Fresh on the heels of October as Islamic Heritage Month, our ELN spotlight for November features Shazlin Rahman, a prominent advocate in the Muslim community. As a communications professional, Shazlin approaches all of her work from an equity-based, inclusive lens. Currently she works as the Stakeholder Engagement Specialist at Inspirit Foundation, is lending a hand to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in New York as a Social Media Specialist, and is also committed to being an ally across communities. In her free time, she works on hersarong, a collection of stories and abstract art that starts conversations about resilience and beauty in the labour of women of colour.
To learn more about Shazlin, read her spotlight below.
I speak (other than English)…
Melayu/Malay
I was born in…
Malaysia
But I currently live in…
Toronto
I spend most of my free time…
Working on hersarong, a collection of stories and abstract art based on my late maternal grandmother’s life and her collection of batik sarongs. I started this project simply because I missed her, but the project has since evolved into a powerful tool to start conversations about the resilience and beauty inherent in the labour of women of colour like my grandmother.
The issues in our region that keep me up at night are…
The need for better representation of the city’s most vulnerable inhabitants in spaces where important decisions are made regarding housing, transportation, healthcare, etc.
My greatest city-building accomplishment to date is…
Bringing residents with different interests and motivations together on neighbourhood walks to discuss our individual roles and abilities in creating safer communities.
One characteristic every leader should possess is…
The ability to recognize and nurture potential.
One thing I do to ensure I continue to grow and develop as a leader is…
To nurture a healthy sense of curiosity about the community around me and the confidence that I have a role to play in making my community better.
If you want to get more engaged in your city or community you should ….
Aim to speak to at least one new person each day. The city or community you live in is constantly growing and changing; there is no end to the stories they bring and the insights you can glean about the city or community.
One surprising thing about me/little known fact is…
Having lived in north, east, central and south Malaysia, I can speak my mother tongue, Malay, in several different dialects and pass as a local.
To me, leadership means…
Having the three C’s: the conviction to make tough decisions, the confidence to implement them and the courage to change directions when needed.
Diverse leadership is important because….
We live in a city that is rich in diversity, be it in terms of origin, life experience or aspirations. It takes leadership that is equally diverse to harness the potential of such a city and realize the aspirations of its inhabitants.
To me, an inclusive city/region/GTHA looks like…
A city where, no matter what a person’s background, ability or interests are, they can see a pathway for them to carve out a life that fulfills them.