Amena Khan
Born (1983-11-17) 17 November 1983
Leicester, England
Occupations
  • Fashion Designer
  • Social Media Influencer
SpouseOsaama Khamkar (m. 2006)
Children2
Websitepearl-daisy.com

Amena Khan is a British fashion designer, and internet celebrity.[1] She is best known for founding the fashion company Pearl Daisy, designing head scarfs,[2] and becoming the first hijab model in a L'Oreal hair-care campaign.[3][4][5]

Personal life

Amena Khan was born in Leicester, England in 1983.[2] She was raised in a Hyderabadi Muslim family from India[6] but did not start wearing hijab until she was in her early twenties. She felt like she never saw people of her background portrayed in a positive light on television and that's what inspired her to become a model.[7] Khan began wearing the hijab at 22 and decided to take it off at 36. She stated both decisions were made of her own free will with no external pressures and both decisions made her feel empowered.[8]

In 2006, Khan married Osaama Khamkar. The couple has two children— a son born May 2009 and a daughter born March 2011.[2]

Career

Pearl Daisy

In 2009, Khan began hand-sewing and creating hijabs to sell to her YouTube fan base. This turned into her company which she entitled Pearl Daisy. Later on, she invented the "Hoojab" as part of the Pearl Daisy brand and has since become a staple for the company. The Hoojab is a hijab headscarf with a built in hood. The hood is supposed to create more styling options and make it easier for wearers to get the proportions right because when the hood is placed on the head, there is already a long side and short side built in.[9][10][11]

Pearl Daisy closed down on 6 September 2021 at midnight after 12 years of operation and plans to stay closed until further notice. They decided it was time to let go of the business after struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year. However, they did leave the possibility open for restarting the business in the future.[12]

Ardere Cosmetics and Lashionery

In 2015, Khan co-founded Ardere Cosmetics a cruelty-free makeup line meant for darker skinned woman.[9] A 2018 article referred to the cosmetics company as a "luxury" brand that had "affordable" prices and was emerging as a mainstream competitor.[13] She also has her own false lash line called Lashionery and in 2018, she launched a clothing line for her fashion boutique Pearl Daisy.[9]

L'Oréal partnership

In 2018, Khan became the first woman wearing a hijab to be part of a mainstream advert for hair care.[3][4][5] However, this accomplishment was short lived— she resigned following the criticism of her now deleted tweets criticising Israel's military action in Gaza in 2014, in which she stated that the Israeli government were "child killers." She later said:[14][15][16]

I deeply regret the content of the tweets I made in 2014, and sincerely apologize for the upset and hurt that they have caused. Championing diversity is one of my passions, I don’t discriminate against anyone. I have chosen to delete them as they do not represent the message of harmony that I stand for.

Editorial writers Kate Wilkinson Cross and Rajnaara C Akhtar wrote an article comparing Khan's treatment during the L'Oréal controversy and Gal Gadot's treatment who made similar comments from the other side of the argument about the same exact event Khan commented on. After Israel took military action in Gaza in 2014, Gal Gadot tweeted her support of the Israeli military and Amena Khan tweeted her disapproval of the event. Yet the reactions they received were very different. The editorials writers wrote:[17]

It seems clear that neither Gadot nor Khan can be accused of being extreme, and both are entitled to their views. But only one has felt the need to resign as a result.

Other political outlets have also spoken up about the complexity of this issue. The Intercept interviewed a political fashion blogger and activist named Hoda Katebi about Khan stepping down from the L'Oréal partnership and she said: "Brands want the face, but they don’t want the complex politics or the identity or the voice behind it... Once a Muslim woman asserts her agency, they’ll strip that away.” Backing up her comments, writer of the same Intercept article, Rashmee Kumar, explained that brands are trying to tap into a billion dollar Muslim consumer market by "positioning themselves as socially conscious havens for Muslims" except they are "operating on a profit motive rather than a moral imperative."[18]

However no matter how complex the issue may be, journalist Toi Staff, wrote that calling Israel an "illegal, sinister" state and that "Insha’Allah (God willing), defeat also awaits the former; it’s only a matter of time,” as Amena Khan has, will always be antisemitic and should never be excused.[19]

