In this first & featured episode of the Changemaker Highlight Series, we’re joined by Sherifah Yahaya Yunusa, a business and emotional well-being coach, founder of the Hayaah Summit, and writer of Unfinished Letters.
On this episode, Sherifah shares her journey of navigating years of people-pleasing and unmet expectations to rediscovering her purpose, after facing depression and anxiety as a young mother. Through powerful storytelling, she reflects on the turning points that helped her reclaim her voice and now guide her mission: helping women build emotionally aligned businesses and lives they don’t feel the need to escape from. She also shares her experience as a 2025 HoneyBrand™ Workshop attendee.
Listen to this episode on Spotify:
Who is Sherifah?
Sherifah is a business coach, emotional wellness coach, and personal growth coach on a mission to help women live lives where money isn’t the only thing growing.
She is a passionate CEO who is out to help women build a thriving business while prioritising their mental and emotional well-being. She is the founder of Hayaah Summit — An annual Business and wellness conference, writer of Unfinished Letters and the Host of The Unfinished Cast.
Sherifah’s mission is simple: To bridge the gap between money, success, wealth and wellbeing for women and be the voice for teenage girls who are growing with emotional baggage.
Through her coaching, podcast, newsletter, and event, she hopes to change the narrative around mental and emotional wellness and empower women to look beyond the numbers on their legacy-building journey.
Connect with Sherifah:
Visit her website: sherifahyahaya.com
Follow her on Instagram: instagram.com/iamsherifahyahaya
Join her Telegram Community: https://t.me/ultribe
Read the transcript below:
Note: The transcript has been edited to improve reading flow.
Ruqayyah:
Assalamu alaykum (Peace be upon you), and welcome back to the Flock Differently podcast. Today marks the first of our Changemaker Highlight Series, where I interview purpose-driven entrepreneurs from around the world to hear their stories, impact, and vision. Today, we’re joined by Sherifah, who is the writer of Unfinished Letters and founder of Hayaah Summit, a business and well-being event for women.
Thank you for being here, Sherifah. If you’d like to start off by introducing yourself and tell us about the work that you do.
Sherifah:
Hello, and thanks for having me here. I’m very, very honoured. My name is Sherifah Yahaya Yunusa. I’m a business and emotional well-being coach for women. But beyond the titles, I am someone who has walked through the struggles of anxiety, people-pleasing, and the weight of expectations, and came back with a deeper understanding of what truly matters.
My work is not just about building businesses, but it’s about building women—helping them redefine success in a way that honours their emotional well-being, personal capacity, and the life they actually want to live. Through my coaching, community, and content, I help women unlearn limiting beliefs, develop emotional resilience, and create sustainable good without sacrificing their peace, purpose, or presence in their own lives.
At the heart of it all, my mission is simple: to help women build businesses that feel good to run, and lives that don’t feel the need to escape from.
Ruqayyah:
That is a really, really beautiful mission and very relatable for women like myself—like ourselves, probably—who are listening to this, in having that balance in life. What would you say really led you to go into this line of work?
Sherifah:
One thing about the work that I’m doing is that it’s much more personal than business for me. Because growing up as a child, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. But that isn’t something that was genuinely my personal decision. In my family, I was regarded as one of the smartest. So my dad has always said, “We need to have a medical doctor in the family,” and, “You have the brain—you can study it.”
Right from when I was under five, whenever I discussed with my father, the talk was always around how I’m one day going to be a doctor. I remember when people asked me from primary school—career days and things like that—what do you want to become? My answer was just the default: “I want to be a medical doctor.” That was it.
When I became an adult, I didn’t get admission to study medicine. I felt like I had failed my parents, because the expectation was so huge. I lived with the guilt for years. It was hard, especially with my father. I noticed the disconnection, how he felt like I had failed him. He wanted me to be something, and then I didn’t go through with it.
It wasn’t intentional. I actually did get admission—I was called, “You have admission, come to the school and process your registration.” Then a week later, they said the admission had been given to someone else because I didn’t go immediately. So I had to go back and study another course that was along the line of science, but it wasn’t related to medicine and wasn’t something I could use to further in medicine.
I felt like a failure. When I got married, I had just one thing in mind: to do something that would make my family proud of me. I didn’t want it to seem like all hope was lost. So I wanted to do business. I wanted to do a lot of things.
