131: Great Loss Sharpens Your Senses with Zaakirah Demba

Every so often, you meet someone who has had to fight for where they are in life. It’s usually the people who have faced the greatest difficulty who learn to be the most resilient and truly have a heart of gratitude for what they have in life. Such is the story of today’s guest. Join me to learn more.

Zaakirah Muhammad Demba is someone I met through a podcasting group on Facebook called She Podcasts. Once I got to know her, I realized she would be a great guest on the show–and here she is! Zaakirah is a brand-cultivating strategist, professional photographer, and digital marketer. She helps small businesses make their social media pages look good, and she advises the best social media tactics for growing and being consistent with their brand. At 6 months of age, a camera saved her life, and at 9 months old, she was taken into surgery to have her right eye removed due to a rare cancerous tumor that was detected by a camera in a photo taken by her mom. Her hearing slowly began to decline as she grew older, but her other 3 senses kicked in and are doing well. At age 5, her mom gifted her with her first camera, and she received her first digital camera in middle school. She attended technical high school and went on to study commercial photography and never strayed far from her purpose in life. She moved to Washington, DC, to expand her education and work in professional photography and videography. She currently resides in Nashville but has traveled to 10 countries with her camera, most recently to South Africa. As a people-person and an empath, Zaakirah wants her legacy to be the fact that she was able to see the good in people, help them live their best life, and step outside their comfort zone.

In this episode:

  • Zaakirah’s intense passion for photography as a way to share her mind and her voice
  • Her podcast, Living Legacy, is a way to get her story out
  • How her mom taught her to fight for herself and her health
  • How she’s faced cancer, eye removal, hearing loss, PCOS, and infertility
  • Why she chooses to live a holistic life to be more in tune with herself
  • Growing up as an intense person who was labeled GAP–Genius African Princess–by her mom
  • The difficulties in school because of bullying
  • The cultural factors Zaakirah has faced as a Muslim woman of African-American descent with a deaf-blind disability
  • How yoga helps her quiet her mind
  • Why 2019 is the year of “No More” for Zaakirah
  • What she learned in test-taking about listening to her intuition
  • A breakdown in high school due to anxiety, anger, and stress
  • How Zaakirah uses her fire to help others grow their businesses, tap into their potential, and recognize their purpose
  • How writing out her thoughts and feelings helps her tap into her creative juices
  • Why she needs quiet time to recharge
  • The best advice she received was not to allow negativity to overtake her
  • Why Zaakirah focuses on forming good habits, like consistency, gratitude, using a vision board
  • Some favorite books: Chicken Soup for the Soul series, The Diary of Anne Frank, and autobiographies
  • How Zaakirah helps others through her coaching and her podcast

Transcript

* Rough Transcript *

Ep. 131

Zaakirah: My fire is ignited when I’m able to help others. I think that’s the part of my pivot that I discovered at a young age. When I’m able to help others, my fire is ignited, but of course I have to make sure that I’m able to put more wood into that fire to be able to keep it burning.

Aurora: Welcome to the Embracing Intensity Podcast, brought to you from Quinn Mountain Retreat in the Columbia River Gorge. I’ll be sharing interviews with gifted, creative and outside the box thinkers who use their fire in a positive way. My name is Aurora. Remember Holtzman, after years of feeling too much, I finally realized that intensity is the source of my greatest power.

Now instead of. Myself up about not measuring up to my own self-imposed standards. I’m on a mission to help people embrace their own intensity so they can share their gifts with the world. Through the embracing intensity community, educational assessment, and other tools to help use your fire without getting burned, you can join us@embracingintensity.com.

Hello. Today’s episode is with Zira, who I met through a podcasting group for women called She Podcasts on Facebook, and I hadn’t posted in there for a while for guests because I actually have a list of like 30 guests that I’d love to have on the show. And I only do about two interview episodes. A. , but I randomly decided to participate in a weekly thread to possibly be a guest on someone’s podcast.

And she commented that she’d love to be a guest on mine, and the more I got to know about her, the more awesome I thought that would be. And after I got the chance to interview her, it was such a great fit. So I am thrilled to have gotten to know. on another note entirely, you guys, I have been having so much fun creating t-shirts and other apparel and accessories through the Threadless Shop for Express Your power.

