Hammasa Kohestani Stood Up Against Racism and Islamophobia and Became The First Muslim Woman to be Crowned Miss England

Stories of Transformation

When people asked young Hammasa Kohestani what she wanted to be when she grew up, she responded that she was *going* to be a model, not that she *wanted* to be a model. She had this dream since she was 6 years old, but it started to feel further and further away as she entered her teenage years.

That’s because she was born to Afghan parents, spent her early childhood in Russia, and then moved to the UK as a teen. Models and pageant queens in England simply didn’t look or talk like her.

But that didn’t stop her. At 18 years old, Hammasa Kohestani was the first British-Afghan Muslim to be crowned Miss England in 2005. She’s been in the fashion and modeling industry for 20 years, an uncommonly long time, and has faced immense racism and sexism throughout her career. All the while, she stuck to her values and encourages other young women to do the same.

In this episode of Stories of Transformation, hear about Hammasa’s experience as an Afghan Muslim model and how hard she fought to be accepted, how she made global headlines by calling out the British Prime Minister on his Islamophobic remarks, and much more.

For full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/podcast

Connect with Hammasa Kohestani

Website

Twitter

Instagram

Youtube

Follow/Support Stories of Transformation and Baktash Ahadi:

Donate to the production of this podcast

Follow on Instagram

Follow on Facebook

Produced by: Dana Drahos

Edited by: Joseph Gangemi

Digital Marketing by: Katherine An

Theme music by: Qais Essar

Artwork by: Masheed Ahadi

Episode Music Credits

Philip Daniel Zach- Quieting the Mind

The SoundKeeper- For Theresa Mighty Captain