[Music]
alhamd welcome everyone thank you for
being here to tell to hear our stories
and I was thinking as I was hearing the
stories cuz I didn't really prepare
where I was going to start or where I
was going to finish so I'm just going to
go based on the time I'm I've been
given so my story is a little different
than the speakers before me some things
similar some things very different I
come from the life of what the Duna
brings you when you think the Duna is
what is most important I come from being
a celebrity personal trainer and
nutritionist traveling around the world
training professional athletes
celebrities notable people behind the
scenes being in Miami Las Vegas and
Hollywood
and that life was filled with a lot of
great things at the time there is not
any party in the Hamptons or in Vegas or
in La that I hadn't been to there wasn't
a magazine I wasn't in there wasn't a
celebrity or rapper or a professional
athlete that I didn't know or associate
with but with all that said at the end
of the day even though I was born and
raised Catholic from a Puerto Rican
family but not so traditional because I
was raised in an Italian neighborhood so
I was like the only Puerto Rican girl in
the Italian neighborhood and I'm from
Brooklyn so if you could tell a little
bit by my accent but
nonetheless I was also a national Level
Fitness
competitor so a fellow competitor a guy
happened to be Lebanese and was a Muslim
so we're both competing at the national
level I mean he's competing in the small
tire that they wear and I'm in my bikini
and he decides to at some point tell me
you have to change your ways you have to
change how you dress I said but wait a
minute you wear the same thing I'm
wearing we're both competing what are
you talking about you do the same thing
I do it's so different and of course
being a feminist like Lisa I was like no
women can compete just like men do so he
gives me the Quran and I was like okay I
but he did it in such a forceful way
that reminded me of something that I'd
seen from Born Again Christians which my
father is actually a born a bornn again
Christian Pastor in Orlando Florida as
we speak and my mother is still somewhat
Catholic so I looked at it I was like
okay whatever I opened I read like a
page or two and I put it on the shelf
and that was back in like
1998 so the years are going by by again
I'm traveling the world and in my work
it was put to me to make a trip to
Malaysia but it was 8 months after
911 so they asked me would you feel
uncomfortable to travel to Malaysia I
said well I don't think in my mind I'll
ever get to go to Asia or Malaysia or
anywhere like that again so I'm not
going to say no so here I go I land
first I went to Hong Kong then I went to
Malaysia and when I got there
I was like
wow there's so many Muslims I thought
they were
Asian I didn't
know so and it just so
happened that it happened to be Ramadan
it was November of 2002 so I'm doing my
uh my circuit that I had to do because I
was a presenter at the Collegiate level
and also on the international level so I
had to present at koala Loom Park
Islamic University I didn't know it was
an Islamic University so I get up in
front of all the faculty the professors
all the physiology Department the
anatomy the you know uh all the exercise
physiologists they are staring at me and
they're all men so there's like maybe
two women I had to go off of my lecture
for about 45 minutes to prove myself
because I didn't look like the typical
American I wasn't blond hair blue-eyed
and they just were like okay we got to
make sure sure you know what you're
talking about and it was just so
interesting because the people were just
had this Tranquility to them but it
didn't really hit me so I go back to my
hotel after my lecture and I noticed I
was like why is it so quiet where is
everybody it's only like
5:00 so my hotel was connected to a
large mall and then I said oh let me go
to the mall they told me the mall was
going to be open late so I go to the
mall all of a sudden I don't know at 7
8:00
this stream of people came from
everywhere it was the middle of Ramadan
so it was after ifar so after ifar
everyone was everywhere there were
Muslims everywhere I was like Wow Subhan
Allah I didn't say Subhan Allah at the
time I said
Subhan
wow and everybody's covered up okay this
is cool so that was in 2002 that just
stayed at the back of my mind so now
we're going to flash forward to 2005 I'm
now a competitive triathlete and
biathlete which I was at that time the
best shape of my life and I Was
preparing for that uh this was in
September of 2005 the following week I
Was preparing for a pretty big uh
biathlon in Long Island and I was
driving to my nutrition office in Howard
Beach
Queens and I had just recently gotten my
first SUV so I thought it was cool I was
driving on the highway and apparently
maybe somebody had a blow out of a tire
or something there was debris in front
of me so just as I thought I'm in a SUV