With a ton of embracing intensity merchandise and quotes from the podcast. And I have just had so many ideas going through my head that my technology cannot keep up with me. So take a look at our new Express, your Power Store, and I will be continuing to add throughout the summer some great designs. And the broad overarching theme is celebrating.

Neurodiversity and outside the box thinkers, so you’ll find lots related to the podcast. And I’m also going to branch out with more relatable content for outside the box thinkers. I. Also decided to run a monthly contest in the embracing intensity community for those who participate in the conversation there.

So the more you comment and post, the more opportunity you’ll have to win a free t-shirt each month. So if you’re already a member of the community, come visit us and join the conversation. And if you’re not, there’s a free two week trial. Come join us@embracingintensity.com. Enjoy. Welcome to Embracing Intensity.

Today I am super thrilled to have Zira Mohamed Deba, who I encountered in the. She podcast group, and both of us were super busy, but when we ran into each other, we decided we had to make a priority of this interview because it was such a great fit. So I’m super thrilled to have you. Zira is a brand cultivating strategist, professional photographer, and digital marketer.

She helps small businesses to make your social media pages look good and advises you on the best social media tactics for growing and being consistent with your brand on social media. At six months old, a camera saved her life. At nine months old, she was taken into surgery to have her right eye removed due to a rare childhood eye cancer tumor that was detected by a photo that her mom.

Her hearing slowly began to decline as she got older, but her other three senses kicked in and are functioning well. At age five, her mom gifted her with her first camera. She received her first digital camera in middle school. By the time she attended technical high school, she studied commercial photography.

She never strayed too far from her purpose in life. Later on, she moved to Washington DC to expand her education in professional photography and video. She currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. She’s traveled to 10 countries so far. She took her professional camera on most of her out of the country travels.

But Ghana, west Africa was the first time that others viewed her work as if they were on the trip with her and had traveled with her due to the way she beautifully captures sceneries and personalities. She loves capturing the essence of humanity as a people person and empath. She wants her legacy to include the fact that she was able to see the good in you, help you live your best life, which inspired you to step outside your comfort zone.

Welcome, Zira.

Zaakirah: Thank you. Wow. .

Aurora: Awesome. I’m so glad to have you. I would love to hear a little bit more about yourself and what you are intensely passionate

Zaakirah: about. Well, I am definitely, uh, passionate about photography. I just feel like ever since. My mom gave me that device. It’s just, that’s been my voice.

That’s been my voice of way of, of sharing what’s in my mind, sharing my vision, even with Monocular vision. So I am passionate about just capturing the positive side of people’s souls, right? Because cameras of an image speaks a thousand words. So for me, it just, photography has been that voice that I’ve been able to.

you know, it’s gone with me. No, no matter where I go. Even when there was a po, a moment where I wasn’t really, I took a whole year off of not photographing, but even in my mind, I would just look around, observe nature, and I would just capture moments in my mind that’s, you know, memory the creator and save and save it.

Awesome.

Aurora: Awesome. And you have a podcast too. I

Zaakirah: do, and my podcast is called Living Legacy. So it’s, I’ve kind of, I guess, pivoted it in a way because I started out with just wanting it to be, uh, showing positive light on the entertainment industry because that’s where I have. Spent most of my photography years at, at least within the last five years in the entertainment and event industry.

So I wanted to sign a positive light on that. But then as I start digging deeper into myself, going into the better version of myself, I realized, okay, this should really also be something that is a way for me to get my story out there. Because not many people know my story. They know me, they know my work, but they don’t know my story.

So it kinda ended up aligning with also allowing interview with people who have gone through the same thing that I’m going through or in the same industry that I’m, and everybody, humans are meant to be resilient. And I think that’s the thing, the comments thread that I’ve learned, you know, with every podcast interview that I have and every episode that I plan off in the future.

Aurora: Awesome. Awesome. So tell me a little bit about your own personal brand of intensity. What does intensity look like for you?

Zaakirah: Well, I think for. You know, my mom started at Faith, but I’ve always had to fight for my health, right? So aside from the fact that my mom was the one who had to fight to get more than one doctor to get the correct diagnosis for my cancer, which is vet Blastoma, then as I got older, you know, other, you know, health issues started to come up, especially with losing hearing.

Not completely, but I’m, I have a mild hearing loss and I wear hearing aids in both. , but I have to fight for my own health to let people know when I can’t hear them. You know, cause they’re mumbling or cause I could not understand what they say, but, cause I am Olympia so I know that they were back biting.

