for me, I feel like I didn't create Henna, so there's no point in me like broadcasting, oh, I'm the one who started it, this is me, this is my brand. You know I feel like this is way bigger than me. I want it to grow, way bigger than me. So I just want to say I just want to. You know, put that out there that you don't have to. You know, broadcast yourself or promote yourself just to be successful as well. You know you can definitely be successful without being on the front end. You can definitely be behind the scenes and still make things happen.

Hawa S.: 33:44

Absolutely. I mean, there has been a rise of, you know, faceless brands faceless content creators.

Hawa S.: 33:50

I mean even myself when I was doing research on that, and there has been several Instagram pages I've seen pop up where you know, especially pertaining to like the luxury, lifestyle, femininity content, where the person doesn't even show their face. And not only that, there are businesses now that are popping up that that's a specialty. They provide faceless content for businesses. So let's say, you have like a like a lifestyle business and you just post like travel pictures. They have stock or travel videos, excuse me, they have stock videos for people who want to show like, oh, my day in the life of, and it's like a cup on a pillow right or like them making a smoothie, but it's just hands, you know right.

Hawa S.: 34:38

So don't be afraid and don't feel like you have to show your face or anything to be successful, because I know sometimes, like you said, it is hard and sometimes you know the reality is as women is, like you know sometimes don't know, sometimes you just want to not be perceived Like speaking for myself. Sometimes I don't want to be looked at.

Hawa S.: 35:02

I just want to be like I just want to do my stuff, yeah, and people enjoy what I'm doing, without necessarily me just being the face of it or being about what I look like and what I look like to others. Right, exactly Because that can definitely influence a lot of things absolutely you know, it's not a bad thing necessarily. I'm not saying obviously to those who do choose to that you're doing a bad thing, but that's just how I'm operating right.

Afnan: 35:28

Exactly. Everyone has their own choice, their own, you know, belief system, their own morals. So you can I mean, of course there's, there's always that option Um, just in terms of, you know, wanting to please your Lord. That is the, that's more so, the angle that we're coming from in terms of, you know, if you don't want to be the face of your brand or the face of your business, that is definitely how that is definitely that is definitely possible. It's achievable to to not be in the front end and still be successful.

Hawa S.: 36:00

Inshallah. Ok, nice, all right. So can you please share with us and you don't have to if you don't want to but did you ever face any significant setbacks while having your business and if so, how did you bounce back from it?

Afnan: 36:21

So I wouldn't really, I don't really perceive them as setbacks, but I definitely did have to close multiple times throughout the years because, you know, as a family we like to travel a lot, so logistically we couldn't stay open. So I had to close many times. But every single time we had to close it was I viewed it more so as like time to build, you know, time to you know, build behind the scenes so that you know when we do come back and we do reopen, things are even more smoother, even better in terms of what we provide. So I never really saw it as a setback, but I know that some people could see that, see it that way. So that is one thing I would say closing at least two to three times during these last four years that we've been open, but alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.

Hawa S.: 37:18

And you know, I agree with you on the point where it's not necessarily a setback right, because the truth is we're socialized to just keep going and going and going, especially when you're in entrepreneurship, and like the whole hustle culture you know of the side hustle part like the whole hustle culture, you know of the side hustle part I think it's time to come to terms with the fact that it is not every day you have to hustle.

Hawa S.: 37:43

You know there is value in taking a step back, regrouping and re-strategizing and going.

Hawa S.: 37:50

You know, obviously, you know, inshallah, we want to all be successful and get to a point where everything runs by itself. And you know, inshallah, we want to all be successful and get to a point where everything runs by itself and you know, we don't have to lift a finger. But until then, right, I think it's about the journey, you know, and once you make it, about the journey and not necessarily the result, it's really easy to reconcile with that taking a break. It's really easy to reconcile with that taking a break Because let's imagine that you were so concerned about the metrics, the numbers, the things you were doing Not the things you were doing, but essentially the result. Right, I need these thousand million followers by this time and this thing, rather than just taking it one step at a time and, like you said, valuing the education and learning and learning the lessons along the way of having a business. Right, you, it's really easy to feel discouraged because the truth is like most people are not going to make 1 billion followers in the first couple months of their business.

Hawa S.: 38:50

Right, but I really respect and admire um mashallah to barakallah, that you just like made it about the journey. Yeah, because go ahead.

Afnan: 39:01

Yeah, exactly Like you said at the time, I wasn't happy that that had to happen, you know, but definitely throughout, you know, a couple of weeks after, I would come to understand that it's not really about, you know, staying open 24 seven or hustling so hard to where you're, you know you're so tired or overworked, because that definitely was the reality at times and I definitely had to learn early on that that's it, especially as Muslim women. It's not really, um, it's not really conducive to our health or our success, so we definitely need to take breaks more often. It's not always about hustle, hustle, hustle, or making a thousand followers, like you said, or, sorry, a billion followers, or having the highest metrics. It's more so about the journey and making sure that every step you take, you're growing one step, you're growing 1% more, however they say it.

Hawa S.: 39:58

No, you're right, the 1%. The 1% rule. Yeah, you know, even if you just improve 1% per day, I mean, You're getting better, so that's a zero yeah. So all right, Well, thank you so much, honestly, for your time. I think it's been super insightful. I've learned a lot from you. Inshallah, many people will learn a lot from you as well. I do have a closing question for you. So what is your favorite ayat?

Afnan: 40:31

and how do you feel like it inspires or influences your approach to business and leadership? Well, I'm sure everyone is familiar with this. With every hardship comes ease. That is definitely something that I've had to incorporate into not just my business life, but personally as well, just like everyone else. That is something that at first, I came to understand it. As you know, after the hardship you'll experience ease, things will get better and you know it's just like black and white, but it's, it's more. I've come to learn that it's as you're going through the hardship. It's also. It also. You also find moments of ease or things to look forward to as well, especially in business, where you know things are always up and down or you know things might be good one minute and then a little bit shaky the next. It's always good to have that, that ayat, in mind. And yeah, that's yeah.

Hawa S.: 41:30

Beautiful choice, beautiful choice. Well, thank you so much, afnan. It was a pleasure talking to you. Where can we find you or your business?

Afnan: 41:39

Yeah, you can find us on pretty much all platforms Instagram, tiktok, facebook and even Pinterest at shop Amaria Hena, and you can also find us on our website if you are interested in Hena, you want to browse our products, we are at AmariaHennacom and, yeah, that's where you can find us, and thank you so much for having me and facilitating this discussion with your podcast. I appreciate it.

Hawa S.: 42:10

Of course, it was a pleasure, honestly, and may Allah facilitate your success. I'm looking forward to seeing you grow and grow. I mean thank you, all right.