In front of a crowd of 5,000, no less. Bow down.
Well, this has got to be a little bit of a lifetime achievement. Dubai’s own Manal Rostom, founder of the Facebook group Surviving Hijab, has just given a speech at the social media giant’s Palo Alto, California offices.
The Egyptian woman spoke about how she came to found her group, and how it grew to its now 520,000 members.
Surviving Hijab is a support group for hijabi women, and it’s full of motivation, inspiration and advice.
Impressive stuff, if you ask us.
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Before an audience of 5,000 Facebook employees, Rostom detailed her own hijab journey. You can watch a short clip here:
Rostom spoke for nearly 20 minutes all up, but you’ll need to be a member of her Facebook group to watch it in full.
While she was on site, Rostom also met with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who she says was “everything I ever imagined.”
“We spoke leaning in… emotions, tears and love,” Rostom wrote, adding that she’s read Sandberg’s book Lean In three times.
Rostom also caught some time with Mushreda Khanom, a hijabi Facebook employee.
How cute are they? Adorable.
Rostom, who’s also Nike Run Club coach, spoke as part of Facebook’s global sales conference.
On Instagram, she wrote that she was “so proud of how far we have come to change the world’s perceptions about women who wear the hijab.”
Well said, and well done.
Image: Manal Rostom/Instagram
