Happy 30th Birthday Zaakirah | Lessons in Life Business and Love

I am a cancer survivor of a childhood eye cancer called retinoblastoma. I am also a professional photographer and an all-around creative strategist, and I am celebrating my 30th birthday today. And all week long I have been going live in regard to a See Life Different Challenge where I am empowering you to see life different, which is based off of the name of my book. Seeing Life Through a Different Lens: A Survivor's Memoir on Overcoming Adversity with Resilience. This is streamed on my birthday. And this is also going to serve as a part of a podcast episode that I record. If I don't record it annually, then I do it through email. But if you want to check out the podcast once the audio version is out, You can go to zaakirahmohammed.com/podcast. I have had the, uh, See Life Different podcast, formerly known as Living Legacy. But also on that podcast, I also, um, uh, asked the question, like at the end of that podcast, I asked the question of what do you want your legacy to be? And my legacy is to empower women of color, women of faith, to powerfully and confidently step outside of their comfort zone and share their story. And for me, I've been doing that for technically 30 years officially, but even more so lately as a creative, like all-around online creative. So thank you, thank you, thank you for joining me on my birthday. Thank you, Tabitha, for joining me on my birthday. And Tabitha is a wonderful person that I happened to meet in person. I've been a digital online entrepreneur for so long, but we met in person. And she's read the book, she's been a part of the challenges, she's been a speaker on the summit. So the epitome of support. Thank you, Tabitha. And so yeah, in between today, um, on the video version, there's the opportunity to literally, um, join me. Join me, say happy birthday. Uh, you can join me on video. There's also a link for you to share an audio note. Which I will— it's kind of like the version of, kind of like the version of like leaving a voice message, but like in the version of, as if you don't have my phone number, you can still leave a voice message. So I'm gonna make sure I have the link correctly for that. Yep, there it is. I'm gonna post it here so that you can— So that you can use it. And leave an audio note. You also do have the option— hold on. You also do have the option of joining me on video, but we're only going to be live on video for 1 hour. And yep, that's how you can— hold on, I got too many different links for you. So that's how you can leave me an audio love note. Words of affirmation is my love language. Although hugs is my first love language, but we're still online here, so I can give you a virtual hug and I'll receive your virtual hug. But you can also leave an audio note on speakpipe.com/delifedifferent. Try to keep it under 2 minutes now. Not a long paragraph. Under 2 minutes. Great. And so in between that, you're also going to— Um, basically going to partially serve as a podcast episode where every year I kind of recap, um, lessons, lessons I've learned. I've done it in different variations, either by what age I'm turning and how many other tips, um, and tricks or wins, um, which I probably will do because what I started to implement since 2018 is writing down my wins. Now I've always been an avid journalist Journalist, journaler. I've always been avid journaler, and with me journaling, I'm always celebrating you know myself with oh I did good today or oh you know this happened today, and and I still do that. But as I get older and as I am being even more intentional on what I am what I am. creating for myself and my life and the impact I'm leaving on this earth, I started to begin to be more intentional about— wait, who is this? I wish I could know who it is. You have to tell me your name, but somebody's so excited to catch it in real time, and I'm so excited for you. So thank you for tuning in. And yes, so that's pretty much what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go back and forth With sharing your birthday love and receiving your birthday love. And thank you, thank you for the birthday love. And I'm going to share with you also, you know, really what this year has been like for me and most of the wins. We're going to do the wins, but I probably will hop over. I'm going to be looking at my notes. I'm looking at you. Oh, hey, Shawnee.

Hi.

So I'm going to be looking at you, but I'm also looking at my notes because I wrote down my wins. I have notebooks and notebooks of ideas, notebooks and notebooks of celebrating my wins. But I'm finally starting to digitize them. So I'm going to be looking at those notes. So keep the birthday love coming. I think I'm going to keep that. I'm going to keep that.

Okay.