On the outside, when people would ask, “Why are you doing this?” I’d say, “I want to help people,” or “I’m happy doing that,” but that wasn’t what I truly wanted. I didn’t discover that until I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder. It got so bad that I was having panic attacks. I had to take a step back, delete all my socials, leave the media, and just be with myself. I didn’t want antidepressants. I didn’t want anything.
I had to start questioning myself: What led to this? You’re still just 24—and you’re depressed? Why? What do you want? Why are you doing this to yourself?
That was the emotional journey of discovering myself. Accepting the fact that medicine wasn’t what I wanted was a discovery on its own. Learning to set healthy boundaries, to prioritise my own well-being, even as I cared deeply for others—especially my family—was a lightbulb moment.
Because growing up again, whenever I was sick and taken to the hospital, I didn’t like drugs. Even till this moment, I don’t take drugs. The only thing that will take me to the hospital is an injection. If it’s a drug, I’m not taking it. I’m very scared of hurting someone. Realising this, I felt like I’ve never really had the mind to even study medicine. I just wanted to be the perfect child, the perfect daughter—even though that wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted to make others proud.
This is just one part of it. Throughout my life, I’ve made decisions that I wasn’t pleased with as a person. They were just to please others, to be the person that everyone liked. I sacrificed myself, burnt out, and ended up with depression and anxiety disorder.
As a young mother at 24, I knew it was time to take control of my life. As Muslims, we know we don’t control anything. Our life is the least of what we can control. But there are decisions we can make—steps we can take—to live in a way that prioritises our emotional well-being. We can care for ourselves as much as we care for others. Because you cannot pour from an empty cup.
That’s why I’m passionate about this work. Because I know I’m just one out of thousands, if not millions, of women in the world who are living their lives just to fulfill expectations, to please someone, to seek validation, to prove that they’re worthy, that they’re not bad.
I want to be that troublemaker. I want to be that voice that stands and helps women rediscover themselves and live a life that truly nourishes and fulfils them. It takes hitting that breaking point to realise, success doesn’t mean anything if it comes at the cost of your wellbeing. I had to unlearn so much, to set boundaries and prioritise my emotional health, to lose friends.
Most importantly, I am now in a place where I am comfortable and happy with where I am. I am who I want to be. Still a work in progress, I don’t have all the answers, but I know where I am currently is better than where I have been all these years. Whatever I am doing, I have also come to understand that it has to truly align with who I am as a person. I don’t have to go out of my boundaries like I said earlier to fulfil anyone’s need, if it’s not displeasing to Allah it’s about communication, we have to sit down and talk about it. I don’t have to be the one to sacrifice it all.
Ruqayyah:
That’s a really, really profound story, with a lot of moments that I’d love to highlight. One thing you mentioned was about the external expectations—being expected to go into something and then allowing that to basically become your identity. I think it’s really amazing how you managed to flip that into realising that you don’t have to live according to those expectations. I also love that you mentioned about questioning yourself and taking that step back. I think taking that step back is a really important part of any growth journey, no matter which area of life you’re focusing on.
You said at the beginning it’s much more personal than business. So what would you say, in the work that you’re doing now with other women, is the core problem that you’re solving? And how would you say your approach is different from others that are maybe in a similar field, trying to work towards solving a similar problem?
Sherifah:
First off, I want to start by talking about the core problem that I’m solving. I said I’m a business and emotional well-being coach, and I know that the default people will be like, “Business? Emotional well-being?” My core problem is to help women—and anyone that is struggling with business—to take a step back, like you said, to discover their self. Because I believe that mental and emotional well-being is a crucial part of a business strategy. We don’t talk about this, but it is.
There’s this example I usually give: people will sign up for a programme and come out of the programme with different kinds of results. And the result that they have is hugely dependent on their thought process, the mindset that each person is in, the kind of resources, the energy, whatever they have. But not two persons will have the same results.
My work is to help women discover their self—to know that you matter as much as everything that you’re doing. To spotlight emotional and mental well-being, deep into discovering yourself, finding your purpose, learning to self-regulate, to set healthy boundaries, and overall prioritise your well-being. And the business strategy is like the cherry on top, because when you are in a state where you’re fine mentally, then executing isn’t a problem.
We hear procrastination, we hear people pleasing, we hear self-sabotage—these are things that we always hear, like “there’s struggle, business struggle”—but they are all tied to the emotional struggles that we’re passing through, the blocks that we’re having.
And what I do is different because I combine well-being and business. It’s not something that’s common out there. So it’s not just, “Oh, we’re doing business,” or “Oh, we’re doing well-being.” My approach prioritises emotional well-being, self-awareness, and inner peace alongside sustainable growth.
