Toronto’s Muslim fashionistas will be converging on the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on August 23d and 24th to take part in the city’s first International Muslim Fashion and Design Festival (IMFDF).

Although the event will bring together some of the world’s Muslim fashion royalty with an array of leading designers, models, bloggers and YouTube hijab tutorial celebrities, time is also being prioritized to provide educational opportunities on issues like fair trade and ethical consumerism.

In this installment of my column, I interview just one local convert about her experiences raising her children as Muslim while having non-Muslim parents. Dr. Aisha Sherazi was born and raised in the UK, and migrated to Canada in 2000. She hails from a Hindu family, and is of Indian origin. She writes freelance editorials in various newspapers and resides in Ottawa, Canada. She now works as a spiritual counsellor for teenagers and teachers at Merivale High School, and conducts workshops across the city on the dangers of stereotyping. She helps represent the Muslim Community of Ottawa on COMPAC for the Ottawa Police Service and sits on the board of the Islamic Social Services Association of Canada. Happily married with two busy children, she also writes poetry and fiction in her spare time