Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Umar Farooq. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Umar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

When I was a college student, I worked at a health supplements store in NYC. I was getting really overwhelmed with consistently being micromanaged and over corrected, no matter how many times I approached that position from a different angle with different strategy, nothing was good enough. So I prayed and researched to figure out a job that is unsupervised workforce
The very next day a recruiter from an airline walked in to my store and offered position as a flight attendant after I helped with his diet program
Rest is history

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After my divorce, I picked up the pieces and put myself together with help therapy. After Being flight attendant for 14 years naturally I wanted to become a pilot, so I took out the loan started to applying for flight schools.
Then it dawned on me to doublecheck just for the last time, what I really want to do for rest of my life, but what’s really my passion, I took some more therapy and I remembered I always wanted to be an actor as young as 4 years old.
I did the adult thing, now I am going answer my true

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

After my divorce, I picked up the pieces and put myself together with help therapy. After Being flight attendant for 14 years naturally I wanted to become a pilot, so I took out the loan started to applying for flight schools.
Then it dawned on me to doublecheck just for the last time, what I really want to do for rest of my life, but what’s really my passion, I took some more therapy and I remembered I always wanted to be an actor as young as 4 years old.
I did the adult thing, now I am going answer my true calling.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I started taking classes to become an actor right after my divorce. I was so humiliated, broken, and ashamed for getting a divorce: so when I started taking classes my mind was giving up, like not working well, I kept dissociating, having a hard time memorizing lines even I would write them 80 times on a paper, severe depression, cycles, and tons of floods of anxiety, unannounced disappear from nowhere
Deep down I knew, I am enough and I have the capability to do such thing.
Once again with help of therapy and great support, i identify the problems, find solutions for them, got on right meds, yoga, exercises, lost tons of weight, breath work,
I survived the storm and I am so glad I didn’t listen to the negative voices and kept showing up regardless how I felt inside cause feelings are not facts
It took a lot of drive, and hard work to get here, it’s possible!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @farumar

Image Credits

Umar Jehan Farooq