I can just kind of Veer around it no
problem I go like that and all of a
sudden I start to Skid into the
grass so I said I'm in SUV it's no
problem I'll just get back on the road
oh no in a
millisecond the car started to flip and
I flipped across What's called the Belt
Parkway from one side of the Belt
Parkway to the other side I flipped five
times and landed on the opposite side of
traffic that goes back towards Manhattan
New
York Subhan
Allah it was a very surreal millisecond
similar different to sister
amanii uh I opened my eyes I don't know
if I was unconscious or the paramedic
that was driving watching my car flip
touched my face but no car hit me Subhan
Allah by the grace of Allah I am
standing here to even tell this
story and I was rushed to a hospital in
Brooklyn
Lutheran and all I could
think is oh my clients I'm in the
ambulance I was about to see some
nutrition clients later in the afternoon
I had more clients I made the lady in
the ambulance
I said if you do not give me my cell
phone so I can call my clients you will
have to get me I will not go in this
ambulance so I'm like with the gas the
oxygen telling my client excuse me I'm
not going to make I got into a car
accident my dedication to what I do of
helping people women and men at the time
that is the soul that I have always
breathe that's the breath within me that
is the soul that I am so that was the
most important thing to me at that time
so I get to the hospital and apparently
there might be blood on my brain uhoh
that's a problem they stick me in ICU so
at this point uh my friends get a hold
of my mom and my brother they're like
flying from the Bronx to get to the
hospital and alhamdulillah the blood in
the brain or what they thought they saw
it the swelling went down so it was fine
but I was admitted because I had a
massive concussion with that type of
accident most people don't even make it
I just had a little cuts on my elbow and
I had a nice little gash on my head
because of the seat belt my head was
banging into the seat belt as the car
was
flipping so as the weekend passed on
Monday the administrator of the entire
Hospital comes to my
bedside now apparently he doesn't come
and visit patients so so he said to
me this is off the record I just wanted
to come and see the person that survived
this accident because most people come
into this hospital with a quarter of
this accident and don't make it so I
wanted to see who it was and he said to
me again off the record I don't know
what you believe in but whatever it
is if you believe in God you find out
what God has planned for you and you go
and you do it now that was 2005 so that
kind of stayed there didn't really do
anything with it I continued with my
Duna fast life Hollywood Vegas you know
that scene like you see it on television
all the
Flash and now we fast forward to uh 2009
so I'm flying back from a business trip
in in Los Angeles and I had to get to a
wedding a Catholic wedding and it was
March of 2009 I landed in johnf Kennedy
Airport raced to the uh to the church in
Queens because it was my good friend and
client getting married and she was not
going to walk down the aisle until she
saw her personal trainer because we'd
worked so hard to get her in the best
shape of her life
alhamdulillah anyway so I get there I'm
like and
I watch the mass I can recite the
Catholic MK like if it was like you know
part of breathing and in some moment
watching her get married I said I no
longer want to be Catholic I didn't know
why maybe because I just didn't have
that connection in that mass I just felt
so disconnected from God that's all I
did know I said I know I don't I don't
want to be Catholic anymore this is
there's something lacking and it's my
connection with God now when I walked
out uh I did know I didn't want to be
Jewish cuz I knew that process was just
way too long I read about that I was
like oh no I don't want to do that oh
they're never going to let me in not
with my
pass so living in Bayridge Brooklyn a
very heavily diverse community and
probably the largest Arab American
community in New York City I had a lot
of friends Palestinian American Egyptian
American so I was around a lot of
people that were Muslim were practicing
Muslims and
basically I uh thank
you I called up the closest family I was
closest to an Egyptian American family
and may Allah preserve them and raise
them in rank for what they've done for
me uh I called them up because I was
like I think I want to take my shahada
well well before I said that I actually
Googled it how to become a Muslim that's
it that's all you have to do you just
have to say that that's it wow and then
I called the monm family and said you
know what I think I want to take my
shahada
alhamdulillah they rushed me to the
local Masid in Bay Ridge musab and at
the time there was a library next St I
mean I walked out with books like
this and I said to myself I know I'm not
going to read any of