And what the outcome is, is that it helps women to redefine success on their own terms, to be able to build businesses that align with their values, and step away from the constant project to prove themselves. Instead of forcing themselves into this one-size-fits-all strategy or trying to follow someone’s footsteps or trying to prove something, I get them to find what truly works for them and would be sustainable for them in the long term.
Ruqayyah:
I love that. You know, something I would like to ask you—when you mention about building a business or doing things in a way to prove yourself—how can someone begin to understand that this is what they’re running on?
It’s actually something that’s relatable for me, because in business education—which I obviously constantly want to do to keep educating myself, to be able to give the best to my business and also to people that I help in building theirs—along that path, I found myself at times following along with advice that I came to realise didn’t really fit with where I wanted to go.
So how would you say, as a business and emotional well-being coach, women can begin to recognise that they are actually running from a place of proving themselves rather than being true to themselves? I’d love to hear your insights on that.
Sherifah:
This is a beautiful question, and thank you for asking.
The first step is to pay attention to your feelings. Pay attention to how you feel about it. For example, you go to a programme, and they advise that this is a strategy—implement the strategy. For example, they say, “Show up all the time,” or “Show up daily, you need to put yourself out there, you need to be louder.” And then you’ve started those things, you’ve been doing it maybe even a year, two years plus. But is it really something that you want to do?
That’s why self-awareness is very, very important. Because it’s through awareness that you can understand, “This gives me joy,” or “This doesn’t.” Reflection: “This is how I feel about this,” “This is how this makes me feel.”
So always put on that detective hat and filter through whatever you hear or whatever advice you’re given—even if it looks too good to be true. And it might actually be good. But does it fit your own current situation?
Look at what you have around you. Because it’s not just about business, it’s about life generally. What you’re doing—how does it impact the other areas of your life? Is that something that you would have been able to do for yourself or enjoy doing for yourself, but you’re not able to because you have to follow this blueprint that has been given to you?
So how do those actions impact the other areas of your life? Is it that, at the end of the business day, you’re doing everything, but at the end of the day you’re anxious, you’re tired, you don’t want to do anything else, you just want to go back to bed, sleep, tomorrow and wake up to it?
Is that what a fulfilled life looks like for you? Or do you want to be able to be present in other areas of your life?
So doing that constant reflection—to see how your business life is versus the other areas of your life—will help you figure out if there is something that is missing, if there’s an area that you’re lacking on, or if what you’re actually following isn’t serving you in the ways that you wanted it to.
At the end of the day, I think it depends on individual situations. What everyone wants from life is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all. But the core thing is that reflection—reflecting constantly, to ask yourself questions. And if you don’t have the answers, you can always seek help.
Ruqayyah:
Yeah, I love how you approach that. Can you share a moment with us where you’ve seen the direct impact of your work, that’s made you think, “This is why I do this”?
Sherifah:
So the number one impact—like, result—is me seeing myself. Where I used to be versus where I am now, and where I would be in the future. There’s a lot of difference. Like not being in that constant pressure, “Do this, do that, you need to be like this and like that.” And that doesn’t even mean you have to ignore business, but that self-awareness, working on my emotional stability has given me more freedom, more capacity to be able to do other things for myself.
There’s a lady that I worked with last year. At the end of the work—it was a three-month coaching—she said that she asked Allah to help her with her business, and she came across my page on Instagram, and she connected with me, and we did the work. There was a huge change for her. She was a young girl, but she was under this constant pressure to prove a point because she’s seen as a failure in her family.
Compared to her other siblings, she seemed to be the one behind. She has amazing skill sets. Then she decided, “Okay, let me do a business. At least if my business is successful, they would see me like I’m worth it.”
With my own story, it was almost the same thing. So she came online to do business and she sees people doing similar things, and then the imposter syndrome kicks in. She felt like she could never match up, she could never do this, she could never do that. And the emotional rollercoaster… She dumped the business three months in, maybe after a year she comes back, does it again, dumps it.
And that’s the impact of not working on yourself emotionally. So from that work, she was able to rediscover herself, to prioritise herself more, to let go of things that she can’t control. Because one of the ways to keep yourself emotionally stable is to not try to be in control of everything. There are things that are out of your power—just leave it, let it be. Focus on what you can change—the little change that you can make to feel better, to become a better person.
