Hakima moves for confidence
“Being physically active has been important for my physical well-being, but more importantly, for my mental health.”
Hakima Hoseini runs for physical health, mental strength, faith, and confidence. As a Muslim woman who has often felt judged in sport spaces, running helps her feel grounded in her body and connected to a larger community.
Hakima Hoseini knows what it feels like to be seen before being understood.
“As a woman running wearing a scarf, I don’t fit the perfect image of a runner,” she says.
That feeling could have kept her away from sport. Instead, it became part of why movement matters. Hakima has often been underestimated or judged because of how she dresses and how others imagine a runner should look. But running gave her a way to challenge that image without having to explain herself first.
For Hakima, physical activity supports her body, but it has been even more important for her mental health. “Being physically active has been important for my physical well-being,” she says, “but more importantly, for my mental health.”
Running offers space to breathe, think, and move through stress. It also gives her a way to feel connected to people she might otherwise never speak to. “Sport breaks barriers,” she says. “When running, I say hello to people who I would not talk to if I was on a casual walk.”
Those small exchanges matter. A nod from another runner, a hello on the path, a shared understanding in motion — each one reminds Hakima that belonging can happen quietly, without needing everyone to be the same.
“When runners pass each other, there is that small exchange of words or head nods that makes you feel you belong to a larger community,” she says. “At that moment, any difference between us disappears.”
Her story is about more than running. It is about moving through self-doubt, visibility, and the pressure of not fitting the expected image. It is about faith, identity, and the confidence that grows when the body is allowed to take up space.
Hakima moves for confidence.