((PKG)) PIA -- FATIMAH HUSSEIN
((Banner: Freedom to Play))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Courtesy: ASIYA))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
Hijab is very important for a Muslim girl. The hijab is the identity of her, shows you that this is part of who you are. You know some family will start their girls wear hijab as young as when they start school. When young Muslim girls start playing sports, they didn't had any accessibility of a sport a hijab that they felt very comfortable with. I felt like there should be some kind of a solution for this.
I came to America when I was six. Home was Somalia. Me, my sister came to America with my mom and dad. We did lost my brother while running away from the war, and then my two other brothers were born in America. Respect for me was the biggest thing in our family.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: ASIYA))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
They say the most important thing is you start with yourself and then you can be able to understand why it's important for you to get respected and giving back. Charity was very important for us too.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
I played softball. I played basketball. It was like, yeah, we play kickball outside. We played in our school teams. I didn't see no difference between me and a boy. I know I always used to look forward coming home, so I can play outside with the boys and everyone else.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
When I start volunteering that I saw that what I thought was normal, was not normal to the community. So, when I start volunteering at the community center, I saw girls were not using the gym. Any girl who went into the gym somehow was notified by her parents. Boys and girls did not used to mix too much. Once I start coaching is when I saw that any girl who became really good at playing the sports, when I went to see her at the school playing, she was not wearing her hijab.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
My solution was to solve this to provide the girls with not for me to take this culture away. We designed a whole gear of clothes, the jersey, the underpants, and the hijab. We had a big fashion show. When we had that big fashion show actually, one of the state senators said, “Fatimah, I could see this idea really move to another level.”
((NATS))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
The company is called ASIYA. ASIYA is a well-known woman in the Islamic history. The girls picked that name because they believe it was something that represent them. Fighting injustice, fighting their peers. They picked the name. They picked the fabric. They did every step with us. That's why we're very unique when it comes to like this grass root of like owning ship. It's a Muslim girl who’s designing this hijab. So, a lot of times people say, “ASIYA, is that you?” and I'm like, no, it's not me.
((NATS))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
The challenge we saw is that it was not easy to pick a fabric. It took us eighty different fabric to really find the first sport hijab. Another challenge is, being made in the USA. I really wanted our sport hijab to be made with love, to make sure that the people who are making are getting paid. And for me it was more about the social impact that we were going to create.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: ASIYA))
((Fatimah Hussein, Co-Founder, ASIYA Sportswear))
You know, it's really nice to see that right now we are in over five different continents. Girls around the world are having access to this hijab. That means we are really going in a good direction. What I really want for myself and my life right now is really to get this hijabs out to more girls, especially at school levels. I believe when girls play in their PE class, that's the moment where either they fall in love with sports or they don't. It makes me really excited that this movement of limiting barriers for girls to play in sports is gonna get much smaller.
((NATS))
