Today we’d like to introduce you to Rania Mohsen.
Rania, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I graduated from law school in 2015 and have been working as an attorney since then. My parents came to the states decades ago and met here. Neither of them had a college degree so I was the first person in my family to get one which was a big deal. After that, I went to law school. I had known I wanted to be a lawyer for many years. I find the law so fascinating and my parents were very supportive. I went to UT Austin for law school and graduated law school in 2015. I’ve been working as an attorney since then. I currently work at Susman Godfrey in downtown Houston. I’m incredibly fortunate to be working with some of the most brilliant minds in the industry. Every day is a learning experience. In addition to my career as an attorney, I love to travel and fashion. Truly love it. Nothing makes me feel more alive than when I’m seeing and experience a new culture and destination. My favorite part is bringing fashion and travel together. I have a lot of fun picking out outfits based on where I’m going and putting a look together. My friends had been telling me for a while that I should start a blog, but I never felt ready for that step. I constantly had doubts about whether I could do it, or if I’d be good at it, or how I’d know what to do, so for the longest time I’d just smile and say “yeah, I should!” but I never made any moves to do it.
Last year, after a 3-week trip I took to Morocco, Portugal, and Italy, several of my friends suggested it again telling me they thought it’d be a great idea. It came at a time in my life where I had some personal issues I was dealing with and I felt like I needed to ignite my passions and direct my time and energy into something exciting so I finally did it! I haven’t gotten my website put together just yet but it’s coming soon! In the meantime, I do most of my blogger work on Instagram. It’s been so much fun and so amazing meeting this community of women who are all so wonderful and supportive. And I really love when people let me know that they love an outfit I shared because then I know I was able to help them in some way. If my blog allows even one woman to feel more confident in her style and in her skin, then I’d feel like a great success because that’s what this is really about. I want to share the things I love and that I’m passionate about in hopes of inspiring someone to feel beautiful, to try something new, to visit a new place, or to experiment with their style. I’m very blessed that both my legal career and my blogging allow me to help people in one way or another!
Has it been a smooth road?
I wish! Now, I can’t complain and I try not to because I know how privileged I am. Many people in the world have it much tougher than I do. But no one succeeds without some struggle and I’m no different. Becoming a lawyer, for example, is no walk in the park. Four years of an undergraduate degree + another three years of law school. And law school was exhausting. I wouldn’t change a thing. But a person should only go to law school if they really love it and really want to be a lawyer because it’s definitely a lot of work (that really applies for any career though. Don’t do anything unless you love it. I really do believe in choosing a job that doesn’t feel like work because you love it so much). When I went to law school, it was the first time I had ever lived on my own believe it or not. I grew up in a traditional middle eastern family, so it wasn’t common for a woman to leave home unless she was married or going to college. For undergrad, I went to the University of Houston, so I was still close enough to stay home. So, for law school, I suddenly found myself at around 22 years old living on my own for the first time and that came with its own struggles. I moved to a city where I didn’t know anyone. I missed my family and my friends tremendously. And I was slowly accumulating a TON of law school debt. I was jam-packed with classes during the day and then all the reading I had to do for those classes in the evening. By the time I was done with my reading, I basically had to go to bed and start it all over again the next day. But honestly, I’ve usually done pretty well about keeping things in perspective. And I know my life isn’t that hard compared to others, so I just get through things as best I can. I binge watched a lot of funny sitcoms to get me through the long days, they always helped lighten my spirits at the end of a long day.
For my blogging, that was a whole other struggle. I was so worried about what people would think or that they’d just laugh at me or think I was trying too hard. Those fears held me back for a long time. But then, I realized that the people who matter support me no matter what and anyone who would say something negative doesn’t really matter. It’s difficult a lot of the time because there are so many bloggers already and there are days where it feels like I can’t grow my blog or my following. But at the end of the day, I remind myself that I’m doing what I love. There’s enough room for all of us out here to succeed and this isn’t a competition. I’m enjoying myself tremendously and as long as I love this I’m going to keep doing it and not let it be about how many followers I have or anything like that. I was so lucky getting started because I had people who were kind enough to help me out and answer so many questions for me. Elly Brown from Uptownwithellybrown was a life saver. She and I were very close friends as teenagers and kept in touch through social media when she moved to other schools. I reached out to her when I decided I wanted to start blogging and we met up and she answered so many questions and provided so much guidance. So blessed to know that girl!
Between my legal career during the week and creating content for my blog on the weekends, my schedule is always pretty jam-packed! It can definitely be overwhelming and exhausting, but the road to success isn’t an easy one and I understand that. Good things don’t come without hard work, so here I am. Working hard!
My advice to other women would be a few things:
1) If you’re not doing it because you’re scared, that’s exactly why you should do it. Conquer your fears so they don’t conquer you.
2) Don’t choose a career to impress other people. Choose a career that will still inspire you to give it your all even on the tough days. Choose a career that doesn’t always feel like work. It’s so important to love what you do.
3) The people who matter will support you no matter what you do. The people who don’t support you don’t matter.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a lawyer and a blogger. I work at a boutique litigation firm in Downtown Houston called Susman Godfrey. We have a few offices in the United States and I am incredibly proud to work with this firm. In my blogging capacity, I’m a fashion, travel, and lifestyle blogger. My Instagram handle is rania_mo. I started my blog near the of last year and haven’t traveled quite as much yet this year so it’s been mainly fashion based but I have several trips coming up including a trip to Bali today! My flight is in just a few hours. I can’t wait to bring everyone along for the adventure!
I’d have to say what I’m most proud of is the fact that I know I help people in both my legal career and my blogging. And I love that I get to do both. Help people when it comes to serious legal things and when it comes to more artsy and expressive things like style, fashion, bargain hunting, and self-confidence!
I can promise that I will never promote or talk about something on my page that I don’t genuinely love and stand behind. If I say I love it, then I really love it. I won’t tell people about something that I myself wouldn’t want to spend my own money on. More than anything, I want my page to be authentic and truly a reflection of myself. I want every single one of my followers to become a friend and to feel like they really know me!
Finally, I just want to add that my blog is really heavily centered around affordable fashion. While I’m occasionally seen wearing a luxury brand purse or shoes, almost everything I post is under $100 and more often than not even under $50. I really want people to see that you can look and feel you’re very best without breaking the bank!
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
Absolutely. My parents both never finished their college education. Everything they did was for my brother and I. They worked so hard and spent so much to try and give us the best of everything. Education, experiences, all of it. I had to be successful because my parents did everything they could to make sure I was and I was going to let it be for nothing. My parents used to tell us “you give us straight A’s and we give you everything else.” And they really did. They gave us everything. We weren’t millionaires by any means but we’d have never known it. I don’t think they let us miss out on a single experience (I didn’t have my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich until I was an adult! haha. That’s really not an Arab dish).
My mom is the strongest person I know. I’m sure many people feel that way about their mom, but she really is. She can do anything and if she doesn’t know how to do it, she’ll learn. Chef, handywoman, painter, party planner, makeup artist, medical knowledge–all of it. She’s amazing. She really set me up with a sense of “you can do it.” And I can do it because she told me I could. So, I did it. I feel incredibly lucky. My parents did and would have done anything for us and I think it made a huge difference.
Contact Info:
- Email: rania@planesandpumps.com
- Instagram: rania_mo
Image Credit:
Sameer Ghafoor
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