And at the end of the work, she felt different. She developed self-confidence. She’s able to take on and do things for herself. Alhamdulillah, she went back to working because she found that that is more fulfilling for her than running a business. She’s working, she’s earning sustainable income, and she feels happy. And that’s the essence.
And I feel so happy to be able to help her facilitate that. Alhamdulillah. And it’s just proof how much change can happen in our life once we start paying attention to our emotional self. She came to me for business, but she left a different person. Alhamdulillah, Allah helped me—used me—to facilitate that change for her, and I am grateful. And it also proved to me that what I’m on is something that would create real transformation in people’s lives.
Ruqayyah:
Yes, that’s a beautiful story. And I love the judgment-free—is that the right word that I’m looking for?—way that you concluded what she was able to take away from that coaching experience with you. I think that’s just a big testament to what you’ve said—it’s about finding your path and making sure that your business or what you’re doing is aligning with all areas. And I really love that about your work.
How do you measure success beyond traditional metrics? In thinking about the business side of what you’re doing and growing for yourself. There’s a lot of traditional metrics that we are sold—if we’re not achieving these, it means that we’re not really achieving or we’re not really growing. How do you measure success, yourself, outside of these metrics?
Sherifah:
It’s a beautiful question, I would say, because I used to ask myself, like, “Okay, how do I measure—what’s this—what were they?” (laughs) You know, the more you ask, the more clarity you get.
So for the world, success is accolades. It’s more followers, more reach, more views, more revenue, scaling to million-dollar years, million-dollar months—like that. But for me, success goes beyond numbers. For me, it’s about impact, it’s about alignment, and it’s about emotional well-being.
Success for me is when a woman reads my newsletter, when they listen to my words, they should feel seen. Success for me is when she starts making decisions from a place of confidence instead of fear. When she stops overextending herself for validation. If my work, my content—whatever I put out—sparks even a small shift in someone’s life, that’s success for me.
For me, it’s not about proving something to the world. I’m not that person anymore. It’s about living a life that feels true to who I am. And if I can do that while creating impact, then I know I’m on the right path.
There is no constant pressure to reach a certain number or goals. It’s about how many people are getting transformation from the work that I’m doing. How many people are changing? How many people are becoming better?
Because my goal is to support women—to facilitate them to become better people, to help facilitate that journey for them, give them that support to become better persons. So I measure my success by the number of women I have helped who have seen differences in their life. Not the numbers that I accumulate over the years.
And that feels fulfilling for me. It gives me a different perspective on how I can help people. And it puts me on track to always keep myself in check: Am I giving enough transformation? Am I doing this? These are the questions I’m asking myself—not, “Why haven’t we reached this number?”
That’s enough for me.
And again, I hold on to the belief, as a Muslim, that business should be a fair trade. It shouldn’t be about me increasing the numbers—but the people that are putting in the money, are they getting the same result? So I use that to keep myself in check as well. That whatever I put out, it shouldn’t be largely based on how it can benefit me as the business owner, but about how it can create transformation for whoever experiences it as well.
So it’s about flipping it from just me to both of us benefiting from it.
Ruqayyah:
Yes, I love the fair trade metric a lot, absolutely. I think that’s something that we should all implement in some way or another.
What is a belief or philosophy that guides how you’re showing up in your work and how you’re putting it out there, promoting it? How are you aligning that with your own beliefs or a certain philosophy?
Sherifah:
I believe that business should never come at the cost of your well-being. And success should feel like home, not a battlefield.
And the way that I do that is to filter through strategies—to make sure that they’re in alignment with my work. And what I say to clients as well. So it’s not about dumping strategy on them or saying, “This is how I am doing this. What works for you?” That way, it’s always about conversation to make sure that they get the same value as well.
Because true success isn’t about fitting into someone else’s definition. It’s about creating a path that honours who you are.
That’s why I love my work—because it’s deeply rooted in emotional well-being and business strategy that align with your energy, without the self-sacrifice.
So I believe that business should not be the only thing growing. Live a life where business isn’t the only thing growing—where income isn’t the only thing growing. The other areas of your life.
Like for me personally, I am a Qur’an teacher. I have children. I have other things that I love to do for myself outside of business. And to be able to do those things, my business needs to honour me. To be able to honour my life. To be able to accommodate all of that together.
It’s not a situation where I spend most of the time on business—I’m schooling as well—like, most of the time on business that I don’t have time for other things in my life. No. Business should never, ever come at the cost of well-being. Neither should success be like this constant battlefield where you need to prove a point, you need to violate yourself, you need to—like people need to see that, “Oh, this person, she’s doing amazing.” No. It’s not like that.