Um, and then also just as I got older, just dealing with polycystic brain syndrome, which is part of my reason for infertility, part of my reason for my deep voice. So there were just a lot of moments where I just basically had to always been, be in tune to. And basically fight for. My own health. So I like to be on the holistic route.

Uh, maybe it’s just a personal preference after having no minimum, no minimum amount of five doctors, you know, uh, growing up and so many doctor appointments. So I think just choosing the holistic route also just is a way for me to also, in a way control my own health. I’m able to be more in tune to myself, so I know.

I do have a headache. Why I have this headache when I am stressed out, I know what, why, what’s acting differently with my body. So just being in tune to myself really just kind of helps the most. Yeah. It’s

Aurora: so crucial. I know, I, in fact, actually, I just submitted an article for a book on specifically giftedness and chronic health issues and the connection that often happens when you have that sensory system, that nervous system that’s hyperactive in some ways it, it can.

Both really positive things and also some health

Zaakirah: issues. Yes, everything is connected within the, within the body, within the mind, within the spirit. Everything is connected. So it was a good thing that my doctor did warn my parents that, you know, everything time with the cancer now. But there could be other issues with the other organs in the body later on.

Aurora: Mm-hmm. so important. So how do you think that your intensity affected you growing

Zaakirah: up? Well, I think growing up I was. Considered a pretty intense person. Etsy, my mom, she gave me this nickname. It’s we a gap, almost like the clothing brand, but it stands for Genius African Princess, but it’s her vMix of the acronym that’s already kind of out there called Black African Princess or back.

So I’ve never, I just, you know, I just thought be speaking my love language, you know, which she, you know, affirmations. I’m just like, oh, I like that. Let’s see. You know, . So I’m totally held onto it, but it really wasn’t until I started to tap into the. Side of me, you know, my full potential that I realized, okay, there is a reason why I have the nickname of genius because, you know, growing up I feel like life is my school now.

You know, I went to school, I did finish high school, and then I did a kind of like a trade school afterwards. So I did a little bit of school. I just felt like growing up and school was kind of tough for me. There were a lot of people who, there were a lot of bullying experiences, more so in school rather than workplace because you know, like I said, I’m pretty intense.

People say I talk too much, I ask too many questions. I’m. You know, my voice is too deep and, and they wanna know why. You know, my eye looked the way that I am and you know, I just realized that, you know, even though they were bullying me for it, it was really because they were hating me for the things that they don’t have in themself or they were able to tap into yet.

So, because I’ve just been, I have that level of giftedness, you know, in me and it. Took a while to really, it’s easier to remember the negative, more than a positive. So it just took a while to really put that aside and just remember that the same thing, the same thing that people are bullying you for are actually are the best thing about you.

So, .

Aurora: Totally. Yeah. I just went through a training for working with gifted families this weekend, and it’s one of those things that, you know when they, people use that word, they think of this elitist like better than thing, but they don’t understand. It’s really, really difficult. It causes a lot of challenges as well, and oftentimes probably some of the most gifted people I know grew up think.

it was a burden. And so coming to that point where you see it as a positive thing is actually really great. And that’s not about elitism or anything, it’s just, you know, being, celebrating those things that you have. Yeah,

Zaakirah: I think that’s the, that’s the hard part because when you experience the thing that a child, it’s.

appeared to be more traumatic. It’s kind of harder to heal from. But I think, I think really for me, the thing is that because I’ve been so, my intuition is so strong, stronger than most, is what’s allowed me to kind of be more in tune to myself. And also, I was introduced to journal writing at a young age too.

So of course being able to look back at that years later, that helps to really. The track that I was on, you know, the fact that I was on the right track and you know, just how to, you know, that helped me also to heal and finally sh go through the positive tunnel rather than a

Aurora: negative tunnel. So do you think there were any cultural factors that affected how you could express yourself?

Zaakirah: I would say yes. I am a part of many different cultures. The biggest one. Being the fact that I did grow up as a Muslim woman, so my parents converted to the religion of Islam. They converted from Christianity, from, you know, baptism. So the biggest thing is being a Muslim woman. The religion itself highly respects Muslim women, but until everyone gets to on the same page as far as the correct understanding, there’s always a miscommunication.

