Women We Love: 7 Questions with Iman Oubou

Iman Oubou is a Moroccan-American self-made entrepreneur, published scientist and former beauty queen (Miss New York US 2015 and 2nd Runner Up at the 2015 Miss United States pageant). She is on a mission to change the women's media landscape through SWAAY, a platform highlighting real stories of female leaders challenging the status-quo, and championing the voices of female change-makers through substantive and inspiring, user-generated content.

I caught up with Iman recently to get to know her in 7 questions!

1. What time do you wake up? 

Typically 6:30am now that I work mostly from home. 

2. Do you have a daily ritual you can’t live without? 

Listening to uplifting music and dancing while getting ready in the morning. It elevates my mood and amplifies my positive and gratitude thoughts. 

3. What are you working on right now that you’re excited about?

I am working on my first upcoming book, slated to be published Spring 2022. It's called The Glass Ledge: How to Break Through Self-Sabotage, Embrace Your Power and Create Success. It's a disruptive guide to help women reject societal double-standards and succeed by showing up as their authentic, vulnerable, powerful selves. And I can't wait to share it with all the women who feel stuck in their own ways and discouraged by societal preconceived notions. 

4. Do you have a productivity hack that you swear by?

I am very old school and traditional in the sense that the only productivity hack that's ever worked consistently for me is having a physical agenda in which I write my goals for the month, my goals for the week and my goals for the day and it gives me all the structure I need to stay on track. It is the first thing I look at every morning and the first thing I update every night. Being able to write (not type) my to-dos brings me closer to my goals. 

5. What do you love about your career?

There are so many things I love about my career like the fact that I have a sense of control over my goals and the direction I want to take and that I wake up every day feeling excited about being my own boss and executing on my own ideas. But the biggest thing I love about being the founder and CEO of a female forward publishing platform is the positive impact I have on helping women elevate their voices, share their stories and build their thought leadership. That really is the mission that drives my ambition. 

6. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? 

We don’t have to wait for the culture to change for us. We each have the power to change the beliefs and behaviors we don’t want. And it starts with you. 

7. What could you never give up? 

My voice! The true power we each have is having a voice and being able to use it. Finding my voice and using it in an impactful was has changed my life (and the life of others) in ways I could never imagine and now that I experienced it, I would NEVER give it up.

To read about more women I love and admire, check out @fran_hauser 🥰