We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina Ali a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve always been considered funny from I was 12 doing comedy skits in the church to trying my hand at standup and improv at 18. Making people laugh is something I have always done naturally. But making people who know you and are having a conversation with you laugh vs. making strangers in a room expecting to be entertained laugh are two completely different things. Around 24 is when I started doing standup comedy more—getting on stage and trying new bits. I am 28 now and just starting to really take the craft seriously by experimenting and not just sticking to the same old jokes that can get a laugh. In Kevin Hart’s autobiography, “I Can’t Make This Up”, he talks about when he first started doing comedy he started out just making dirty jokes to get people to laugh but when he began sitting down with seasoned comedians in the Philly/NY scene they asked him what his story was and why it was vital for him to tell it. Any comic can make a universal joke about black parents vs white parents or bad dates but a great comic tells their story and uses comedy as a vehicle to advance conversations. To speed up my learning I definitely need to take more risks, get on stage every chance I get, and try to tackle tougher topics. The most important skills to be successful in this line of work are courage, confidence, a willingness to take risks, charisma, friendliness, and a business mindset. My biggest obstacle has been consistency and not taking advantage of opportunities being given to me, which I am definitely changing moving forward.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always loved making people laugh but I was about 14 when I became interested in pursuing standup comedy. I was flipping through tv channels one night and came across Katt Williams’s “It’s Pimpin Pimpin” special where he talked about the election and other popular news stories. I laughed for hours and was immediately hooked. What inspires me most about comedians like Katt Williams and Ali Siddiq are the ways they are able to talk about some of the most controversial topics of the time while still making everyone in the room laugh and understand their point. I thought it was so cool that people could all unite like that and I aspire to be someone who can do that for others as well. My motto is “if we can laugh together, we can learn together” and my mission is to “educate and entertain” I really root myself in these ideologies with my comedy as well as social media posts. Not everything I post needs to have a deep message behind it because ultimately, I want to make people laugh but I do hope people learn or take something positive with them when they watch my comedy. Other comedians that inspire me include Mo’Nique and Kevin Hart because they are absolute trailblazers and barrier breakers in the field. My stage name is a combination of my faith and a reflection of my journey. My first name is Christina so people often ask me how I can be Muslim but have a Christian name. I was raised Christian – Seventh-Day Adventist – so “Christina” is the name my mother gave me but I converted to Islam in 2017 and chose to change my last name to Ali. Much like the late great Muhammad Ali, I chose the last name Ali because it means highly exalted/champion. In addition, my mom is Christian but she is the most loving and supportive person I have ever met. A true example of what it means to “live like Christ” so I am happy to keep the name she gave me. When you convert you are allowed to change your name but I didn’t know my Muslim name until 2021. A name change is a very important thing so you have to be sure before you definitely change it. I knew my Muslim name when I heard it in the Quran. Because as soon as I heard it I instantly felt the same peace I feel when I pray. That name is very personal to me so I don’t share it publicly at this time but my close friends and family call me Christina or my Muslim name. The thing that I am most proud of in my comedy journey so far is my resiliency and my dedication to educating audiences. My social media posts are the best reflection of this because they show my humor, who I am, and the message I am trying to convey. I can go from goofing off to talking about historical figures and how legislation being passed affects us all. I have faced MANY setbacks over the years with my journey but each time I restart I do so knowing that I am building something that takes time. It’s easier to fail and give up than it is to fall down every week, get back up, and say “let’s go again!”

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to unlearn was that life exists as “either or” instead of “both and.” For the longest time, I found myself as this super serious person who could only be either a doctor or a comedian, either a lawyer or a comedian, either have a professional career or a comedy career but that is not true. There are so many comics who have both a professional career and a comedy career. Of course, as things get bigger with comedy you can step back from your day job but when you are starting out with any passion it’s okay to be both a professional/parent/superhero etc. _______ and a comedian/artist/singer etc. Thinking in the “either or” mindset led me to a lot of indecision and too much time being dedicated to too many things instead of the core things that mattered to me.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Trigger warning: This is kind of a hot-button issue but I wish more male comics and men, in general, would stand up to their friends when they do/say things that are egregious. People make a lot of racist/homophobic/sexist jokes and you’re expected to accept it otherwise you’re labeled as “sensitive” but that needs to stop and we need to stand up. If someone you know is accused of a crime, don’t laugh it off, even if it’s a friend. Especially if it’s a friend don’t just say “boys will be boys.” If your friend makes jokes about pulling guns on women to sexually assault them don’t let the only woman in the room be the one to say that’s not okay. (This happened to me a few weeks ago). You want to come to an open mic/show to laugh and I understand different strokes for different folks but people need to understand that words have power and environments where people are complicit definitely lead to dangerous outcomes. I know at least three female comics who have quit comedy in the past few years due to either being assaulted or seeing too many of their friends experience it. It’s not okay and I wish more male comics and men, in general, would stand up. As a female comic in the room, it is so frustrating being the only person willing to say “no that’s not funny, that’s dangerous.” Pushback is necessary for change. Men don’t realize how much of an impact they can have on their friends just by saying “that’s not cool bro.” It’s not about being PC (politically correct) it’s about creating a supportive environment so that every comic can thrive.

Contact Info:

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