I'm going to keep that message going while I'm just going to keep looking at my other documents. And we're going to go through the wins. So I tried to do it. I'm going to do a month at a time. So it looks like the summer really just flew by, but let's see. So in January, in January. Now this year has been really interesting because when you walk into your purpose, there are moments where you'll want to just say, maybe I shouldn't. No, maybe I shouldn't. But there always can be a sign that's saying, hello, yes, you should. So I think for me, the biggest thing, there were numerous times where I was just applying for jobs or, yeah, pretty much applying for jobs and didn't get them. But in reality, it's like, wait a minute. You know that you thrive as an entrepreneur. You appreciate that flexibility. And so why are you applying for jobs? Why don't you continuing to take action on the things you already have. And so I heard that message loud and clear of finish what you started this year. So even though I was able to— the silver lining in applying for jobs is, you know, you got to look at your resume again, you got to toot your own horn again. And so although I didn't get the job, I am grateful to have been able to remind myself monthly of, oh, I've been doing some things. And I made more connections. So some of the goals that I've been setting are when it comes to returning to the motherland. I've been blessed to go to 4 African countries, and I love, love going to Africa. Why Africa? I was raised to understand my history and who I am and my identity, and Africa played a huge role in it. And so in January, I was able to make some connections when it comes to my next African trip. Let's see, what else? So another way that I'm starting to count wins is start to count any monetary gift, whether it was the equivalent of, like someone bartered with you and they were willing to kind of like offer their mentoring expertise, or you just win a gift card. You get a gift card, you get a gift from someone. And so I start to celebrate those. I celebrated those and I was grateful for the people who did contribute those little monetary gifts, um, and, and how it impacted me. Like, I was able to use, um, a $25 Amazon gift card, and I was— I just had it on Amazon for— I would see— I'm a book hoarder. I love books. So I was just reading books all the time. Um, the person who gave me the gift card, I didn't That's been pivotal this year too, because there's a lot of pivotal people. Like, if you were to think back to the moments that you've had this year, the good and the bad, there were a lot of pivotal people. And when I think back— think back or look back at it— women of faith, women of color and women of faith who really believe in sisterhood and believe in seeing you. And so always give thanks to those people, even if you're just writing it down in a group of dots. Where else? I was grateful for the many times I got to make impact. So again, the same thing, even if you don't see money coming out of it, if someone is acknowledging you and saying that you made a difference in their life, I write down those moments and I write down those names. So those were a lot of moments that happened. This is just January. But I think I'm not going to split it by month because what happens is This literally set the tone for the entire year. When you write down your wins and you look back on it, you really see just a theme that was going on. So again, although I was applying for jobs, eventually I was able to, one, get not necessarily jobs that were in alignment, but I was able to know what I could say yes to and what I could say no to. And I was grateful for the compliments that I received. Grateful for the days that I could eat healthy. Now, I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is what some people call a secondary cancer. So, you know, being able to have the days where, you know what, I ate healthy, or I didn't have extreme fatigue today, or things of that sort. Like, those are moments to be grateful for as well. When the moments when your family and close friends tell you, I love you, like, those are pivotal moments too. And yeah, I think a lot of it was also networking. Networking as well. I think we're starting to follow a theme here. It's not what you know, it's who you know, right? And when you utilize everyone that you know, all of the groups that you're a part of, both online and in person, and who you know that knows somebody that knows somebody, That is a huge part of taking you to where you need to go. February was huge. February, I got into a leadership program that was pretty much