Ruqayyah:
I love your focus on the full package, definitely. Saying that business, at times, it can get challenging. It can be… I think I would even say especially as women, with those responsibilities and energy levels that are up and down. Let’s face it, we have those monthly cycles that can’t help but shift the moods and all things. So on those hard days, what keeps you going in the work that you’re doing?
Sherifah:
I resonate. I believe not me alone—every behaviour, business—and especially women, like you said, are going to resonate with the hard days because it comes, like I say, with the cycle. There is this fluctuating rate of emotions, from high to low like that. So hard days are inevitable in our life. We are not promised a perfect life anyway.
But what keeps me going is the reminder that my work isn’t just about me. You know, I’ve shared a story with you before, last time—it’s about the women who are silently struggling. The girls, the young girls, the teenagers, the young moms, women who feel unseen, unheard, women who feel exhausted by the pressure to be everything to everyone.
On some days I remember why I started. I once needed the very guidance that I give. I know what it feels like to be trapped in the people-pleasing, burnt out, and even self-doubt.
And some days I remind myself that transformation doesn’t happen in comfort. It happens in the messy, the in-between spaces. And if I can help even one person find clarity, peace, or permission to show up as themselves, then every challenge is worth it.
I don’t need all the answers—I don’t. I just need to take the next step, to trust that even in the struggle, I am still becoming. And that’s enough.
Just holding on to that belief that, oh, it’s not just me. It can be hard, but there are people out there who need the work that I do. There are people that Allah has sent me down to facilitate some form of change for them. And if I hold back because of hard days, because of a challenge, how would they get it?
Allah has used a lot of people to help me in one way or the other. And that’s how the world is—we are to support each other, help each other one way or the other. So the fear that if I stop, the people out there that would benefit from the work I am doing—the people out there that Allah has put me here to help—would never get it if I give up. He wouldn’t let me.
I have stopped—like, my journey has not been like a straight path. It has been break, coming back, break, coming back, break, coming back. I just cannot give up. I can’t. And it’s because of those women—they’re out there.
When I converse, when I talk with women, I see that yes, there are people like that that need what I’m doing. And this is just within the community. If we see it on a large scale in the world, there are people that need the help.
Because this issue of generational trauma, emotional stability, or even mental health—it’s not something that… it’s not a conversation that people are ready to have in the world. When you think of mental health or someone being mentally unstable, they think of a madman on the street. And it’s not a madman on the street that is mentally unstable. There are people who are fine, they don’t look like a madman, and they are not in the right state of mind.
So if I am chosen to help facilitate that journey, I can’t give up on that. No matter the challenges—it’s going to come, and it can come in different forms and shapes. But to not give up and to always pray to Allah to help purify my intention and keep me firm on it—now that is it for me. It’s not easy. It’s not for everyone. Whatever form of impact that we’re creating, however it looks like in the world—now that is it for us all. May Allah make it create the transformation that we desire, that will please and travel.
Ruqayyah:
So grounding yourself and realising that you’re needed. And I love the mention of being a means for people and remembering that others have been a means for you. I think that’s a wonderful way to look at it.
You were one of the HoneyBrand™ Workshop attendees, and I’d love to speak a little bit about your experience in the workshop and how it’s helped you in creating your brand foundations. What would you say initially was the thing that drew you to the workshop itself, and what were you hoping to get out of it?
Sherifah:
This one—I love to talk about this one, because I have been following you for like years now. I’m like a big, a big fan of your work.
The first thing—when I first met you—the first thing that connected me was like, you’re a Muslim woman, I am a Muslim woman. You’re a Niqabi, I’m a Niqabi. That’s like the first thing—like, oh, let me listen to her, let’s listen.
So over the years I have seen how you evolved. And one thing that has been constant is how you position your brand—like no other. I’ve seen different people, but there is something about you that I don’t see anywhere. And to be able to hold that ground such that when you put up something, it’s still tied back to the personality or perspective where you’re holding—that’s something that I want with my brand as well.
I want to have that clarity, to have that positioning, something that makes me different, that no matter what—I am just, I’m just me. And the normal way we look at this is, “Oh, share what makes you different.” You know, I’ve heard all the talk. I’ve been in programmes that say, “Share what makes you different,” “No one can copy you.” But it’s not everyone that knows what exactly they need to share for people to see that, “Oh, this is this person.”