There’s always a misunderstanding. So most of the time, women have a voice. They’re allowed to have a voice, but then in certain Western cultures, they’re not allowed to have a voice. So a lot of times, That, you know, helped me to feel like, okay, maybe I should not be expressing my mind as, as fully as I think I can because I am a US citizen.

I think the second thing is also, I’m also part of the deafblind culture because. And I grew up and started to really meet others who survived the cancer that I survive or have similar childhood eye cancer that I, you know, started learning that language of silent and brail and even that can sometimes, Well with the information of, of technology now it’s easier.

But back in the day when I was, you know, young and a teenager and meeting other people, it just felt limited cause of their technology. And some people just feel like the word disability means you cannot do. So that is another culture that I feel that I’m a part of. But, and then last but not least, it being an African American woman, a woman of color, uh, that itself is, is another factor that sometimes hinder.

You know, your voice of being able to share how you really feel, what you really think, you know, it’s even affecting me even when I am in the boardroom at work, just. You know, I prefer a small room environment because unless I can tell, I can recognize, pick up on that vibe, that energy from my instructor, my teacher, my manager, whatever.

I don’t, you know, if I have something to say, I know something that will help to improve the company, improve workflow. I just sit back and don’t say anything, you know? And now flashing back, actually, my mom would gimme this example of even in pre-K and kindergarten, the teachers assumed that. Had to speak in disability because I refused to.

You know, wasn’t that I talk, I just, I didn’t want to . .

Aurora: That’s actually funny because that the term selective mutism when you are don’t talk in certain settings is something that I’ve come across in many gifted individuals. , including some family members. .

Zaakirah: Yes. I think that’s, that’s what it’s, it’s just a matter of, okay, as soon as I, I’m an extroverted introvert, so if I need to speak publicly, I have no problem doing that.

I’m not, it’s not the easiest thing for me to do, so I have to observe fully the room that I’m entering in first and let me know of, okay, should I be DRA at a hundred percent or DRA at 75% ?

Aurora: Totally. You know, you’re talking about your Muslim heritage. I. Was listening to your podcast episode on your daily routine, your morning routine, and talking about the prayers.

It, it just got me thinking how doing that throughout the day is such a great check-in with yourself . Like, it’s just a, I think it’s a powerful ritual for, for anyone, and I hadn’t really thought about it that way until I. Was listening to you talk about it.

Zaakirah: I agree. And I think not only just being a Muslim, but because I did have the experience of touching into yoga, doing yoga a bit, I was able to really make that connection.

Cause when I would, whenever I would say, cause we kind of have highs and lows in life, so we have highs and lows of all spiritual journey too. So there was a point where I was not as committed to the religion itself, but instead I explored yoga, explored more that nature. So I just realized that it’s very similar because even if you aren’t believer but you have a sense of self through yoga, through nature, it’s very similar.

It’s just a matter of having that consistent method to be able to be in a quiet space. Quiet. Quiet in your mind. Cause that’s the hardest part of quiet in your mind. Cause my mind is always going. I mean, I feel like that’s part of the reason why I haven’t insomnia. My mind is just never off . .

Aurora: Totally. So did you ever feel like you had to tone yourself down or tune yourself?

Zaakirah: A lot of times I feel like I have to turn myself down and chew myself out, but I really think honestly as of 2019 is the year that I really said no more because for a while it’s just I’m hindering my own self, of my own abilities of being able to fulfill my legacy, fulfill my purpose, because I am just quietening myself because someone else said so, because someone else is uncomfortable.

My level of intensity or my level of intelligence. So it’s a lot of situations throughout, you know, growing up in life where I felt like I had you to kind of tone it down. I think now the people that are closest to me, they wonder what happened. You know, where does the care from this day, this age, this time period.

And I’m just like, she’s quietly in the back some. You know, waiting for the moment. And I think that’s just the thing. Instead of waiting in time to just take charge, not let fear be in the way, not let what they call imposter syndrome be in the way, not the comparison syndrome be in the way. Because everything that, I think, one thing that I learned, I guess, with test taking, even though I struggled with the standardized tests, Something that I did learn from at all, test taking factored in school is to always listen to that first choice.

Whatever your first choice is, that’s usually the right one. So how to be able to listen to your intuition. And as of 2019, my intuition telling me to, you know, you’ve seen the good, the a hundred percent dra, keep bringing that version of DRA out and look how. Things will manifest in life and how great things will go.

