"We All Deserve to Be Here, No Matter What the World Says" Pre-Khutbah Bayan by Laila Alawa (1/26/18)

Khateebah Laila Alawa delivers the pre-khutbah bayan (speech) at The Women's Mosque of America's 3rd Year Anniversary jumma'a on January 26th, 2018. Laila shares stories from her life about times of struggle and how she gained inner strength from looking at role models in Islamic history to help her persevere and thrive.

Laila Alawa started her career at the White House and Congress and is the CEO and Founder of The Tempest, the leading tech and media company changing the global narrative of diverse millennial women. She was named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In 2017, she gave a TED Talk on her work with The Tempest. Since founding The Tempest, Laila has been quoted in nationwide outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and CNN Money as a disruptive force in media. She's also the host of The Expose, a weekly podcast tackling tough topics with snark and wit. In 2016, she got her own Snopes page and was a Nominated Changemaker for the United State of Women White House Summit.

Prior to founding The Tempest, Laila was a research specialist at Princeton University, studying socio-cognitive processing under the framework of community identity and belonging. During her time in college, she spent time dissecting stereotype threat for women in the sciences, consumer behaviorism, minority stereotyping and judgment. She is currently working on her first book.