Some people even mistake it for sharing personal life—like sharing your personal stories, sharing your sob stories, all of that. What makes people—but it doesn’t.
And so when you put out the HoneyBrand™ Workshop, one thing that stood out for me was that you talked about the workshop being about working through your method—your HoneyBrand™ method—and how that includes positioning and messaging. That was the first thing that came up for me. Like: positioning and owning my perspective, and standing up as a leader of the movement that I’m leading. That was what stood out for me.
And I felt like, I need to be in this. I need to join this.
Ruqayyah:
Yeah. I really appreciate it—seeing you following along. And yeah, it’s good to know that the positioning element is the thing that stood out to you. I think that’s really, really interesting, actually.
Also, actually, in the newsletter that I sent yesterday, I had highlighted that exact question that you said about sharing what makes you different. And even in my early days of doing the consulting work, that question has always been one that is just so bland, because there’s always that response where, you don’t really know where to start. It’s a humongous question (laughs).
Like, what am I going to start sharing?
Sherifah:
Exactly. LIke, what am I supposed to share? That kind of guides people towards the wrong direction because you start sharing things that you think will resonate, but that’s not even… Or sometimes you even share something that is totally off point just because you want to be.
And I’ve also seen people say, “Oh, you need to be the attractive character,” or “You can choose an identity—maybe you want to be like an outlaw, you want to be like someone people like,” and all of that. And just position that out there as, “This is the identity of this person.”
And seeing that you talk about, no—it has to be your purpose, who you be—that really stood out for me. And I do tell people: there is no need in building business… you don’t need to go and say, “Oh, I want to be like… I’ve seen this brand, they use memes and comedy and all of that, I want to be like that person.”
No. No, it’s not sustainable. Maybe you’re not even someone that, when you crack jokes, it’s funny enough for people to laugh. And now you want to build a brand because that makes you laugh—you like your brand because it makes you laugh and all of that.
It has to be what’s in you, what you love to do. And I love your perspective and your take on it.
Ruqayyah:
Very funny your mention about, you know, just taking the inspiration and then making a persona around it. Yeah, definitely—that’s not the right way to do it.
So was there a specific moment during the workshop itself that really shifted your perspective or gave you that clarity about your brand?
Sherifah:
It’s day three—Know Your Culture. And I think that was where we did the perspective work.
Because initially, before I joined the workshop, I was positioning as a business coach for business entrepreneurs. And behind that work—I always tell people this—I see a new perspective from the workshop. Because before the workshop, even though I say this is what I’m doing, the work that I do with people when they come to me is more of the emotional work than the business work. And that used to create so many epiphanies and moments for them.
So I was struggling between—between my identity, the work, the way I love to talk about the emotional well-being, the depression, the anxiety, how I help people through it—versus the business. Where do I stand? Am I supposed to say, “Oh, let’s do this”? “Oh, let’s do that”?
But no—you helped me to be able to bring them together and create the holistic approach. To be able to just be me and my perspective—me and my purpose. That was everything for me.
I know when we got to day three, I had to go back to day one and start the work again. Yeah. It was really, really worth it. Because now I’m not feeling conflicting with what I’m doing. I know that yes, this has been what I always wanted to do, but I never got the clarity on how to move forward with it.
Ruqayyah:
I love the merging of what you want to do, because something that I—as a multi-passionate—it’s kind of difficult navigating this kind of scene because you have that message that you need to just shave it all down and be very simple and just do one thing. And I think there’s definitely a way that you can honour all of those passions, honour the whole vision, and still put it out there in a way that it makes sense.
It’s not about fitting into a box that someone told you is the way to do it. It’s about packaging what you actually want to put out there.
So, how did the workshop help you to refine or strengthen your messaging or strategy specifically?
Sherifah:
A lot. Because the clarity that I have gotten from the workshop has helped me to be able to define what my transformation would look like when I put both things that I do together.
What would be the right people? Because if we talk about the emotional well-being—there are audiences. If we talk about the business—but bringing them together means that I have to accommodate some things in the audience and come up with a new ideal audience avatar that would fit in.
And most importantly, how I can create the experience or help them get the transformation. And not that alone, but how to talk about the transformation in a way that resonates and makes sense for them. Because it’s not enough that you’re putting together something impactful, something powerful—but if the people that need it don’t feel like it’s powerful for them or it makes sense for them to be in it, then there’s no need.
So that has really impacted the marketing strategy, the offer creation, and also the audience. It has done a little bit here and there in how the brand is turning up. But yeah, those are the highlights for me.
