The Nike ambassador who started a sportswear brand for Muslim women

Shazia Hossen speaks to​ Hazel Sheffield about making women feel confident, breaking stigma and proving to her brother that she could do push-ups

Since 2017, Hossen has been Nike’s first UK hijab ambassador

Shazia Hossen started wearing a hijab in the summer of 2015. She was 19, a self-described “sneakerhead” with a part-time job in Footlocker and an obsession with matching her outfit with her trainers. She was also a big fan of working out at the gym, where she would do strength training and resistance, partly to prove to her brother that she could do press-ups. Wearing the hijab provided a new challenge: “I didn’t know how to do my headscarves in general, let alone at the gym!”

A lack of choice online led Hossen to start her own clothing brand called SH Athletics in October 2015, making modest, comfortable clothing for workouts that didn’t look completely shapeless. But it was only when she started seeing articles referring to her as an entrepreneur that Hossen realised she was one. “I thought, ‘oh, that’s what I am!’” she says. “I was just doing what needed to be done, but I think that’s how a lot of businesses start out.”

Since 2017, Hossen has also been Nike’s first hijab ambassador in the UK, a post invented to promote the brand’s Pro Hijab. This October, Hossen will take part in the Red Bull ​Amaphiko UK Academy to work with other social entrepreneurs who want to make a difference within their communities.