What Muslim Means to Me

Dr Susan Carland is an academic, author, and social commentator. She has a PhD from Monash University’s School of Social Sciences, where she is a lecturer and researcher at Monash University’s National Centre for Australian Studies. Her teaching and research expertise are in gender, sociology, and contemporary Australia.  Susan is a regular paper reviewer and Friday panelist on ABC TV’s News Breakfast , and also hosted the ABC Radio National Series Assumptions.   She has appeared on the Agony series, Lateline, The Project, Q and A, The Drum, Home Delivery, and has featured in Harper's Bazaar, Instyle, Marie Claire, Dumbo Feather, and Sunday Life magazines. Her PhD was published by Melbourne University Publishing under the title Fighting Hislam in 2017, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Age, in academic publications, and numerous anthologies.  In 2017 she was listed on the official “Who’s Who of Australian Women”, and named by InStyle magazine as a “Woman of Style” for charity and community service. She has also been named on the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World list. Susan is an ambassador for the charity Possible Dreams International, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, and is also a certified scuba diver!

Amani Al-Khatahtbeh is the founder and editor-in-chief of MuslimGirl.com, the mostread platform for Muslim women’s voices in the West. Muslim Girl is forging a new path by reclaiming the narrative of Muslim women in Western media, emerging at the forefront of Muslim women's issues in mainstream media coverage with its own unprecedented columns in outlets like Teen Vogue, Fortune, and Huffington Post.  It became the first Muslim company to make the “Forbes 30 Under 30” list in 2016 and launched the inaugural Muslim Women’s Day on March 27, 2017. Amani became the first veiled woman to be honored in the media category, and rang the NASDAQ Opening Bell in 2016. She was named one of Teen Vogue's "New Faces of Feminism" in its February 2016 issue, and by The Economist as a “Generation Prophet” in their December 2016 issue. Amani was invited by Michelle Obama to speak at the inaugural U.S. State of Women Summit. Her first book, “Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age” was released with Simon & Schuster in October 2016, and selected as an “Editor’s Pick” on The New York Times Bestsellers’ List. She also debuted the webshow “Uncovered” on MTV Snapchat Discover.

Tala Raassi is a fearless fashion designer who shares her journey from imprisonment and forty lashes for the crime of wearing a mini-skirt in her beloved homeland of Iran, to founder of an international fashion empire. Raassi wrote a book called Fashion is Freedom: how a girl from Tehran broke the rules to change her world, an inspiring true story of how courage, a dream, and some needle and thread can change a life forever.