And as far as the path that you know it meant for you, because you seem, I mean, everyone gets seen what, what they’re meant to be on that path they’re meant to be on. They just ignore it because of my situation, because somebody else said something. Cause ooh, if I do this, I’m going to lose my relationship, lose my friends.

But it’s really about just tapping into the best version of yourself and you already know what that is. You just really have. Listen. So tell

Aurora: me about a time when you felt like your intensity got out of control.

Zaakirah: Mm. I think I can flash back to, I will never forget it. It was high school. My second high school, we moved a lot mainly to follow whatever the good education.

Because I’ve always been in either Montessori school, charter school, technical high school. I’ve experienced online schools and public schools. But it was just a matter of finding what’s the best version of um, education. So we moved from Central Florida to South Florida, and I went to my second technical high school.

I love this school. The education was great. Even then, I was able to have a say in what kind of education I wanted, and that was great. It was just that the people itself were not. In alignment, I guess, with how I would feel, how excited I was about. Being in a school with great education system and great exceptional student education plan.

You know, I had a lot of great special education teachers, but then the students and stuff, it wouldn’t fit exact exactly match up. So at one point I was my sophomore year of high school, I wasn’t driving yet. I probably had my payment, but I wasn’t driving yet till my mom picked me up from school. And I just, I either broke down or I just went off either one of that, but my, I went off to my mom.

I think that’s exactly what happened. She’d be like, okay, what is it that you really need? Because apparently it’s just with her asking that, simply asking that question. When I realized that I’ve just been having so much anxiety, so much anger, so much stress bottled up inside. I didn’t wanna tell anyone cause I didn’t know who to tell.

And I definitely didn’t wanna tell someone close to me cause I didn’t want them to be stressed out because they’re stressed out, you know? So it was just, I remember that moment of, that was the first time I really had a break. Out of all the pressure of, I feel like really, now that I think about it now, now that I’m older, it was the pressure of things bothering up inside.

Like you can only shake a soda bottle so many times before it would actually explode. So that is where I felt the most out of control. But thankfully because of a good and understanding support system, it was able to come right back into. You know, maybe a week later, because when my mom asked, what do you need?

All I wanted to do was be with my big sister who lived in Atlanta at that time, you know? So we had the chance to see each other, but not as often because we ended up moving so much because she ended up getting married and life happened. But I just said, all I wanna do is be with my big sister. It’s something therapeutic about being with someone who.

Loves you unconditionally understands you. And I think that’s the thing where I had to really realize. If it’s too much, I need to say, so , that was the biggest, I would say, life lesson from that moment of, of feeling outta control, of having my first official breakdown.

Aurora: That’s so important too. I think that’s a theme.

I often see that like no matter what you’re. opportunities are if you don’t have that person or those people who get you really connect and get you, then it doesn’t really matter what your opportunities or experiences, you know, are it just having that one person or or community of people who understand you is so valuable.

Nowadays at the internet, I feel like we have more opportunity for that than. Maybe when we growing up and you know, depending on when

Zaakirah: Yeah, I agree. And I think that’s one of the good things about Facebook. Even with all just talking from a marketing perspective, even with all the social media changes, Facebook is still good for the community, for the Facebook group is obviously how we met is how I met, you know, a few of my other, um, classmates.

Once I did start to invest in myself and take another online course, you know, after way after I graduated. and just having that community really allows you to not feel alone. Especially, I know a lot of women who are in marriages where they’re complete opposite of their spouse, and their spouse hasn’t tapped into their, you know, the person’s love language or understood what it is about that person.

Why this person is way, why person act so crazy, why is this, why that? So having that community. A person is simply sharing their experiences and they just get it and they’re just like, yes, that is me. You’re in my head while you’re in my head. You know, that’s amazing thing about technology. Yeah, I got

Aurora: that.

Get that about this podcast. Oftentimes I one recently just said, it’s like you read my journal. So tell me how you use your own fire for

Zaakirah: good. Well, I think my fire is ignited when I’m able to help others. I think that that’s the part of my pivot that I discovered at a young age when I’m able to help others.

Um, my fire is ignited. . But of course I have to make sure that I’m able to put more wood into that fire to be able to keep it burning. But I noticed that when I was in middle school or sixth grade, it was just my school mates would just naturally flop to me with their problems. , I, it is like I was be, they’re listening, they’re lending ear, and so for a moment I thought maybe I should be a psychologist.

