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28-year-old Iman Sayed just became WestJet’s first hijab-wearing flight attendant. Originally from Egypt, Iman fell in love with travel while on a trip to Cuba and said that she loved the idea of discovering new cultures and instantly fell in love with it. she is currently based out of Toronto, Ontario.
It was this desire of working in a field that would allow her to mix her passion for travel and career that led her to seek employment as a flight attendant. Prior to the pandemic, she had worked for WestJet as a flight attendant for five years. However, when COVID-19 hit in 2020, like so many other airline employees, Iman found herself out of a job. Initially devastated over losing her dream job, Iman soon found the silver lining in the situation.
During this time off, she went out of her comfort zone and build a stronger relationship with her faith, which allowed experience a great deal of spiritual and mental growth. She began wearing hijab, the Islamic headscarf. She found time to expand her lash business, @cairominx and was fortunate enough to find a new career path in mechanical engineering as a power transmission rep.
After her 18-month break, Iman was able to return to the airline industry renewed, refreshed, and happy to be back to doing what she loves. She said that working as the airline’s first hijabi flight attendant gave her an amazing feeling, especially after having experienced discrimination due to her hijab..
“It happens all the time, but I find that killing people with kindness works best. Sometimes I forget that I am wearing the hijab until it’s pointed out to me by people’s behavior and body language! However, I am always open to educate those that need clarification.”
“It didn’t hit me that I’d be the airline’s first flight attendant to wear a hijab until I started inquiring about how to wear it with uniform compliance”. She mentions that she hopes this will encourage other hijabis to apply and work in similar fields, or for muslim workers to feel comfortable wearing the hijab in their place of work.
Now that travel has resumed, Iman is looking forward to getting back to seeing the world. She had traveled back home to Egypt a month before the pandemic began, visiting family in Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan.
You can follow Iman’s travels at @imann.sayed on Instagram.
Photo credits: courtesy of Iman