most of my summer. Now I can see why I was like, I didn't write down any wins in the summer, but I had a lot of them because they were happening back to back to back. Because when you're in the moment of consistent growth, it's hard to reflect on— what you're going through. So that's why every single week, especially in that leadership program, we have classrooms. And that's how we started off. Let's celebrate you. What did you achieve and accomplish this week? And so of course I had to remind myself to keep writing it down. But I think there were some moments where I was sharing it in the private Zoom that I forgot to just write it down for me. But that's one thing that I'm starting to implement. I'm probably skipping around again. Actually, I guess one of the, the birthday gifts that I got was, uh, was this journal. I think I shouted out her podcast at the beginning of the year too, but it's probably backwards. The Sanity and Success Journal. Yes. And when I say journal, I mean journal. Yes. But it's been inspiration because what also I came to find out was, um— So, so here's a good question. What is one skill you need to succeed? What is one skill you need See. So anyway, this has been inspirational because, you know, with my book, I saw— I had a lot of moments where I would just— they were just full circle moments. I would be looking for something else and I find reminders of goals. Remember the whole quote of finish what you started? Goals that I've set from some time ago and that are still like, still need to be checked off that vision board, still need to be checked off that to-do, to-accomplish list. So, you know, with Seeing Life Through a Different Lens, one of the goals that I had set— there were 2 goals that I had set, and I actually just literally came across it today. But with the book, I knew that I was truly starting to walk into advocating, advocacy. You know, one, the book itself is ownership because I self-published. Somebody else designed this cover. And somebody else supported me with editing it. Somebody else took the photograph. Okay, so it really just took teamwork to make the dream work. And, and yeah, so since then I knew I was about to create something different. Although I had been a photographer for over a decade, I knew it was time to shift. So every new decade, like literally, there's some kind of shift. So I know that what's next is— Literally, continuing to empower women creatives in a workbook-style format, back to in-person, and even through a documentary. So the theme of Finish What You Started is I actually continued to have conversations or continue to meet other survivors with the same type of cancer that I have. I got to meet other survivors that have the same type of cancer that I have. And so just knowing and with being reminded of the purpose that I have, which is to continue to advocate and tell those stories. So yes, what else you got? What else you got? What else happened this year? Oh, I was featured on a lot of press. I was featured in a lot of press. I think one of the biggest ones is, if you probably have heard of it, if you follow other entrepreneurs, But I was featured on— which one was the latest? I don't even know which one was the latest, but it's the Voyage Group, Voyage Group brand. And so they have Voyage Nashville, Voyage Atlanta. They actually have a subsidiary of that brand called Shout Out. And so they shout out certain cities. So I know I was a part of Shout Out Dallas-Fort Worth from when I was in Fort Worth for about 6 months, Dallas-Fort Worth actually. And then most recently they have another subsidiary brand called Canvas Rebel, and I've most recently featured on that one. So again, relationships, right? Being able to be featured and continue to get in front of other people. And those are kind of nominations. I think that's how that started. You get nominated to be a part of that. And then back in 2020, I was— reflecting on, again, finish what you started. That's the theme that keeps coming up for this, for the new decade, for the new year, for the new decade, finish what you started. So 2020, 2020 was a blur, but not a blur. I think I remember just continuing to stay moving. I was moving, moving, moving, and still reaching for that goal, continue to reach for following my purpose. And so I realized that in the midst of life happening, you know, a divorce finalizing, and, you know, wanting to continue to be like, what do I want? You know, that I realized I just actually did slow down. But my way of slowing down was one— oh, I see, I see, I see, I see a name. Thank you, Sasha. Thank you for the birthday wishes.

