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

Hi Asmaa, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

During the summer of 2019, my husband (Safwan) and I visited Turkey for a couple of weeks. The plan was to have fun, go sightseeing, eat, and for me to shop for LOTS of hijabs! (The hijab is the headscarf traditionally worn by Muslim women.) With Turkey being a majority-Muslim country, there is a prevalence of hijabs of really good quality produced and sold there.

As a Muslim woman who’s lived her entire life in the United States, I’d always struggled to find quality, affordable hijabs. Hijab shopping was always difficult, limited, or expensive here. That’s why, on the rare occasion that I would travel overseas, I would always haul a whole suitcase of hijabs back with me – both out of necessity and out of an obsession for them! On this particular trip to Turkey, I was planning on buying hijabs not only for myself, but also for some other Muslim friends and relatives of mine back in the States, as it was common for us to ask whoever was traveling abroad to bring us some hijabs back with them, among other things not always readily available or affordable here.

As Safwan and I were strolling through one of the largest souks in Istanbul, we passed stores of Turkish delights, coffee, spices, and jewelry, until we reached the anticipated section of the souk that brought me so much joy once I laid my eyes on what it had to offer: endless rows, shelves, and windows of hijabs – beautiful hijabs of all types of fabrics, colors, and patterns! You want chiffon hijabs? Jersey? Cotton? No problem! A specific shade of a specific color? Take your pick! A floral pattern? Pearl-lined? Lace-lined? You got it! It was wonderfully overwhelming!

I found myself, once again, wishing that I, as well as others who struggled with finding hijabs back in the States, could always easily have access to such a variety. I told Safwan, “I wish we Muslim women in America could shop for hijabs like this anytime we wanted without having to pay so much or having to travel overseas.”

Over the next hour, we continued talking, and one thought led to another. I love everything hijabs, and Safwan loves everything business. There is a high demand for quality, affordable hijabs in America. Why don’t we start our own business in which we import hijabs from manufacturers in Turkey and sell them in an online store that ships all over the U.S.? And just like that, the idea of SAMA Modesty was born.

Asmaa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a Muslim Syrian-American woman, born and raised in the USA. I have a Master’s in Teaching and have been working in the field of education for nearly fifteen years, previously in K-12 and now at the university level. I am tech-savvy and have creative energy that I would usually channel through my work and other projects. I’ve always had a love for hijab both in the sense of being a symbol for Muslim women and in the fashion sense. I’ve been able to further utilize these skills and interests into co-founding and co-operating SAMA Modesty for over three years now.

SAMA Modesty is our online hijab store which offers a wide variety of quality hijabs and hijab accessories (such as underscarf pieces, hijab pins/magnets, mask extenders, and more). At the moment, we have over 75 different kinds of hijabs, each available in anywhere from 2 to 55 colors, and in a variety of fabrics and styles. We currently ship all over the United States. We also provide free local pickup in the Kansas City area for local customers who choose that option, since that is where we are based. All of our products are made in and imported from Turkey.

While there are certainly other hijab stores, online and brick-and-mortar, in the United States, we pride ourselves in being able to provide Turkish-made hijabs of “Quality, Beauty, Variety” at affordable prices, with fast shipping, attentive customer service, and a personal touch. We are constantly renewing our inventory according to new trends and customer needs and requests, with international correspondence with our vendors as well as annual visits to Turkey where we hand-pick new styles that our customers will love. We are proud to be a small but growing business with a very high rate of returning customers who know that they can rely on us for their hijab needs!

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My husband, Safwan, is my cofounder/business partner! We have been married for a little over 15 years now. He works in finance and, throughout the years, he has always expressed his desire to start and manage his own business as a cultivation of his business and financial management background, his education (MBA), and his strong interest in such work. When the idea for SAMA Modesty came about, it was a perfect combination of our individual interests and skills into one joint endeavor. (Fun fact: The name “SAMA” means “sky” or “high” in Arabic, but we originally chose it because it combined the sounds of the first half of Safwan’s name -“SA” and the second half of my name – “MA.”)

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

When we came up with the idea for SAMA Modesty while in Turkey, we had to strike the iron while it was hot, since we were already there and leaving in less than two weeks. What we got done in the next ten days seems so surreal as we look back at it all and honestly could not have been done if it weren’t for God blessing our efforts along the way!

We were brainstorming and getting things done as we were walking the streets of Istanbul, eating at restaurants, and riding the tramway, taxis, and ferry boats. (So much for a relaxing vacation!) We were talking, making calls, researching on our phones, and creating things on the computer. Each of us had a cousin who lived in Istanbul as well, and they were both incredibly gracious and helped us with their language skills and local connections. Within ten days, we:

– Proposed our idea, secured a financial investor behind the project, and drew up a contract for the agreement

– Registered our business name in the U.S. at the state and federal level

– Got our logo professionally designed by a cousin who is a graphic designer

– Visited well-established hijab manufacturers/vendors in Istanbul, completed product and quality comparisons and evaluations, chose the final suppliers, and set up points of contact

– Hand-picked our initial collection of hijabs and accessories for our store and made arrangements to get them shipped to Kansas

– Got a website domain name (www.samamodesty.com) reserved, as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts created

– Designed and placed orders for business cards, labels, tags, and stickers

– Hired a hijab fashion model (We really wanted our first collection photos to be taken in Turkey to represent our products being made there. Question was, how do you find someone on such short notice in a foreign city you’re visiting and when you can’t speak the language? I ended up spending all night one night searching through Instagram hashtags and contacting accounts I would find until I managed to get a hold of a hijab fashion model who was perfect for what we needed: She loved doing this type of work, had experience, and even spoke great English! Even crazier? She coincidentally had plans right near where our hotel was located the following day, so we were able to meet immediately and discussed photography plans for our launch collection photos!)

– Hired a photographer and videographer (also wonderful to work with!) who were able to accommodate our tight schedule. We brought one of each hijab of our collection, met up with them and the model, and spent about six hours getting all the hijab photography done at various known locations in Istanbul. We even met with the photographer a couple of times afterwards to discuss and work on photo editing. The videographer also met with us and created a launch video for our business.

All remaining steps were done over the next several months after we got back to the States, including establishing bank account/financial aspects, designing our website, photographing all colors of all hijabs, organizing descriptive information on every kind, and purchasing supplies (shipping/packaging materials, photography box, props, etc.)

Again, it was so much done in so little time, but we have God to thank for blessing every step of the way!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.samamodesty.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/samamodesty
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/samamodesty1

Image Credits
Yazan Hito