Workshop by Sabrina Mohammad and Aisyah Noli on women empowerment

By, Halimatul Saadiah Pairit

GOMBAK, 25 May 2024: JK HEWI Harmoni IIUM successfully organised the event, Workshop: Beauty Beyond the Mirror, on 24 May 2024, at the Kulliyyah of Engineering, IIUM. 

Featuring the lawyer and beauty influencer, Sabrina Mohammad, and activist, Aisyah Noli, as speakers, this workshop aimed to empower women by teaching them about self-love, self-care, and self-confidence.

At the beginning of the session, Programme Manager, Aira Safiya binti Zulkornain, expressed her hope in envisioning a future with more confident women in leadership positions who are able to stand up for their rights, voice their opinions, and embrace their inner and true beauty.

The workshop was divided into two sessions; the first session focused on how to magnify self-confidence within oneself. The speakers stressed the importance of embracing insecurities and acknowledging all feelings experienced as the main method to build confidence. Sabrina and Aisyah also pointed out the challenges they faced when getting involved in many humanitarian and women-empowering activities, especially as Muslim women that have to face all stereotypes.

“A a Muslim woman who does not wear an attire that abides by the Shariah law, she is never regarded as a religious person, whereas each of us has our own spiritual journey and challenges,” said one of the participants when asked about the stereotype they faced as a Muslim woman.

Upon hearing the confession from the participant, Sabrina shared her experience and commented on how a Muslim woman should improve to break the stereotypes. “We should focus on ourselves more than other people’s judgement. We know ourselves better than they do,” she commented.

During the question-and-answer session, a participant asked the speakers how to achieve their highest potential. Sabrina mesmerised the audience by answering, “Who sets the limit? You set your own goals. Start with small goals and achieve them gradually. Others have no say on how you set your limits when it comes to your life.”

The second session of the workshop focused on a hands-on activity with Sabrina Mohammad. She shared various useful tips for women on how to make themselves presentable and look more confident. The participants were also actively engaging with Sabrina during this session and received direct feedback from her.

Towards the end, when interviewed by IIUMToday, Aisyah Noli expressed her hope for all, especially Muslim women, to have good ethics and morality and portray their inner beauty. “I wish for everyone to possess good conduct in life, expressed from within ourselves, and not just focused on the physical appearance,” she said.

Hence, it is important to note that everyone has different insecurities, challenges, and backgrounds. We cannot control others’ judgments, but we can control how we respond to each criticism by manifesting the real meaning of self-love through actions.

JK HEWI Harmoni IIUM is a youth association at the IIUM focused on developing youths to be caring and active on addressing global issues.***