Happy birthday.

And so let's see, in 2020, I was doing 2 things. One, I had left— that was the last time I worked in 2 jobs at the same time. I think for 2 years I was working 2 jobs at the same time. So again, hearing that call to give back to entrepreneurship— yeah, I just hit myself in the face. And with me getting back to entrepreneurship, I knew that I needed to automate. I think I've always been big on automating. And I think I knew I needed to automate in order for me to maintain that level of ease and clarity and a soft life. I needed to get back to automation. And so one of them was HoneyBook. HoneyBook, I think— I don't even know if I have— I think one of the other things that I should get back to affiliating, like make sure y'all get these links. Y'all get these links and make sure y'all are sharing your links and collecting coins. But anyways, HoneyBook. Was one of the biggest automation tools that I started using. And I love it because they're super supportive. Again, I'm big on community. I'm big on woman empowerment. And HoneyBook is one of those automation tools. And so get back to what I started with. One, I became a HoneyBook educator. And then I be educated, meaning I teach others how to use HoneyBook and why they should use HoneyBook. And 2, I also, you know what, I wonder if I can pull that up really quick. They literally just emailed me today. You know, some places will send you birthday wishes and stuff. No, I think I got to get it on my other device. Yeah. So HoneyBook has been a woman empowerment community. And I also became a leader, like when I was in Dallas-Fort Worth area. I think I'm jumping around. February, I'm still talking about what really went down in February. And so February, when we officially moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I still had my heart and my foot, have one foot into Dallas-Fort Worth area, because that's where I moved to in April 2021. And so in the midst of all that happening, I become a leader. I kind of take over for a leader who's going to go on maternity leave. And again, your network is your net worth, and finish what you started. Use what you have. Your network is your net worth, and finish what you started. Those are like the 3 lessons that I learned from this year, this decade that I'm bringing into the new one. Okay, moving on. Yeah, I continued to celebrate when I had good health days. And I continued to celebrate when I had good conversations with friends and family. I continued to celebrate when I made connections, put myself out there. I did it afraid. And moments where I was just afraid of rejection, I actually— the more I started to put myself out there of the things that I want to do, the people that I want to interact with and work with, even if it wasn't a no, it was always in the form of not yet. I think that no we tend to tell ourselves. 9 out of 10 times, we're telling ourselves no. It's not that they said no. 9 out of 10 times, if there's a phone call that we were making that we were so afraid to make and then they don't get back to us, it's because life happened. It has nothing to do with you. You told yourself no. They never said that. So that was another big thing, big lesson this year. What else, what else, what else? Yeah, and I think that— I think the next thing that I kind of ended up stopping with taking my digital notes, at least, was like, you know, all this— I'm so grateful for all the love that I've received on my birthday that I'm just like, I got all this love in my heart, and I know that it's, it's in my future to, um, have love in my life Romantically, again. I know that that's in my future. But I think first and foremost, this year was definitely the year of, again, what does Zaakirah want? What do you want? Like that notebook. What do you want? So yes, finish what you started. Don't tell yourself no. Get out of your own way. Utilize your network, automate, delegate. I think I should be celebrating the fact that I've been growing the heck out of my YouTube because for so long, imposter syndrome. I'm putting imposter syndrome to the side too in 2023. But imposter syndrome shows up in some miraculous ways. And so imposter syndrome is where you once again just tell yourself no, tell yourself that you're not good enough. You look at somebody else who's doing exactly what you want to do and think, oh, I can't do that. Oh, I'm not good enough. Oh, I don't know enough. Right? And so imposter syndrome showed up because I had been on— again, I'm one of those entrepreneurs that has been online since MySpace days. As a matter of fact, my fellow creative strategist at my media group, she posted on social media about another social media channel. I feel like I was back in my mind about this. called Xanga, X-A-N-G-A. And I was like, that— I was looking for it, you know, somewhere. And, and so I find out the name of it was Xanga. And then there's another one, I think, um, High Five was another one. Like, we've been resurfacing the names of these social media channels, but, you know, the main social media channels doing whatever they want to do this year. And so anyways, I say all that to say, 10 years ago is when I graduated from my photography certification program. And with me graduating from that, one of the things that we learned was YouTube, use video, grow your YouTube or use Vimeo. And so for me, I just got into my head a little bit. And so I just, for a good 5 years, I did not use YouTube. I think I moved, I migrated over to Facebook videos in like 2018. But I've been reflecting on that right now that I'm going live using video a bit more. I'm seeing people and teaching and empowering other women to use videos, use their TikTok, but then I'm like, I've been doing this. I've been doing this. In 2016, I was like a community manager, if you will, like online community manager for a digital music startup. When I wasn't doing their social media, I was managing the community. And so with me managing the community, I had to use video. We had Periscope back then. We had Again, Facebook video. So realizing that a lot of these things are going to come full circle. A lot of the moments in your life are going to come full circle. They have definitely come full circle for me. And so you're going to see that a lot in 2023. I know I am already, and I'm ready for it. Because another one of the things is there's a few lessons that keep coming up over and