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Hijab-Wearing Journalist Noor Tagouri On Why You Should Be Unapologetically Yourself

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The child of Libyan-born Muslim parents, Noor Tagouri grew up in a conservative white majority town in Southern Maryland. While her mother wore a hijab, or headscarf, Tagouri herself did not. From a very young age, she was “obsessed with storytelling” and dreamt of being Oprah or a news anchor. But she also assumed that in order to succeed, she would have to look like the people she saw on TV, which meant: No hijab.

Kate Warren

In her teenage years, Tagouri chose to don a headscarf as a symbol of her Muslim faith. She homeschooled during her senior year of high school to get a head start in her career and began working at a local newspaper. Then she got a “life-changing” internship at CBS radio, which led to other jobs in radio and TV. The entire time, she was set on becoming a network news anchor. But in spite of many people telling her that she never would realize her dream if she continued to wear her hijab, Tagouri remained true to herself – and kept the head covering on.

Her “lightbulb moment” arrived when a local Maryland TV station sent Tagouri to cover protests in Baltimore after the April 2015 death of Freddie Grey. Previously, she had “a hard time” interviewing people on the street while in her hijab because some of them would be rude. “I found it very draining,” Tagouri explained.

Kate Warren

But at this event, Tagouri found herself working with a camera person who was an African-American woman with dreadlocks. When the two reporters came across a beautiful sight of people singing, crying, and hugging rather than protesting in anger, they decided to cover the story. “It was mind-blowing,” Tagouri explains. “Here was a positive, uplifting event happening just a few blocks away from the protests, but nobody cared to cover it. Suddenly, tons of people in the community were approaching us, asking us to tell their stories.”

“This was my eureka moment,” Tagouri continues. “I realized that my strength lies in using my own identity to build trust with people who’ve never trusted mainstream media to tell their story before. These were the stories I was meant to be covering.”

Scripps

Tagouri then quit her job and self-produced a short documentary called The Trouble They’ve Seen: The Forest Haven Story, about the mistreatment of people with mental disabilities. This was a passion project, which she funded herself. Tagouri attributes her success to her ability, once again, to earn the trust of people she spoke with, who saw her as one of them.

Next, she began to work on an investigative documentary about the U.S. sex trade, called Sold in America, which was released on Facebook Watch and Amazon and will be released on Hulu this summer. Tagouri is simultaneously launching a podcast that is a spin-off with “even more vulnerable moments.” The message of both is that harm across the sex trade is about far more than just sex – it’s about the lack of a social safety net for people at the margins of our communities.

Scripps

“What helped me get people sharing their stories for Sold in America was my own willingness to be vulnerable,” Tagouri says. “On the podcast, I speak publicly for the first time about my own encounter with sexual violence at age 12. In the film and podcast, I’m also open about my judgments and preconceived notions, my mistakes and failures. You don’t usually see that side of journalists. I talk about my own journey because people can relate to that.”

Here, Tagouri shares her advice for succeeding in your career while remaining true to yourself.

  • When you’re confused about what you want to do, combine your skills and talents with what causes you pain.

If you see or read about something that pains you, then you know: “This is what I should do.” My cause is doing away with misrepresentations of marginalized people in the media. I use my skills as a storyteller to do something about it. You will always do better in your career when you’re inspired personally by what you’re working on.

  • You’re a better version of your own blueprint than a carbon copy of someone else’s.

Oprah wanted to be Barbara Walters. One day while reading the news on TV, she accidentally mispronounced “Canada” and laughed at herself. That’s when she realized that she’d be a better Oprah than Barbara. Same with me. I came into my success when I realized that my own authentic voice is more powerful than anything else. We are desperate for authenticity these days. People can see you being inauthentic. Be yourself.

  • Everyone is insecure and has insecurities.

Take what people have deemed to be a weakness about you and turn it into a strength. For example, people told me that I would never be anybody if I wore my hijab. I’d never make it. This was because they saw my headscarf as a weakness. “Why aren’t you willing to take it off?” they’d ask. Well, I wanted to stay true to myself. So, I turned my weakness into a strength. Now, I know that my identity gets me access to people and places other reporters don’t get to see. It enables a whole group of marginalized people to trust and open up to me.

  • Prioritize self-care.

If you’re not taking care of yourself in pursuit of your passion, you won’t succeed in the long term. Self-care isn’t selfish; it’s actually a form of service. It shouldn’t be something you set aside, or “take time for” – it should be something built into your routine and way of life. Taking care of yourself allows you to be better leader. And it’s especially critical when you’re breaking rules and standing up courageously for who you are against societal norms.

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