We were lucky to catch up with Nadia Jeelani recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nadia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
On January 19th, 2010 I lost my grandfather, whom I call Babaji. He is the source and inspiration of my business, and if it wasn’t for my Babaji there would not be The Sufi Woman. My dad and grandfather come from Hyderabad, India and I have ancestral roots to Baghdad, Iraq which is a hub for Sufism. My family comes from a long line of Sufi`s, hint where I came up with “The Sufi Woman.” In Islam many people do not realize, just like in Christianity, Islam has many different variations of the religion. I am a Muslim, however, particularly I identify as a Sufi. I best explain to people who have not heard of Sufism as the mystical and spiritual branch of Islam. As a Sufi, everything is Allah and your actions are all Allah`s decisions, so I decided to open up a holistic business with an Islamic approach. Everything I do is through the Hands of Allah. You see, two years ago I had a spiritual awakening in my sleep, some believe in them and some do not. I was an athiest for a very long time after my Babaji had passed so I actually left the religion for awhile. My Babaji came to me in my sleep during my awakening and I had this idea to come back to Sufism and start making essential oils through an Islamic approach. I started using divination tools like tarot, and meditation to craft formulas needed for my customers particular needs. At the time, I was in a difficult mental space and I was attending a partial hospitalization program at a local mental health hospital. I attended intensive group therapy for about a month and there I felt a gravitational pull to provide proper healing resources to those around me. Yes, I have a variety of mental health problems and although therapy is the cake to preventive care, using aides like oils and herbs for apart of your healing journey along with prescribed medications needed can really boost ones overall mental, emotional, and physical health. For me, I have tried a handful of medications for a variety of mental health issues and physical health issues. Herbal remedies have been the life saving treatment for me, from medical marijuana to stopping my flashbacks, to peppermint for soothing my bursitis pain (something i developed afterbirth), to turmeric helping my digestive issues. Everyday, I use herbal healing and I implemented this through essential oils by distilling my own and creating my own formulas. My group members became intrigued by my oils as the smell would fill the room anytime I would use them. Soon, I would have formulas flowing to me like water, all recommendations from my Babaji telling me to craft certain formulas for my group members. They especially would flow to me when I was driving home from therapy or meditating as I was decompressing from my day. There was one member who I will never forget, his name was Judge. Him and I had the same last name before he married his wife, which is a rarity as our last name is not a popular one in the middle east. It was the wildest thing because we even had facial similarities in the nose. He suffered from severe loneliness and had cats so I needed to be aware that the essential oils needed to be pet safe as some can be toxic to pets. I made him a diluted lavender blend, something strong enough to help aide his nerves but something not too potent for the cats as they are sensitive to strong smells. He purchased the oils from me and he gave me great feedback, saying he fell asleep on the couch as it was very relaxing. I continued to make more and more for my group and The Sufi Woman was born! Thanks to my Babaji, My group members, and my faith, I came up with the idea of The Sufi Woman.
Nadia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Nadia Jeelani and I am from Cincinnati, OH. I currently attend The University of Cincinnati for Philosophy with a minor in Arabic Studies. I have been a single mom running my business by myself with my 3 year old daughter for the past 2 and a half years. I have been a Preschool teacher on and off but have made the decision this year to stay at home with my daughter and work on my business. The Sufi Woman is an Islamic holistic one stop shop, with a variety of services offered. Spiritual health is very important to many people, especially believers in the universe, astrology, and spirit. My business is directed towards holistic health and the spiritual community, ones who are looking at healing from the universe`s approach. One thing that sets my business apart from others is the diversity and flexibility of molding to my clients needs. My business model is able to cater to a variety of needs as I have extensive training in tarot and astrology. I have experience making specific herbal remedies. I have experience collaborating with other beauty brands who need essential oils for their products. I source crystals to make custom jewelry and sell them to customers. I also offer spell services, and herbs needed to cast spells which opens a lot more products to the witch community. I also write custom Sufi poetry. I offer free consultations to all of my first time clients which is something I truly believe all of my clients deserve. Most of my clients come from my Tik Tok, as I am known for many of my tarot and astrology videos on there! I love all of my clients and am amazed everyday by the diversity I work with everyday. I am honored to be able to carry such knowledge, however, The Sufi Woman is learning and changing everyday. My service menu is very vast, however, they are all interconnected.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
This is a fantastic question and one I get very often. If you have the right resources and the budget, invest in ads for your business on social media, especially for your social media profiles. Many of my Tik Tok`s get thousands of likes and clients flood in from my Tik Tok link as I can see who comes from what website. I would highly recommend investing in ads on social media platforms where you seem to have a good amount of followers, as you will show up in not only their profiles but just the general feed of followers, often linked to your audience. On Tik Tok, I saw a trend of Tarot readers bringing their platform alive through readings on live or through videos. I decided to give it a chance and after a year of slow success in 2021, I decided to invest in ads in 2023. My business really took off, as I gained more likes from ads, I gained more followers, which led to more clientele. I have a monthly advertising budget, and truly you do not need to spend a lot on advertising, just enough to promote.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Tik Tok has really helped push my side hustle to my main career, and I am very thankful for it as I have a 3 year old daughter who is very hands on. I am able to work from home and stay at home with my daughter which is the best of both worlds. I quit my job this past year to focus on my business and stay at home with my daughter, especially since I go to school online my plate was getting full. Being a preschool teacher full time alone is hard, so I made the decision to quit and work on my business from home as I was gaining more clientele from Tik Tok. This past spring I made the decision to focus on my re-launch of my business which focuses on my herbal side and I am releasing a Sufi poetry book in November 2023, My side-hustle started 2 years ago in group therapy to now running all aspects of my business like tarot, astrology, herbs, spells, essential oils, crystal jewelry, and poetry straight from my home.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/thesufiwoman
- Instagram: @thesufiwoman
- Facebook: Facebook.com/thesufiwoman
- Youtube: youtube.com/thesufiwoman
- Other: bilquisamira.wordpress.com