over and over that You think you passed it, but in reality you didn't because it's coming up again. It wouldn't come back up if you didn't actually learn the lesson. And so what's so powerful about the lesson and the test coming up again is that I'm like, I've seen this before. Now I know what to do. And it's like when the fear shows up— I don't know what that is. Hopefully you don't hear it. Is that an airplane? I'm hard of hearing too. Without my hearing aid in, I wouldn't know what it is, but it sounds like a helicopter. Anyway, so being able to put the fear aside when those lessons come into your life and actually being able to take action. Take action. That was the other lesson for this year. There were so many moments where, especially I started my leadership program. That was a big chunk of my life this year, but when I really think back, Think back on it. Again, full circle moment, but take action. There's so many— like I said, I have so many books, so many journals, so many Google Docs of ideas. And thank you, Anita, for the birthday wishes. And so I was thinking back to the ideas that I was having. And so when I would say it out loud and talk to someone about it, It felt brand new, but then later on I would find a notebook, or I would find a tweet, or I would, you know, I often use Facebook Memories, and I would say like, I've been talking about this since like 2018, 2019. So, um, take action on the things that have been on your heart because they were given to you and to you only. Um, yeah. Now what's coming? I think that's, that's the past, right? That's what we did Last year. And if you would, we kind of went— talked about 2020 a little bit too, because I feel like a pandemic is technically supposed to be 2 to 3 years. And so I feel like 2023, yes, we're going to be coming out of it just a little bit. Um, so what's coming up for 2023? So the biggest thing is, uh, with my, um— oh, I gotta change it again. I got all these links over here. Okay, so with my book that came out, you can actually get your copy at zaakirahmohammed.com/books. And it's a book written by mother and daughter for other mothers and daughters to advocate for themselves, step outside of their comfort zone, and think more positively. Think more positively, see life literally through a different lens. How to Be a More Positive God, and you can get it autographed. I'll autograph it for you, physical copies and an audiobook. This is especially for, you know, other women of color. I think that's why I chose to put myself on the COVID to see another woman of color, another woman of faith who made it and who continues to make it and who brings another woman along with her. So with the book coming, I've had this podcast There's almost 100 episodes of the See Life Different podcast. And, um, with the podcast is I've been blessed to meet so many women on my podcast. Um, and if I had other, you know, men like creative photographers or— um, yeah, I think mainly, mainly photographers. My dad, my dad was a guest, but I think mainly I've talked to other photographers because of my decade-long experience as a photographer. But what's happening next for the See Life Different podcast is we need more solo episodes. So again, finishing what I started, right? There's a lot of information that's out there. There's a lot of information that should be out there. There's a lot of ways that I can continue to advocate. And I've done that on my podcast for over 100 episodes. And so there's 2 things that I'm setting and making the intention to happen. One, um, I literally have 10 more episodes to go at the time of this birthday recording. Um, but 2, I am pivoting to be, um, solo, like mainly solo. And then I'm also getting back to in-person events. Um, I've enjoyed in-person events. I feel like, uh, love— the love and light and energy can actually be received in in-person events. Most of my— when I look back on my own information on my own Instagram, most of the people that are actually engaging, I've met them in person. So what's coming up next is more in-person events. And so I'm gonna have my own in-person events, and I'm still tweaking the— I make changes as we go. That's the beauty of market— that's the beauty of marketing. That's the beauty of Literally everything being online, like you can tweak as you go. But I am having the See Life Different in-person workshop. It's going to be based off of mindset, mental health, health and wellness, in addition to branding. We're continuing to empower women of color, women of faith entrepreneurs, differently abled entrepreneurs, and those who want to be entrepreneurs. And community, like how are you going to take everything that you learn in one day, because it's a one-day event on March 11th, uh, and actually implement it and grow your brand and walk in your actual purpose. You actually want to be creative, you want to live a life of creativity, and you can. Uh, there's a lot of people that you admire on social media who are doing it, and you can do it too. So that's what the Feel Like Dippin' event is going to be. Um, that's pretty much, pretty much it. Like, I can only really plug I've stopped trying to plan a year out, although, you know, when I sit down and journal every day, like at least anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes daily, sometimes I have to double up because I do skip a day depending on, you know, the workload. But when I journal, I'm always journaling in the future anyway. So, but for me, I don't plan more than a quarter at a time, 3 to 4 months at a time. So between now, as of December 20th, and March 20th, that's what's coming up. We're going to empower, continue to empower women of color, differently abled women, leading up to this event, leading up to the documentary, leading up to really just everything that I've been doing for a decade and packaging it all up in one big package, one big way. I've been kind of like, Bending myself backwards for a very long time. We kind of need to start— we need to stop doing that. Like, us women, we, we tend to do that a lot, and it helps, but it hurts. It helps, but it hurts. So yes, um, that's pretty much it. I have my slice of cake. So, um, I don't even know how to— how to— I didn't want to play any music. I don't want any copyright issues, but, um, I'm gonna have a slice of cake and I'm gonna pretend that you're singing me happy birthday. Yeah, dark chocolate cake.