Magazine covers and editorials

In 2017, Khan was featured by Elle Magazine as one of four Muslim beauty influencers, in which she spoke about fighting against stereotypes as well as her experience wearing a headscarf. She said "Growing up without a headscarf I can see the stark difference between how I was treated then to how I'm treated now."[20]

In 2018, She was featured in Vogue Magazine following the announcement of her L'Oréal hair campaign. The magazine hailed her as a "perfect" hair ambassador and pointed out that this is a first for headscarf wearing women. Writer of the article, Lisa Niven-Phillips, states why the work Khan is doing for L'Oréal is so important:[7]

A large part of what makes this campaign so important and so overdue is the conversations it will provoke and the young people who will see it and at last find people that they can relate to and identify with on their smartphone screens and in their magazines.

Bumble partnership

In 2019, Khan landed a partnership with Bumble and became a Bumble Bizz Ambassador. Bumble is a networking app used for dating, friendships, and business. The business side of the app was attempting to expand by creating brand ambassadors to promote the company.[21][22] Khan became one of those ambassadors and used this opportunity to uplift Muslim and South Asian business women by holding a workshop and networking event that focused on that demographic.[23][24]

Podcast

In 2020, Khan started a podcast called Thrive that airs on Spotify and iTunes. She does both solo episodes and episodes with different guests. Her solo episodes focus on sharing information about "everything from beauty to health, to business, parenting, education and spirituality", whereas her guest episodes focus more on stories from the guest that center around personal growth.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "Amena Khan Is Making History By Becoming The First Hijab-Wearing Model To Star In A Hair Campaign". Buzzfeed. 19 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Everything you need to know about Amena Khan, a hijab-wearing model for L'Oréal hair". Expose News.
  3. 1 2 "L'Oreal hijab model pulls out of campaign after backlash". BBC News. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Hijab-wearing model stars in L'Oréal Paris hair campaign". Amanda Jackson. CNN. 19 January 2018. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Hijab-wearing model Amena Khan stands out in L'Oréal Paris' new hair campaign". ABC News. 19 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Tell me about your heritage". Twitter. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Why Amena Khan Is A Perfect Fit For L'Oréal Paris's New Hair Campaign". Vogue Magazine. 14 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Change..." YouTube.
  9. 1 2 3 "Everything you need to know about Amena Khan, a hijab-wearing model for L'Oréal hair". Breaking News Ireland. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  10. ↑ "WHAT IS A HOOJAB?". Pearl-Daisy.
  11. ↑ "Happy Birthday Pearl Daisy". YouTube.
  12. ↑ "Some News". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "4 Muslim Owned Beauty Brands You Need To Know About". 786 Cosmetics.
  14. ↑ "L'OREAL MODEL STEPS DOWN AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL TWEETS UNCOVERED". The Jerusalem Post. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Hijab model pulls out of L'Oreal campaign over Israel tweets". Channel News Asia. 23 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  16. ↑ "Hijab shampoo advert: L'Oreal model on 'game-changing' ad". BBC. 19 January 2018. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Gal Gadot, Amena Khan and the peril of being famous, female, and having political opinions". The Conversation. 26 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "Muslim L'Oreal model steps down over anti-Israel tweets". The Times of Israel.
  19. ↑ "MARKETING THE MUSLIM WOMAN: HIJABS AND MODEST FASHION ARE THE NEW CORPORATE TREND IN THE TRUMP ERA". The Intercept. 29 December 2018.
  20. ↑ "These Hijab-Wearing Vloggers Are Changing Minds With Makeup". HuffPost UK. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  21. ↑ "Building an Army of Brand Ambassadors". Medium Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "Bumble grows in popularity through brand ambassadors, events near campus". The Daily Texan.
  23. ↑ "MY EVENT WITH BUMBLE". YouTube.
  24. ↑ "REAL TALK WITH REAL BUSINESS WOMEN!". YouTube.
  25. ↑ "Amena Launches New Podcast". Ten Eighty Magazine.
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