Sania Khiljee is a lifestyle blogger (@SaniaKhiljee) on all social media platforms, author of "Brown Girls are Beautiful" on Amazon, and serial entrepreneur.
I’m still in disbelief every time my family & I discuss my late grandfather’s life….
He was orphaned by the age of 10, and he had two younger siblings that he had to work to support.
He single-handedly raised them, and eventually, when he married, he had four kids of his own.
My father was his youngest child.
My father grew up in Pakistan, but he moved to the U.S. to attend the University of Houston.
He would not have been able to immigrate if it were not for his elder brother, who helped him throughout the process, housed him, helped feed him, etc.
My dad studied hard, but the economy was going through a downturn when he graduated.
Though he’d majored in engineering, he was not able to find a job in his field.
He ended up selling insurance instead, and eventually, he opened his own agency.
That agency was the start of his entrepreneurial journey, and from there, he built a series of multi-million dollar businesses.
That is not, however, the most impressive thing my father achieved.
I think, deep down, he never forgot his father’s struggle, so as soon as my father had the funds, he helped build a school in Pakistan for children in poverty.
The Jamil Campus is now open and running in partnership with The Citizens Foundation, and it is not only a way to honor my late grandfather….
It is the most inspiring thing my father has done, and I hope to be able to follow in his footsteps to help those in need at every opportunity.
“Stop wasting time on social media” is what I was told over and over again.
It was a distraction—and if I wanted to be successful, I should focus on a real career—and while it was tempting to give up, I couldn’t.
I couldn’t stop, because content creation wasn’t an end goal for me.
It was (and continues to be) my life.
I am storyteller at heart, and social media is my medium.
2015 is when I started, and since then, I’ve put in hours and hours every single day.
While my followers grew, my income did not…
Despite building over 100k followers on IG, 600k followers on TikTok, and 1M followers on Facebook, I wasn’t making much money.
I felt like a failure.
“Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.” -Einstein
Then, I decided to try something different.
Instead of focusing on what I didn’t have, which were reliable streams of income from social media, I focused on what my perfect future would look like.
I’d often heard of the Law of Attraction, but it wasn’t until I put it into practice that I became a true believer in the power of visualization exercises.
I imagined signing with a talent agency.
I imagined building long-term partnerships with brands that I truly loved.
I even imagined what it would look like to hit a million followers on IG & TikTok, and while this hasn’t come true yet, the first two have.
If you’re beginning to feel frustrated by constant failure, try to change your focus.
Focus on what you will achieve—versus focusing on what you haven’t achieved yet.
It’s a slight shift, but it’s the most powerful shift that you will ever make.
Pregnancy was anything BUT glamorous for me, and even though my daughter is my whole entire life, it is an experience that I’m not likely to repeat…
Let me explain
When I was 27, I had a vivid dream that I was holding a curly-haired baby girl, and in my heart and soul, I knew I would have a baby soon.
At that time, we weren’t trying, but my husband would be thirty soon, and I convinced him that we should begin family planning…
Two months later, I was pregnant
As soon as my husband and I discussed the possibility of having a baby, I stopped my anti-depressants—including Zoloft and Xanax.
These medications are essential for my health, and being off of them (along with the hormonal roller coaster ride that is pregnancy) made me extremely anxious.
Every single day I was convinced something bad was going to happen to the baby.
I think deep down, I felt like it was too good to be true—too miraculous to be real—and I was extremely anxious.
This began to change when I could feel the baby’s kicks…
That became the best part of pregnancy for me. Her kicks were my reassurance that she was okay, and my God was she active!
Soon after that, though, I was diagnosed with Choleostasis, which is a condition of the liver that can cause complications in the child, including stillbirth.
My pregnancy became high risk, and my nerves were back to an ALL TIME high.
I did not relax until I was in the hospital room, induced, and about to give birth.
That’s finally when I felt I could breathe, because I knew I was in good hands…
And when they put my daughter on my chest…
Well, that was the most beautiful moment of my entire life.
My father immigrated to the US from Pakistan during college & began to attend school at the University of Houston.
He later graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, but right as he graduated, the economy collapsed and he was unable to find a job in his field.
He began to sell insurance—but he was the only person of color in his company, and this led to conflict with his co-workers.
He was let go, so he ended up starting his own insurance company.
At the time, all he had enough money for was a phone and one month’s rent…
He had a wife and baby (me) that were dependent on him, and I remember growing up in his office.
Well, from that single office unit selling insurance—my dad has built a multi-million empire of various companies.
When faced with a challenge, he does not give up.
He’s extremely creative and is constantly coming up with new business ideas.
Even in his 60s, he hustles harder than almost everyone else I know…
And every single day, it is my father who inspires me to be the best I can.
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