Modeling with and in Favor of a Hijab

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)

Model: Maram Jarrar.

MARAM JARRAR. 23 years old. Lives and studies in Turkey since 2018.

To speak of Maram Jarrar is to speak of a tremendously happy, positive, and charming person. She defines herself as a very emotional person who lives life looking at each event and each opportunity in an exciting way.

Her beliefs, her strength and her courage make our model Maram an essential protagonist in our series “Person behind the model”. As soon as the interview begins, I asked her to tell me how her modeling career began, and she told me, laughing, that being a “model with hijab” is a long story…

I have a lot of time, so I am ready to listen to your “long” story of modeling with hijab

My story in the modeling world starts a little by chance, when a friend of mine suggested me to be her model for a photoshoot of a traditional Palestinian wedding… It was a funny and very beautiful experience to share. I felt very good and very comfortable in front of the camera. There was when I realized how much I liked it and I decided to dedicate myself to it.

What did your family tell you when you gave them the news?

I mentioned it to my family. They supported me to follow my dreams but, obviously, Palestine is not the best place to start a professional career in this field… And for this reason I decided to move to Istanbul in October 2018.

Why Istanbul?

Honestly, I think Istanbul is the perfect place for me, where I should be now. I have friends from many other places in the world, it is multicultural, as well as a beautiful place with infinity of beautiful places to visit. My plan is to finish my studies here and continue working on my modeling career from here, because it is better.

You define yourself as a “model with a hijab”. I guess you never thought to take it off. How does wearing the hijab affect your career?

The hijab issue is a bit harsh because the difficulty of wearing it or not, is not only for my family or my society, there is great difficulty in the agencies. Agencies do not accept hijab models and they all told me that I was not being professional and not committed to the industry. I defend that people can be responsible and very professional regardless of their image, their culture or their scars. Before judging, you must know the person. And I was judged only for wearing hijab and not for my abilities and my opportunities were cut without knowing me… But one day I discovered ModelManagement.com and all my luck changed.

“ModelManagement.com is the first platform that allows me to model and do it the way I am”

Tell me, how did your career and your aspiration in modeling change thanks to ModelManagement.com?

ModelManagement.com came into my life to change everything. Thanks to this platform I have had the opportunity not only to be a model I want to be but to work as a professional model. ModelManagement.com is the first platform that allows me to model and do it the way I am. I feel very lucky to be able to work thanks to the platform and to start in modeling, because normally it takes many years for people to find someone that trusts them, and ModelManagement.com gave me the opportunity from the first minute. All I can do is say thank you again and again for this opportunity.

I suppose you remember your first photoshoot perfectly…

Yes! Of course! Especially since it was so much fun. I did it with a Turkish photographer and at that time I did not speak Turkish fluently, nor did he speak English, which made it curious and funny to make us understand each other. It was a great experience and today, I am still in contact with him. It was phenomenal. In the end you always get along with the person on the other side of the screen and a wonderful atmosphere is created.

As a user, what would you say is the most interesting value of ModelManagement.com?

For me, the most interesting value or advantage that ModelManagement.com offers is diversity. The fact that the platform gives the same opportunity to all kinds of models, of any religion, of any nationality… Everyone is welcomed, and this is very important. Diversity and acceptance of others is, for me, ModelManagement.com’s greatest competitive advantage over other platforms.

“Thanks to ModelManagement.com I have been able to contact many people in the industry that I would never have met or could have worked with without the help and relations that the platform offers”

What do you value most about your experience with ModelManagement.com?

In October 2018 I arrived in Turkey. After two months, in December, I started using Modelmanagement.com and since then I haven’t stopped working. I have had many photoshoots and this makes me so happy, but I have to admit that the most beautiful thing about Modelmanagement.com is the number of friends from all over the world that I have made in all this time and with whom I am still in contact until now. In addition, this platform connects you with many people in the industry, you feel that you are within it. I have been a model, but it also allows me to work as a stylist… With Modelmanagement.com I can learn about many different fields of fashion and I love that. In fact, in the future I would like to study styling or fashion…

“In fashion, success lies in creating good online content”

How can aspiring models find their way into the fashion world?

In fashion, success lies in creating good content online. It is very important to know how to create good content that people like and that gives them good vibes, so they have a great interest in you. Currently, it is clear that the platform that can offer the most visibility is Instagram. Although many people use it just to show their physique, it is also a very powerful tool to show important values ​​such as beautiful personalities and self-confidence. I am continuously publishing content, not only because I’d love to have success and reach agencies and have many opportunities, but also because it is my essential tool to communicate all the messages and thoughts that I want to show. With social networks I feel that my voice can reach many aspiring models like me, to let them know that If you want it, you can make it and that’s why I put my effort day after day to reach as many people as possible.

Relationships are very important too. Thanks to Modelmanagement.com I contact many fashion professionals who want to work with me and the same thing happens on Instagram, there are people who see my photos and contact me to collaborate. You always have to be on the move.

What message would you give to models who possibly find the same barriers in their way that you found in their aspiration in the world of modeling?

I came to discover Modelmanagement.com because I never lost faith. That is why my message is to always be positive and never lose faith. In the end, everything comes if you fight hard. I can assure you that I have received many “No” in my life, but each one of them, I took it as a lesson and one more reason to not give up, keep trying, keep going. And most important of all: I always believe in myself. And I believe in my hijab, in my culture, in my soul and in my person. And since I’m proud of it, I don’t want to stop being who I am and that’s why I have enough strength to continue on my way.

Now that you have opportunities to take advantage of in your present, how do you see yourself in the near future? In five years, for example.

I do not know what will happen in the future, I do not know if I will become a supermodel or if I will become a stylist… Time passes quickly and it is difficult for me to think of everything that may come, but what is clear to me is that it would be very honorable to break all the walls that I have found along the way. I would like to be the person who begins to break down walls and that models that come behind do not encounter the same big difficulties that I had to face. Personally, I want to continue living in Istanbul or Dubai, cities where I can have great opportunities to work as a model with a hijab and to have good relationships… without limitations. I am sure that I will continue on the path I am taking because this is my passion and I have been working hard on myself to be the model I want to be. I know I’m not perfect, and I like that.

It seems you have a clear message…

That’s right! And my message is not related to the hijab, it is much more. It is giving a message of normality, that we are all perfectly imperfect, that we all have defects and problems in life. Sometimes the world of, for example, social networks, wants to show you the opposite, but it is not. I have a clear message for all models: love yourself, give yourself what you need and be what you want to be without thinking about what other people may think of you or how society could judge you. Be yourself always, please. Have faith in yourself and your ideas. Always follow your dreams and work on you. I will continue to aspire to be a great model and I hope to continue having many more opportunities with Modelmanagement.com not only as an applicant, but as a professional model. I hope all my dreams come true. I’m working in it.

That’s awesome, Maram. To finish, in the current delicate situation we are in, I am forced to ask you the following question: How do you think COVID-19 has affected the fashion world?

Honestly, I think that if we have learned anything with the COVID-19 it is to believe and to promote more than ever the tools and the infinite possibilities that the internet brings us. We have always been aware of that, but now we have a total and absolute conviction that online tools and methods are beneficial for everyone. And this is undoubtedly the great advantage that Modelmanagement.com offers, of which it has been a pioneer and which has made it possible that all users of the platform have not been affected by COVID-19 in our work any day during the pandemic.