In this behind‑the‑scenes excerpt, Zaakirah Muhammad—an eye‑cancer survivor, brand‑cultivating strategist, and advocate for marginalized voices— reflects on the personal journey that led to her TEDx talk titled “Seeing Life from a Different Lens.” She explains how she uses grief, mental‑health challenges, and advocacy as tools for love, empathy, and compassion. Over a three‑month preparation period, she engaged in therapeutic self‑reflection, narrowed her story with the help of coach Bree Seeley, and drew on formative experiences: her mother’s immigrant‑resource center in Tampa, a summer volunteer stint teaching primary school children in West Africa, and the power of photography to capture joy. Throughout, supportive speakers (B, C, D) highlight her innate gifts, commitment to societal contribution, and ability to inspire others. The clip underscores her purpose of helping marginalized individuals confidently tell their stories through media and advocacy.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Zaakirah, and I am a childhood eye cancer survivor and a brand cultivating strategist, and I help marginalized humans to confidently tell their story using all forms of media. Today we are at my TEDx talk, Seeing Life from a Different Lens, being able to use grief and mental health and advocacy as a way of love, empathy, and compassion. It's been super inspiring and such an amazing opportunity to be able to share my story on a TEDx platform. You know, I had to think back and go back in time a little bit in order to get to this point and remember all the different aspects of life and challenges I went through from age 3, age 7, age 13 to really get to this point. And it's just been a reminder of my own purpose of being able to see life through a different lens so that I can continue to be that advocate for others who are marginalized. Preparing for my TED Talk, it's been a 3-month process from the minute I got the congratulations email up until this point. And so it was almost a form of therapy in a way. I had to go back in time and do a little bit of personal development to really reflect on what did I grow through, what are those challenges that I went through, and how can I turn it into positive? How can I turn it into something that's educational and inspiring? Also, thank goodness for my coach, Bree Seeley. who was helping me out really narrow down my story and make it very niche-specific because I only have 15 minutes to share. So it's been an amazing journey to really kind of niche down and just remember where I came from. And here we are, full circle moment.
We have decided a long time ago that Zaakirah had special gifts, special talents. I just believe in letting her do her thing, you know, let her go the path that she sees in front of her. We love her.
And one thing that we'd always emphasize to her is make a contribution to society at all, at large, you know.
Helping others.
And that's one thing that she's always been emphasizing.
I'm so grateful that I was able to witness my parents just kind of be a part of being of service to the community, especially my mom, who, when we were living in Tampa, Florida, she was crucial and pivotal in opening a family resource center that was helping immigrants to take those job testing or citizenship tests or working out their resume to kind of help immigrants really to kind of immerse into the world.
It's important that children are exposed to She doesn't focus so much on herself. That's really how you strengthen your faith, and that's how you strengthen your own soul.
I remember when I was traveling to West Africa and I was there volunteering for a summer, and I was a primary school education teacher. I would never forget being able to take photographs of the children during, you know, what we call recess and seeing how excited they were just to see their little faces the moment I flipped the camera around and showed it to them.
We have taught her how to advocate for herself and to be comfortable with who she is and to bring somebody else along. Zaakirah, I'm so proud of you.
You definitely belong here.
Your speech today was so impactful. Thank you for inspiring us and just for sharing your journey with us and for most of all challenging us.
It has not been an easy journey. And I want to thank them for watching, for being there, for everything.