Ruqayyah:
I’ve seen how—yeah, ma sha Allah—you have elevated and brought together what you’re doing. I’ve really loved seeing it, especially coming across Unfinished Letters that you launched recently.
For someone who is listening now and they’re considering joining a future workshop, what would you say to them?
Sherifah:
I would say: what are you waiting for?
Because the work that you’re doing itself—I know that you do more of consulting and one-to-one work—and now, having tested what you like, when you put together the HoneyBrand experience, I would say the person should join. There is nothing to hold back to.
Because you will discover things about your brand that you’ve never… You’ll be telling yourself, like, “I never thought of it that way.” That clarity is going to be there. You are going to leave the programme a different person.
And I’m telling you this from someone that understands the business strategy, the marketing strategy kind of thing. But the work of branding in business cannot be—like, you cannot remove branding out of it.
For years I have been struggling. I have been… I’ve joined multiple programmes on how to do this positioning. Because the work that you do is one-to-one, and I’m not really having that close relationship with you—I’m just like an admirer from afar.
So even before I came across it, I’ve done a lot of branding programmes. I’ve joined marketing, messaging… I’ve been someone who loves to learn, so I’ve been upskilling.
But HoneyBrand Workshop gave me something entirely different. It’s not even out there. I’ve not seen it. I’ve not seen it.
How you’re able to draw everything back to the purpose of the person—it’s really mind-blowing for me. Because sometimes—even your business idea might even change when you get into the workshop. Maybe the business you’re running is not your purpose. You’re just doing it for the… “We need to just do something.”
But joining it has helped me to go back to my purpose. Go back to how the purpose even came to be. Like, the backstory of the purpose. To figure out that, “Okay, I am now clear—like this, this, this.”
Your stories—maybe even from your childhood, like mine—to figuring out, “Okay, this makes sense. This is what I should be doing. This is what’s effortless for me. This is what brings me fulfilment and joy.”
That’s everything for me. I feel like every other marketing would just be like cherry on the top of branding.
And compared to your other programmes, I feel like someone who is even on the fence should join that. If you’re like, “Oh, doing the work personally one-on-one with you isn’t feasible for them because of the cost of having that personalised access”—it’s the best. But if you can’t, then this should be where you start from.
From this one, you have something to hold on to before they come to you for the one-to-one.
Ruqayyah:
Yes. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It’s been really, again, wonderful having you and just seeing your growth throughout the process.
Yeah. I’m very happy that you’ve been a part of it.
So looking ahead now for the work that you’re doing with your coaching—and if you want to talk a bit about your event as well—where do you see this mission taking you in the next five to ten years?
Sherifah:
Sometimes I used to feel like, “Oh Sherifah, you’re dreaming too big. Go big or go home.” (laughs) So I see myself in the next five to ten years hosting my events annually, from virtual to physical. Because this issue of mental well-being, emotional well-being, needs to be in every corner of the world.
My goal for my business, five–ten years, is to be able to reach as many women as I can, to be able to help them facilitate that growth, and to take the work back to grassroots. You remember the conversation I had with you the last time about young girls-as a child, there are so many things that you pass through growing up, depending on the community, the environment that you grow up in, that would end up leaving some emotional wounds, trauma. We talk about childhood traumas and all of that attachment stuff.
These things—young girls carry them. And it causes them to make decisions that are not even… that are not the right fit. So I hope that one day in the nearest future, I will be able to reach out to young girls, teenage girls, and even young mothers and talk about this, do this emotional well-being work with them as I’m doing with women right now.
Because that would reduce the impact of starting it as an adult, or having to make multiple wrong decisions before making the right one. Any of those things could have been avoided. I look at myself and I’m like, if when I was in high school—or maybe when I got back from high school—I understood this, I had self-awareness, I had all these tools that I have now, there are some decisions that I wouldn’t have made. I wouldn’t have.
And to be able to support them from that young age—to start practising, develop themselves, heal from trauma if they have it, cultivate that emotional well-being and prioritise their well-being, every other thing that they’re doing in the world—that is something that I would love to do. And may Allah use it for me.
So that’s my future plan. To be able to spread the work everywhere. I want to go to the grassroots and do that work so that even when you choose like, “Okay, I want to get married early,” you’re going to get prepared emotionally. You are ready for the task of being a wife and being a mother.
Maybe in your 30s, you’re discovering like, “Oh, I have trauma,” all of that. Or maybe mid-20s, you’re discovering while you’ve been raising a child—and now you’re going to raise a child with that wound.
