Today we’d like to introduce you to Tazeen Fatima.
Tazeen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a small girl from a big city, from Karachi, Pakistan. A girl who got lucky enough to get the opportunity to change her life. I moved to the United States when I was 16 years old. Now I am 22. After spending so many years away from my country, you would think I may have forgotten my roots, but my love and passion for my country and helping people has just grown with time. It gave me perspective & honestly showed me the privilege I had been blessed with.
I have been through some deep things in life, I have seen a lot of people around me struggle. And believe it or not, from a small age, I saw the terrible things we as women are put through. I couldn’t do anything about it, if I saw my friends cry or shout in vain, I just, well cried along. The feeling of helplessness killed me… coming from a country where women were never given the opportunity to bloom and grow, I felt empathy on a very deep level.
I was given this privilege, this huge privilege of better opportunities. But there was never a day when I didn’t reflect back, there was never a day where I simply forgot it all.
I started my little journey by wanting to promote healthy relationships, trust me this comes from a deep place. I have witnessed and seen a lot of stories of toxic abusive relationships and friendships; they affected me a lot. I actually went through a long period of depression. I started making posts about healthy relationships, what we as women should not settle for, how love is supposed to be a happy place and not an eternity of complete suffering & despair. I took to social media to just voice whats in my heart. I saw how much it meant to people, I saw people responded, in that moment I felt like I am worth something. That I inspire people and am making a difference in their life. I started talking more and more and decided to try my best to spread love and maybe bring a little positive change in someone’s life.
Nothing made me feel happier.
I could have chosen to just go about my life, but there was this void I couldn’t fulfill no matter how much money or travel or whatever I did.
I would read everything on social media, I would try my very best to be aware of what others are going through, I tried my best to help those who I could, and every time I came across something or someone I couldn’t help, it broke my heart a little. Remember that little Tazeen who felt helpless, she came back every time.
I wanted to save the woman who is being abused by her husband but has nowhere to go, no safe place, but I felt the same terrible feeling in my gut that I felt as a child, helpless, wanting to change the world for that woman but not knowing how. And really seeing how many women out there suffer, broke my heart. Feeling like if I could, I would take the pain upon myself… I know I know, crazy.
Thats when I decided I want to try to do something more, that maybe if I put the first brick down, we could build a wall together.
Thats how the idea of me wanting to start Empower With Us came into being. Before I launched a foundation, I wanted to build a community that could help me build a foundation and make a change. So I started a Facebook group, which now comprises of 3.7k women. “With Us,” the name, is very close to my heart. It shows support, love, empathy and understanding which are the very traits I believe every human should have.
The thought that 3.7k women, if join forces can do wonders, can do more than me, can do what maybe I can’t alone, that maybe we don’t have to go through that feeling of helplessness and loneliness.
I want to support women who smile bright and share how they flew high, I want to feature women who wish to inspire others, I want to feature women who may think they have no voice, I want to do all that and way more.
My tiny little brain can’t even comprehend it all. I try, I try hard.
I read this MJ content in 6th grade called “Heal the World” and that is tattooed on my heart forever. That is my motivation for everything.
All beginnings are small, but with the support I have received from everyone has jumpstarted this fire in me and made me believe that I’m not alone in this, I never was and I hopefully will never be.
Establishing a foundation or nonprofit is not just putting an entity in existence or on paper, Empower With Us is a revolution I want to start. I started my Facebook group and have now started a nonprofit. I am lucky enough to get global support. We have ambassadors in London, Malaysia, Pakistan, USA all around the Globe. Thats how my nonprofit started and I cant wait to see how much more we accomplish.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think great things just smoothly happen overnight. I think what I am doing is so much greater than myself and a result to witnessing suffering and pain. Like I mentioned, me wanting to start a Women Empowerment group and nonprofit came from first-hand experience of seeing what women go through. I honestly can not be more grateful of the support I have received along the way. My group provides me with ideas, support, guidelines and everything. Thousands of women there support me and help me achieve this goal of mine. Gender Equality is important but it’s also a controversial subject in many areas and many countries so yes, I have faced backlash. But I never let that tear me down. It motivates me instead because it showcases what problems in society are there for me to work on and try to fix.
Please tell us about Empower With Us.
I am the Founder & President of Empower With Us. It is a newly established nonprofit for women empowerment and gender Equity. I have a degree in Supply Chain Management from University of Houston but I decided I want to do more, make an impact and help people, hence I started this nonprofit right out of college. What I’m most proud of is the healthy environment of my social media group and how it links to the nonprofit. We have this group for healthy discussions, for campaign, and just women empowering other women. The positive atmosphere is what I’m most proud of. What sets me apart from others, I think my motto to live with Empathy is what sets me apart. I think many of us have forgotten how important empathy is in this world. And my goals are driven by empathy, kindness and love.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Anyone who has worked with me in college or now for EWU can vouch for the fact that I am a very disciplined person. If there is a deadline, it should and will not be extended for me. Work is my passion, I never complain, I actually enjoy working, I am the graphic designer, filmmaker, photographer, event coordinator, all of it I have decided to do, not because I am supposed to, but because I enjoy it. Also, communication is an important factor. I communicate with 1000s of women everyday. So really understanding them, learning from them and applying those lessons to real life is very important.
Contact Info:
- Email: Withustogether1710@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/empowerwithus
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/empowerwithus
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