this so what I knew was in my heart it
wasn't going to be on
books so I got the Quran and every
possible translation transliteration
Arabic English every combination a book
OFA and of course what do they tell you
read read this is what they tried to
tell me to do the first time so of
course okay I read one two
pages put that to the side so this was
March but in my heart I had already
didn't know what Ania or intention was
but I made the intention that I knew for
200 2009 I wanted to fast for Ramadan
and I wanted to be Muslim I didn't know
how I was going to get to that point but
I knew that Ania was already
there okay so again back to the flash
Las Vegas La Miami so now we're in June
of 2009 so we're getting close to
Ramadan which was now going to be at the
end of August so I come back from a trip
to LA and my car was parked in long-term
parking so I'm walking got my luggage
Subhan Allah as I'm standing
here the hushu just entered in my heart
I was ready for my shahada I don't know
how I don't know
what the of Allah it theu Subhan Allah
it just entered my heart I knew I was
ready at that moment I don't know where
it came from it's as if it was an
information that was in my brain already
there so on the drive back to Bay Ridge
I called the mon family again I'm ready
to take my sh alhamdulillah
alhamdulillah okay here's what we're
going to do on Friday we're going to go
to the mid you're going to take your
shahada d d but you know you don't need
to do that you can take it by yourself
well lo and behold whatever happened you
know they're they were on Arab Standard
time and I was on my time somehow we
missed timing so I didn't get to go with
them to the Masid for Juma to do my
shahada and I did my shahada by myself
with the law the angels and my
computer so now I don't know how to do
anything so me being a very type a
structured person as everyone who knows
me I was like oh my God I need to know
what I have to do I have to do this so
days are going by it's getting closer to
Ramadan lo and behold I didn't learn how
to pray till the first day of Ramadan
2009 I'm with the sheets of paper oh
what do I have to do oh oh oh
alhamdulillah it took me three weeks to
memorize my FAA Subhan Allah it was the
most amazing
experience so
nonetheless I said okay this is Ramadan
I didn't really have any to spend it
with my family was kind of on the fence
didn't really know since I didn't know
anything about Islam I didn't know what
to tell them so I said I need to learn
anyway after Ramadan I knew I need to go
somewhere to learn and again Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala had blessed me with
the mecca center that is a school in
Manhattan primarily for converts and I
took the new Muslim program and Subhan
without that I wouldn't even be able to
continue with my story today I walked in
in my gym clothes my regular gym clothes
like the non-muslim gym clothes and my
teacher I came in he said Brooklyn where
you going like that I said
uhoh well and I looked around and I said
oh I can't come dress like this so
within a couple of weeks one of the
administrators gave me my first
Abaya and that was at the end of October
and January 1st 2010 I put my hij
jaon
alhamdulillah for me the biggest
struggle has been the manners and
behaviors because I come from Bronx
Brooklyn Street life and corporate life
so for me I don't come from any of these
cultures I don't know too much about any
of these cultures I know how I had to
raise myself I've been on my own since
I'm 18 no parents divorced parents I
raised myself so I wasn't the shyness
the how you treat a guest all these
things were these are the hardest things
for me how to interact with people from
other the cultures that out the gate
treat me differently because I'm not
like them and as a convert my biggest
struggle has been finding a mid or a
community that accepts a Latina
convert coming from a different
background I pray five times a day at
least I fast I do dawa I do charity I'm
not even about to talk about Nuna and
all the things I do but tomorrow I am
teaching another class at 10:00 in the
morning for sisters I teach a lecture
called fck of nutrition and I'll be
doing uh an exercise class which is a
group personal training class called fit
for Allah that I've been teaching for
over two years in Manhattan and for me
the biggest struggle as a convert is the
acceptance by people from other
cultures I'm not Arab I'm not Pakistan
I'm not this I'm not that so I've had
to sometimes during Ramadan travel 45
minutes to a Masid in New Jersey where
sister Nala is from just to feel I'm
home that is the problem for me the
biggest thing is the being able to mesh
into these other cultures I'm just not
from that but I love Allah just like you
do I love the just like you do I love
all the prophets just like you do we're
not the same but we are the same we're
here for the same message and that's to
praise and please Allah thank you
[Applause]