So I hope that Allah makes it easy. That’s why I’m very passionate about this work. I love to talk about it. Alhamdulillah. May Allah ease it.
The dream is big—bigger than me. May Allah bring people that would help me facilitate it, who have the same vision. May Allah connect me with them and make it easy for me to be able to aim for the success.
Ruqayyah:
Aameen, yes. I love the focus on the preparation—and yeah, how the emotional well-being ultimately helps you to have that strength to tackle what you’ve mentioned.
Who or what would, could be either, has been your biggest influence on this path, and how do you feel that that has really shaped your journey?
Sherifah:
SubhanAllah. Last year—I think it was last year—that I listened to a podcast from Women of Qur’an. The first person of the Ustadha Sara Salih. She’s a psychologist. She works in mental health, community work, and I think she’s on the path of Islam.
And when I listened to the way—the conversation that they had on the podcast—and how she’s evolved, and everything she’s been through, I saw a version of myself in her. Because I’ve been interested in psychology, mental health, it’s something I’ve already discovered that I’m already on that journey. And seeing that someone is actually out there doing that work and supporting the community gave me more encouragement to keep going.
Ruqayyah:
Using that gift—I think that’s something that we could all take away, and use as a spot of motivation to really reflect on the bigger impact of what it is that we’re doing.
So with that in mind, what would you say is one thing that you could share—something of wisdom or advice—with someone that is listening now, and they also want to create meaningful change, whether it’s in their community, with their business, or on a wider scale. What’s one piece of wisdom or advice that you would share with them?
Sherifah:
I would say: focus on who you are becoming. Because your work, your message, and your influence will only be as powerful as the person behind it.
Focus on integrity, alignment, and self-awareness, because those things will take you further than strategy ever will.
So before you try to change the world, create those meaningful impacts—ask yourself: “Am I living what I want to teach?” “Am I embodying what I want to create?”
When your actions, your intentions, and values align, you won’t have to chase impact. Your presence will create it naturally.
Just like the conversation I heard with her—that was my first ever experience of knowing who she is and hearing her speak—but just the way that she talked about her journey and everything, it just connected me instantly. And she has done something for me without even knowing.
So the focus should be on yourself. Don’t be in a rush to go out there and do something. Take a step back and work on yourself. The better you become, the better the impact you will be able to create, and the more meaningful it will be.
Ruqayyah:
That’s definitely a gem of an advice there. I love the way that you framed the presence based on what you’re being or doing now, with that vision of who you’re becoming. I think that’s a really great way to look at that.
So we’ve come to the end of our interview now. It’s been really, really wonderful just hearing your story, hearing what you’re doing now, and digging into your whys and hows. And I’ve really loved every minute of it.
For someone that is listening and resonating with what you’re saying, and they want to find out more about where they can reach you—what is the best place to find you, and what’s the best way for them to engage with what you’re doing?
Sherifah:
The best place to find me is on Instagram @iamsherifahyahaya. If you want to connect with me, the best way would be to go and join Unfinished Letters on Substack. It’s the newsletter where I’m sharing everything. That’s where you can be to learn from me.
And if you feel like, “Oh, I want this person to help me on my journey,” then I am more than welcome to help you through that journey, to facilitate that change that you want to see in yourself. But before you do that, you can join the community to be sure that this is the person that I want to work with.
I love to work with people that are ready for change. I love to work with people that are very sure of what they need. It’s very important for me, because I’ve been in places where I didn’t feel like, “Oh, let me join,” and then you join and it’s like, “Oh, I don’t need this.”
When people come to me, they should be ready, and they should also be sure that, “This would help me.” I know that it will help you, but you also need to accept that it will help you.
So to start engaging with me is to read Unfinished Letters.
And of course, I am the founder and host of Hayaah Summit—an annual business and emotional well-being conference for women. The first one is going to be 12th and 13th of April this year (2025), so you can sign up to experience all the amazing discussions that will be happening. And it’s something that I hope to be doing every year.
So I’ve mentioned three places that you can connect with me: on Instagram, joining Hayaah Summit, and reading Unfinished Letters. And if you’re confident about working with me, you can always reach out to me on Instagram or look out for when I put anything out there.
Ruqayyah:
Thank you for sharing. And again, thank you for being a guest, Sherifah. Again, it’s been a wonderful conversation—and we’ll catch you all in the next episode.
Sherifah:
Thank you.
