Firyuza Interview

Tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Firyuza. I am a Russian speaking Muslim born and raised in Uzbekistan (how many can show where it is on the map? :-) ) One day I was reading a newspaper, and there was an article about several women that became successful sellers on Etsy. I started thinking about it. I loved the idea of working from home and doing what I liked. But I did not know what exctly I wanted to do. I wanted it to be unique, and to do something with either clothes for muslim women, or hijabs. After numerous experiments and many ruined scarves, I created what I call, No Pins Hijab, and I have started selling in my own Etsy shop Firyuza. Hijab that does not require any pins, is very easy to put on, but it is not a simple Al Amira. There are different styles, only two are presented in my store now, with more to come. There is so much for me to learn and do as I am only at the beginning of my trip!


Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?
Besides taking care of my family and helping my hasband with his business, I love spending time with my friends, reading, and going outdoors. Calgary has so many beautiful parks and I haven't visited them all yet. This is to be changed this summer!


What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?
Everytime I get a compliment about my hijab, it inspires me. When my friends ask me to show how I make my hijabs looks so different, it inspires me. When I just started wearing hijab, I did not know how to put it on, how to coordinate with my clothes, nothing. I hated looking in the mirror, as the only thing I saw there was "testimonial of absence of any taste". It was really depressing, but it shouldn't be! It should be enjoyable. And when I think that my hijabs make somebody's day brighter, it inspires me.


Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?
My mother. She is just an amazing woman. I learnt and keep learning so much from her. I wish we would live closer to each other, at least on the same continent :-).

What other passions do you have in your life?
Gardening. Even though I am still getting used to growing something in Canada. Being from Central Asia, I am too spoiled by long hot summers.


How do you promote your work?
There are so much for me to do in this area as I opened my shop very recently. For now it is mostly word of mouth. I also just started my blog, creativehijabs.blogspot.com.

In the future I’d like to be…
I am happy with who I am in present, thanks to Allah, but there are several details I would like to be different.
I am a mother of two on weekdays, and a mother of four on weekends :-) . I have two wonderful stepkids, and they are with us on weekends only. We need more kids in our team! I want to be a mother of more than four. This is the first thing I want to change.
Another one is about my Etsy store. I do want to be a successful owner of two Etsy stores- the one that I have right now, and in the second I would like to have clothes for young muslim girls.