Zainab Khan meets women in cafes and listens to their stories while she paints on their hands.
Browsing on Instagram I came across a beautiful profile that caught my attention. With a fine and well-conceived design, the account tells the stories of women in London, LA and San Francisco through pictures and soundbites. In its description, it concedes it is like ‘Humans of New York’ but with a little twist: these stories involve coffee and henna. Charming women’s stories.
The woman behind this human thought-provoking project is Zainab Khan, 24, a cheerful anthropologist with a beautiful broad smile. She generates inspiration and enthusiasm about other women’s hopes and dreams. A citizen of the world, she was born in Germany and travelled around the world a lot while she was growing up, living in about 10 different towns in Germany, US, Canada and UK.
“Moving around a lot, meant exposure to different peoples, different cultures and societies. So I've always had an interest in people and their stories,” she explains.
On top of that her parents are Pakistani, so she has strong roots in their country, which are reflected in the incorporation of the Henna tradition into her project. How did she start with Coffee and Henna?
“It’s a long story,” says Khan, and it turns out she’s not exaggerating!
First, while she was at university thinking about what to do her dissertation on – a dilemma many of us can relate to – she became interested in the aspirations of British South Asian girls and how they are often harmonised with their culture and family. This subject would prove to be a big inspiration, as was her first job at ADAY, a lifestyle brand startup in New York, which creates technical clothes for working women. During this experience she was exposed to inspiring women that inspired her back.
“I've always been fascinated by stories of women and what drives them. When I got back [to London] from New York, I wanted a way to meet women, share stories and be creative. And Henna is something that I've practiced since I was about 13. I've always loved sharing it with people. Eventually, it all combined into one simple easy-to-execute project,” she explains.
Start somewhere! As simple as it looks, it took about three years for Khan to fulfill the idea she had in her head. The concept was always to interview women and tell their stories, but finding a way to present them was a struggle. Her initial ideas were too sophisticated, but she eventually realised they were too ambitious too. Also her job got busier and busier. She had to break it down. That’s when she decided to “streamline” and launch her project without every single detail set in place. She simplified it and made the project into the Instagram account @CoffeeandHenna - a “quite unique” and catchy experience that tells the stories the women relate to Khan while they drink a cup of coffee and she paints fine henna designs on their hands. “Just start somewhere!” enthuses Khan. “If you're working or studying and you want to start a new project/initiative, then just kickstart with some basics and grow it whilst you test out your ideas. Streamline along the way. The majority of details don't need to be worked out before the first action. What's the worst thing that could happen if you don’t do a few of those things on your to do list?,” she continued, encouraging entrepreneurs like her to just go for it. Challenges facing women of her generation When I asked her about what she thought the biggest challenge facing women of her generation in the workplace was, her first answer was: BALANCE. “This was one of the most difficult things for me early on in my career. With every new opportunity I've had, I've always forgotten my balance and just made work my number one priority, which meant long days and being in the office longer than most people.” Khan says she always felt she needed to prove herself. “I just always thought I had to work harder and prove myself more - so a caveat of not having balance is also confidence in situations.” Now she is investing more quality time in herself by slowing down and taking time to read and go to the gym, plus spending more time with her family. To all women looking to start their own projects, Khan’s biggest piece of advice is:
“Confidence is your biggest friend.”
Get in contact with Coffee and Henna
After reading her story I am pretty sure you will love to follow Zainab on Instagram @CoffeeandHenna or even contact her to tell her your story over a warm cup of coffee and henna.
-photos courtesy of Zainab Khan. Photo of Zainab by the amazing photographer @tam.shoots (you might want to follow her too)-