What's it like being a part of the Atlanta Muslim team?
After joining Atlanta Muslim back in August of 2018, Aynur Rauf, Samiah Rahman, Maha Safwan, Yusra Khan and their mentor Shuaib Hanief, have been behind the effort to expand the Atlanta Muslim community across various platforms, reaching and educating larger audiences through writing and media. As we draw nearer to the Fall Semester, the team is looking to recruit new high school talent to drive the online writing platform even further. Interested?

Meet the team behind it all, and find out what they honestly have to say of their experience.

Aynur Rauf (17) - Journalist
When I applied to be apart of Atlanta Muslim, I did not expect to have the experience that I had working with my team in 2018-- my expectations were met and even went beyond them. Speaking from a journalist’s perspective, I have always been against another person micromanaging my writing. With Atlanta Muslim, that was not an issue as the team editor allows us to write about any topic that interests us that week and we always receive stimulating constructive criticism.

By writing for Atlanta Muslim, I have been able to express my opinions freely, delve into new writing genres, and be apart of a highly supportive team. I always compare my experience with Atlanta Muslim to writing for my school newspaper. One particular time, one of my school editors saw my article for Atlanta Muslim and suggested that I publish it for the school newspaper instead, despite my idea being rejected by them earlier in the week. This moment stuck with me because having a team or publication have trust in my ideas has been an issue for me, but Atlanta Muslim gives me all the feedback and encouragement that I need to develop my writing and brainstorming process.

If you have always wanted to start publishing your writing for others to see, but never had a sufficient outlet, applying for Atlanta Muslim will be worth all of your time. The experience I have had writing for this publication has never felt like a job or chore and has always been out of pure enjoyment. In all honesty, being a writer for Atlanta Muslim has allowed me to rediscover my love for journalism and the topics that I am the most passionate about.

Maha Safwan (17) - Journalist
As a writer, working with Atlanta Muslim has been an enriching experience as it has allowed me to grow as a writer and delve into topics I wish to shed light on. Atlanta Muslim gives me the freedom to discuss certain issues that are not brought up as often in discussions. I have been able to grow as a writer as I receive constructive criticism on my writing and continue to develop and bring forth my ideas. Atlanta Muslim creates a welcoming environment where I am able to bring my ideas to the table for discussion and I have been able to work with others to make our experience more enjoyable and non-stressful as possible. Writing weekly articles, having meetings, and brainstorming ideas for articles allowed me to become a more, organized, creative, and cooperative person.

Not only have been able to grow as a writer with Atlanta Muslim, but I have also been able to apply the skills I have developed through the experience I have had working with Atlanta Muslim to aid me in other aspects of my life such as school. I am able to easily balance my schedule and work with others better because of how this experience has shaped me as both a writer and a person.

Samiah Rahman (17) - Social Media Manager
The past semester has opened up many opportunities for me and to be a part of the Muslim community through online networking. I’ve learned a lot about the community’s interests and hopes for future generations as well as how to increase engagement from people of all ages and backgrounds through various activities and events. I’ve also enjoyed the artistic and social aspects of Atlanta Muslim--by making things visually pleasing and organizing things on social media I prepare for important skills needed in any career field.

Yusra Khan (17) - Managing Editor
I first became a part of Atlanta Muslim back in 2017, when I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to not only cover topics that connected with me and the Muslim community but to also publish that work to inspire others to do the same. Over the past two years, my experience and role at Atlanta Muslim has definitely evolved, in that now, I work more closely with a team that helps me grow both as a person and a writer. Though our team is relatively small, I’ve found that the creativity of my teammates is endless, inspiring me to diversify the topics that I cover and discover those that may resonate with me now that I may not have considered before. Through the varying roles of the members within the team, we’ve been able to focus not only on the writing aspect of the online newspaper but also the overall engagement with our audience, whether they be the youth or of older age, which I realize I would not have been able to do had I continued to write on my own.

Minnah Arshad (17)- Journalist
Even as a new addition to the Atlanta Muslim team, I have been given the opportunity and creative freedom to write about topics I am passionate about. Concurrently, Atlanta Muslim has provided me with a strong and communicative circle of people that provide honest feedback. Thus, this has become the ideal place for me to grow as a writer and as a person. I am able to explore ideas I am eager to share on a supportive platform. I am eager to continue to learn and grow from our newspaper’s team and audience.

As a team of high schoolers, we know that as many topics as we attempt to cover, there will always be more that our audience will wish we address, more that we haven’t touched on yet that is very relevant to the lives of our readers- so we’re looking to expand our team.

If you’re interested in applying, please visit: atlantamuslim.com/apply

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