As salaamu alaikum and hello everyone!

Wow. Raise your hand if you feel like you’ve barely survived a death-defying rollercoaster of a year and the ride just screeched to the end. But awaiting you is your immediate next ride. Is it another rollercoaster? The nausea-inducing Tilt-A-Whirl? The Drop zone? Gentle swings? Or, maybe, just maybe life will take mercy on us all and allow us to leave this terrible amusement park where we’ve been trapped and exit into a more gentler, less pandemic-y more joy-filled new year.

Let’s use this space to check in with each other. How are you? No, really. How are you? I can tell you that I’m tired. Like, really fatigued. It’s been a lot, and there is no opportunity for respite because if I take time off of work, there still is the responsibility of hearth and home. We’ve had deaths and illnesses in our family and the isolation of pandemic living. I don’t mean to paint an ungrateful picture. Truly, Allah (S) knows I have so much to be thankful for, and that is what keeps me going forward.

I’m not really about the goals and resolutions bandwagon for 2021. For me, it’s about keeping my family and myself grounded, nurturing our ties to Allah (S) and trying to find the little sparks of happy and interest around me to facilitate growth – however that may be.

How about for you? We’ve all had our path to travel, our own heartaches and times of strength and love. Our own losses and moments of quiet acceptance and smiles. We want to know your story, if you want to share it. Here on the blog and on our social media platforms and in real life, when we are able to physically meet each other again, our communities are so important to us.

When I joined Haute Hijab as the Blog and Content Editor more than two years ago, I was given two charges: To cover and produce stories that are pertinent to, meaningful for, and about Muslim women and Muslims in general; and build community. I feel confident that the first charge has been going well in the stories we produce across all facets of Muslim women’s lives.

The second, however, is something I am pondering in the nascent days of 2021. It’s something we all are thinking about at HH – how do we support our communities better? How do we help and support Muslim women better? We know this starts with listening to you, something we always have done but want to do so more deeply.

Listening to your concerns and needs informs the hijabs and products that HH makes to help you feel your most comfortable, powerful, confident and secure. Beyond that, we want to continue to engaging in ongoing charitable efforts and activism, lean into story telling and provide resources that will help you have the tools you need for Muslim living. But what more? How can we better be there for you? Celebrate you? Commiserate with you? Uplift you? Empower you? Specifically here on the blog but also across our whole company?

I have some ideas of how I want to do this on the blog – better tell your stories – but I would love to hear from you. Drop me an email (blog@hautehijab.com) or comment below with your thoughts and ideas. What have you enjoyed reading? What do you want to see more of? What do you wish we would cover? I think, if there is to be a resolution or intention for 2021, it's that we should listen to each other better, actively listen. This is nothing new or earth shattering, but it’s an action that bears reminding.

By way of what’s happening product-wise at HH, we do have some fun things dropping this month and next, so keep an eye out!

I’m looking forward to traversing through this year, one day at a time, with you. We’ve been through so much together already. Being together, whether virtual or hopefully some day in person, is in Insha’Allah how we will take 2021. So, take care, make good choices and say Bismillah.

Editorially yours,

Dilshad