With A Spin started as a hobby and now it’s turning out to be much more than a hobby.

 

R had just turned 1, and Ali was traveling every week for work. I had decided to take on projects where my clients didn’t demand face-to-face interaction so that I could stop traveling every week and work remotely from the home office. The work was still demanding but my lifestyle changed completely, from a globe trotting one to pretty much confined in the home office. Majority of my weekdays consisted of back to back meetings starting at 7:30AM, interaction with the nanny taking care of R, and R after 5pm. I knew I couldn’t sustain this longer so needed a creative outlet to do something with my lone hours at night after putting R to sleep. Well, yes, I was exhausted and could relax or watch TV after putting R to bed. But my relaxation comes when I am doing an activity that I really like, not just by sitting down. Hah…does that sound crazy? Well, at times my mom thinks I am and I think she really hopes for me to learn how to relax one day!

Combining my love for photography and cooking, I thought it would be great to document the recipes on a blog with snippets of our stories. Deep down I also hope that one day R can reflect back some of her childhood time and the food she grew up eating. And…there I started to blog. No previous experience, not much research.

Blogging has been life changing for me. I never thought that my recipe would be featured on Food Network or I will be writing on magazines. Never did I think that I would be designing and launching a product line. Yes, that’s correct. I am launching a mass merchandising product line next month, inshaAllah(God willing). After months of research, working day and night for the last 7-8 months, my first product is scheduled to hit the market in June.

 

Being passionate about something is not easy but if you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. As they say, if you find your favorite hobby, turn it into a job and you will never work again.

 

So, now that I spilled the beans about what I have been doing in the past year, are you curious to know all about the first product? I bet you are!

My first line of products is called, the Peace line, a premier line of thoughtful, practical and unique products to help you celebrate the Islamic festivities. My second product line, Harmony, is scheduled to hit the market in September which speaks tolerance and multiculturalism. Perfect for religiously blended families, families that want to include multicultural experiences in their lives and the lives of their children. But we will talk about the Harmony products later. Let’s take a grand look at the vision behind the Peace line.

 

For the very first line of products, the Peace line, my vision was to create a product line that involve FOOD, FAMILY and CREATIVITY. I wanted a product that brings together the family in a lovely way in the observation of the Islamic festivities and beyond. Provide a source of inspiration to make the Ramadan month special and memorable. I also wanted the first product to be unique in a way that it can be used beyond Ramadan and Eid. For example, besides Ramadan or Eid, it can also be very suitable for House Warming Party gift, Bridal shower or baby shower gift, Bismillah gift, or to raise fund for fund raising events.

I also envisioned a product that families can use to make lifelong memories. Let’s take a pause here, today. Can you guess what the first product is?   Hugs.