But then I didn’t wanna do all that schooling. I didn’t wanna get outta all that debt. But at the same time, those skills stayed with me because I was able to take a psychology course, just one course in high school, but it stayed with me. Cause even to this day through my businesses, if that’s my motto of how can I be of to you, they, they TV show that I watch, that I discover.

It’s called New Amsterdam, and it’s on N B NBC Tuesday night. It used to come on right after the show called This Is Us. It’s a really good show. I really love it because it reminded me so much of the doctor that also saved my life, the one that detected the. Eye cancer. So he just that caring of a person of how can I help?

That’s his question. Every, every episode, how can I help? And I just feel like I’m like that too. I just wanna know how can I help you to grow your businesses? How can I help you to tap into your full potential? How can I help you to really step outside of your comfort zone and. Recognize what your true purpose is.

So just being able to not only help others, but also be able to see the, allow others to see the beauty in themselves. My favorite type of photography is portrait photography. I love being able to have that one-on-one interaction with other people. So I’ve had the opportunity of taking the very first professional.

Photo of someone where they’re saying, wow, you made me look so good. I’ve never seen myself in this slide. This is amazing. Thank you so much. I’ve also had the honor of capturing the last photo, professional photo of someone, you know, even right before they just had a wedding or just the last family portrait, and even just coming to me saying that, I mean, we didn’t know what was gonna happen, but we’re so grateful that you were able to capture our last, that last picture.

And even that just kind of viewed me to really keep going. So it’s just anything that has to do with, you know, people, obviously the right kind of people, the grateful people, not the toxic people, but just being around people really does fuel. Totally.

Aurora: Yeah, I get that. The right kind of people, , I mean, and it’s energizing.

I think that’s a lot of people who are either introverted extroverts or extroverted introverts or, or they, as they might call it ambivert, . I think a lot of it depends on who it is that you’re spending

Zaakirah: time with. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s the thing. Like I, I love my extroverts because I’m just amazed at how much energy they have, but sometimes I have to step away.

Like, I love you, but I’ll be right back. ? Mm-hmm. . .

Aurora: So what do you think has helped you the most with harnessing the power of your intensity?

Zaakirah: I think, I feel like I touched on it a little bit already, but aside from journal writing, just being able to write out my thoughts and feelings, and when I write out my thoughts and feelings, I realize how normal they are.

I realize that it’s just a feeling that I’m feeling at this moment, that it’s not my life, it’s not the chapter. So writing has definitely helped being able to tap into my creative juices. So even when I am not feeling inspired or motivat. To take photos or even be on social media. I’ve always just love, I love any visual platform, good TV shows, good movies, documentaries.

I love also reading biographies by people either that look like me, that have been through what I have been through that have the same conditions that I have. So that also kind of helped me as well. And then of course, you know, prayer and it’s not prayer. Just being able to have that quiet time going for a walk in the park if you do have a moment or can find a quiet space other than the bathroom, to have just five, 10 minutes of quiet time.

Just being able to recharge. I think that’s what. Helped me the most. Of course, traveling. I’ve been blessed to travel to 10 country so far. I really want to visit 30 country before I reach the age of 30, and now I’m not 30 yet. Just being able to do the thing that I enjoy doing on a, try to be a consistent basis.

If not, you know, weekly, then monthly. Mm-hmm. . Awesome.

Aurora: What do you think is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Zaakirah: See that’s hard because the way that I’ve taken information, I’ve taken information with what I firmly believe important in that time. So I’ve taken, you know, grabbed information from my favorite artist, my favorite song, my favorite teacher that helped me throughout that faith in life.

But I think the big thing is just also not allowing negativity to overtake. I’m trying to think of the actual quote, but it was something like if people wanted you to write, Good about them. They wouldn’t have behaved misbehaved so badly. Right. It’s something so I think about that of, okay, if they were not, if they were meant to be a good bustle in your life, you wouldn’t know that because you would have nothing to complain about if they were meant to shake you up and shake, you know, shake up your stolen and help you.

You know, reach that next level of yourself, you would have a story to tell about them. That’s the reason why. So then it’s not, it, it’s, it’s always a blessing. Every lesson is a blessing. So I just feel like for me, I’ve just always just picked up those little signs and those little pieces of advice along the way from everyone.