Yay!

Okay, that's that. Thank you for rocking with me. Um, thank you for watching. Especially if you're new, especially, especially if you're an old-timer. Um, this new decade is— I think when everybody's asked— everybody had been asking like, what are you doing for your birthday? What are you doing for your birthday? One is this. Two, like I said, we planning for the next few months. Once March comes, I just feel like March is the rebirth. March is going to be a rebirth for all of us, and I'm here for it. So Catch me on social media. Make sure you're on my email list. I'm trying to see where to start off. So okay, where can you find me everywhere? One, you start. I think I'm gonna say it out loud and I'll probably tweak the pathway for you all. But start at zakirah.com. Z A A K I R A H N-A-Y-Y-A-R dot com, and then you can go from the podcast, which is 100 almost 103 episodes on mental health, entrepreneurship, and life like lifestyle. And then you can then hop over and get my my book, a physical and or audiobook version of my book. This is especially if another sense of empowerment and a sense of advocacy, how to advocate for yourself. especially when it comes to sisterhood and community, because it's written by both mom and daughter. My mom wrote it too, and my mom's birthday was December 14th, so I am her birthday gift. Um, after the book, then you can take a look at what it looks like to work with me. So, um, like I said, I'm focusing on women of color, women of faith who want to step outside of their comfort zone, grow their brand, and, uh, market their brand with ease. We're team automation over here. So that's what we're going to do all 2023. And if you calculate 2023, um, 22 plus 0 plus 2 plus 3, it's the basic math, but I got that message. I, I do basic math. I'm a creative. I'm not analytical or financial, although I need to be since my goal is to be a CEO and continue to be an operating CEO. But 2 plus 0 plus 2 plus 3 equals 7. If that's anybody's lucky number, you're it. It's your year. So let's do this. Let's make this happen. Thank you for celebrating my 30th birthday with me. We're going to celebrate all the way up until March. And oh, I got a special guest. Hold up. I got a special guest. Hi. Hold on. Let me get the link. Hi.

Hello, happy happy birthday.

Thank you. Thank you for joining.

Now what is this that I'm hearing about you pretend happy birthday?

Yes. Well, I am having a blast enjoying some cake, and I am talking about all the thirty plus wins from this past year. Oh, by the way, this is my cousin, y'all. Y'all probably looking and listening like, who that chick? Hey, it's my cousin, y'all.

Well, allow me to bring that vision force. Okay, you go ahead and eat the cake and I will really—

Got you.

So everybody, 3, y'all sing along from wherever you're watching. Okay, 1, 2, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Zaakirah. Happy birthday to you and many more.

Yay! Thank you. I got the actual thing to actually sing for me. Okay, thank you.

Yes, and I know that you love affirmations, so I went ahead and I for you.

Okay.

So you can repeat these. It's the good old money affirmation because who doesn't want some money? It says, riches flow into my life in many ways and from— riches flow into my life in many directions and The other one says Earth. I care for the Earth.

I love that.

And I want to pull another one from another. The universe has your back because the universe does have that one.

So that one.

Let's get one more card for you. And I'll also go ahead and send you— you want to just like go ahead and recite them or incorporate them in a meditation. So we got this one popping out here, and this says, I owe direct Oh, there she goes. There we go. I don't know what just happened.

Okay, you shuffle the card and then bloop, bloop.

Okay, I'm back. I got the card. It says, I always trust the universe and know I'm being guided. Those words of affirmation on your 30th birthday. I am happy for everything that you, you are accomplishing and everything that you will accomplish into this year with clarity, with power, with wisdom, with, with wealth and success. And I hope you have an amazing birthday.

Thank you. Thank you, cousin. I got cousins, cousins, cousins everywhere. I got cousins over here, I got cousins over there. Thank you for the birthday wishes. This has been an amazing way to wrap up this live video. Thank you. I love y'all, and I will be seeing y'all in person soon.

Yes.

Yay!

Thank you for having me.

Yay! Well, thank you so much for the love. I felt the love. Keyword love today. Love every single day. We're gonna love and live out loud, and we're gonna operate in our purpose. That's what we're doing. Love you, love you, love you, and I will see you all soon.