My. Family members, friends. Hmm.

Aurora: Creates an imagery in my head of, and actually later today, I’m gonna be writing a blog post on this concept, but a friend of mine, Jen Harvey Sal, wrote a post on levels of giftedness, but she talks about linear thinking, you know, a, B, C, D, and then skip thinking like A to D, D to F, you know?

And then she talks about what she calls matrix thinking and what you were talking about. Created an imagery of ma a matrix in my mind of like connecting how all different pieces of, you know, using the pieces of what you can take from what people say into a matrix.

Zaakirah: So I think that’s what life is all about.

Life is really that puzzle piece to really, until you’re able to get to that and don’t life is amaze until you’re able to find the right way, you know, you’re, it’s, it’s gonna be a mae, it’s gonna be a rollercoaster. Mm-hmm. Importa of life, and everyone that kind of comes your way.

Aurora: Mm-hmm. . Totally. So what personal habits do you think have helped you use your fire in a positive way?

Zaakirah: Well, I think the first thing about habits is to make sure that you form good ones and that they stick with you. My biggest issue, my biggest work for my vision board is actually consistency. So my big biggest issue is being inconsistent sometimes because I’m so creative, I’m so all over the place. I just go for it and don’t always, you know, I, I will go for it, but may not execute it.

It may not plan it, take it step by step. So I. Just being able to learn how to take things slow step at a time, but also learning how to celebrate the small win, the small thing, the fact that I did wake up this morning, the fact that I did have a podcast interview, the fact that I was able to share my story, the fact that I was able to eat healthy, you know, the fact that I was able to say good morning and goodnight to my husband, just a small.

Being able to be gratitude, show gratitude for the small things in life. That is a very important habit that I’ve recently learned to adapt along the years. And also just of course, if not inviting it out, then. Having a picture of it. So I’ve started to really utilize a vision board. So I’ve always just, I always had these clear visions in my mind, but in order to help me sleep at night, I’m starting to kind of either print out the pictures or cut it out from a magazine, put it on ps, whatever it is.

So it’s not in my head, but onto some of the medium. So even notepads and kind of writing the notes that are in my head. So I. Just being able to, or even blog posts, it’s writing blog posts and podcast, whatever medium it is to kind of get it out there. That helped because, funny enough, I think it was a couple of weeks ago, I used to blog on Tumblr.

I’ve always just reinvented myself. So when I first started really talking about my travels and my photography, I started on tum. Which is the blog platform, which was very popular in the early two thousands. And apparently I was, even when I stopped really talking about photography and started shifting mode, talking about travel, and even after I stopped talking about travel, I talked about marketing, it still ended up sinking to Tumblr.

So I came across my 2017 year end goal and accomplishment, and there are some goals that I am just now manifesting at that a thing that just now coming into. But I wrote it down two years ago, and I wouldn’t have known that because I think the thing now, now it’s out of sight, out of mind because I was able to write it down and it’s not in the forefront of my mind, and I’m not trying to figure out how, who, what, how, why.

So just being able to write things down and just being able to tap into my creative, my creativity on a regular basis. and it being able to be consistent with forming those new habits. Oh,

Aurora: totally. It’s funny what you said about the consistency, because I was just pulling quotes from today’s interview with Carrie Beton, and one of the things she said was she had to realize that while her brain didn’t need structure, her body did, and it made just so much sense to me.

Like those habits that we have to get into for our healthy living are good for our body, but our brain doesn’t necessarily. To do that , that kind of structure. , cuz we’re all over the place.

Zaakirah: So amazing. Science is so amazing and the brain is so amazing. There’s so many things that it can do. And I’ve learned also that the words like whatever words are powerful, of course, you know, as soon as it goes off the tongue to anyone else, that’s why you have to be careful of it.

But at the same time, it applies to you too. And as soon as you, you speak it out there, as soon as you say I want to eat healthy, I want to lean to be more plant. More vegan. I want you to exercise more as soon as you put it out there in a way of, not in a way of, of maybe one day, someday when I have time.

But saying that you will, you know, your brain doesn’t know when you will, but you just said, I heard that she will, so we have to do something. .

Aurora: Yeah. The, the power of announcing . Are there any particular books that have had a major influence on you? .

Zaakirah: Well, I’ve always, I’ve always loved non-fiction books. I like fiction books, but sometimes I fall asleep with them,

But I love non-fiction books and growing up, I’ve just always loved the Chicken Soup for the show series. I feel like that’s series, they’re, they’re becoming bigger and better now, so they have so many more books than when I was a teenager. But those really helped me the most. And then again, just reading autobiographies by those.

Even a prominent leaders, for example, Michelle Obama, there’s so much that we learned about her. All we knew was that she was an amazing woman, and as a woman, we looked up to her by just reading, you know, her biography and the biography of my favorite artist. Those are the ones that really helped me the most.

I really loved, I also loved growing about the child reading The Diary of Anne Fe Now, It was more of a diary rather than a book, but just reading that the thing that she went through, you know, just she was able to think to her dad, she was able to tell her story. and just things, things like that just really kind of helped me to get through.

Of course, you know, from time to time I’m always investing and learning about how I can better myself in my own business. So not just personal development, but professional development too. So, you know, Gary V, even though he’s very explicit, he knows his stuff.

Aurora: Totally. So tell me a little bit more about how you help others use their own

fire.

Zaakirah: Well, I think you can start off with my, through my website of j and i.com. I do have one-on-one consultation. So I think the thing is that I wear a lot of hats. So if we start off with talking about, okay, you know what you wanna do, you’ve had this fire in you. You know, you want to talk about travel, you really wanna talk about finance, you really wanna help other people, but you don’t know where to start.

So most of the time when we just simply start with that conversation, then it kind of falls into, you know, I thought asking the important questions, the important question that they may not realize is important at that time. That sometimes you end up thinking, let me get back to you. That’s a good. So most the time just with my services marketing, or even when it comes to photographing, because I, I can be called of helping some people to become more confident in front of the camera.

Like sometimes all I would say was, you know, if you had this pose or if you do this, if you did that, you, it would look better, you would feel more confident. And then I realized that years later they, they’re taking that advice they’re using. They’re finding their best side in order to go live on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any social media platform.

Cause previously they. Just so unsure about their own voices and, and holding themselves back. So just I feel like just a matter of just having that simple conversation with me, it can start off with, I wanna start a tide hustle, but I don’t know where to go. Or even start off with, I have one and I need to know what direction I need to go, or I need help because social media is too much for me.

And then it’s kinda, I end up having all these other hats of being a productivity consultant. Just almost a mindset coach in a way, without even being a quote unquote lighting coach. I just end up coaching and guiding and helping people, you know, to get through and get through that, get through the fire, because they’re stuck, right?

They’re in the fire. They know that it’s there, they feel it, and it’s kind of bothering them, but they don’t know how to, you know, let it go, let the flame go, you know, in the direction that it needs to go.

Aurora: Hmm, totally. Well, awesome Is. Anything else that you’d like to share with the embracing Intensity audience?

Zaakirah: Well, I definitely encourage you, if you would like to learn more about me and learn more about my story, I definitely encourage you to listen to my podcast too. Mm-hmm. Live Legacy podcast. You can find that on my website. Zach, I, my first name is Arabic for the hereafter. My maiden name is Arabic and Lumin or Light, so Z aa K ir A H n A y Y A R dot.

The podcast is slash podcast, but there’s a tab for everything. There’s a tab to learn more about me, tab to um, work with me, a tab to be my photography. Whatever it is you wanna know about me, I try to have it there. I try to be as transparent as possible because that’s the only way that you can really kind of, You know, understand, you know who I am.

So I try to be as transparent as possible, and I try to live with as much integrity as possible too. So just, you know, if you wanna learn more about me, definitely check out my website. But I definitely encourage you to tap into your best version of yourself because someone needs you. You never know who but

So it’s not about, it’s not about me, it’s about. So Alicia Keys said that a few years ago she had this campaign going on with her, her foundation, but it it’s been with me. Yeah, I

Aurora: like that. . Well, I’m so glad that we connected. It’s funny because when I posted in that I hadn’t posted in that group in like months.

And I just randomly decided, Al, I’ll put my name in there. And then you saw it and we were able to connect and it’s such a great fit and I’m excited to share.

Zaakirah: It was so amazing. It was so meant to be. And I love what you’re doing too, so we need more people like you. So thank you. And please keep going,

Aurora: Thank you. Thanks so much.

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