Loading ...American journalist and hijabi Muslim Noor Tagouri photographed for Playboy magazine
Behind the scenes #Vlog of the announcement at 9AM with @Playboy!✌🏼️FULL: https://t.co/rVbnSqNQXc pic.twitter.com/6Q3sYqAP0q
— Noor Tagouri (@NTagouri) September 22, 2016
PLAYBOY magazine and a hijab-wearing Muslim woman don’t usually go hand-in-hand.
But American journalist Noor Tagouri has changed all that, appearing in the magazine’s October “Renegades” issue wearing her hijab proudly.
Decked out in jeans, a leather jacket and Converse sneakers, the 22-year-old said her goal is to become the first hijabi anchor on commercial US television.
She produces stories for Newsy, an American video news network that produces short form video news pieces.
Tagouri believes her experiences as a Muslim woman have made her a better reporter.
“To be honest, I think being a hijabi Muslim woman, helped me gain that trust [from interview subjects],” she told Playboy.
“I know what it’s like to have the narrative of our community be skewed and exploited in the media. I was like, ‘Hey, I know what it’s like to be misrepresented in the media. I won’t do that to you. I want to tell your story because it’s important and deserves justice’.
“I know first-hand that once people are re-empowered, they realise their own story is powerful and they begin to share. It’s incredibly rewarding and can even help enlighten or save others.”
While Tagouri receives a lot of hate and criticism online, she doesn’t “read or pay attention” to any of it.
“It’s just negative energy and unhealthy. I make sure to keep a great circle of people around me who keep me grounded,” she said.
“Whether it’s at work or at home, the people who have my best interest at heart voice their concerns and their critiques, and I work on them.
“Besides that, I just do the best I can to not worry about people who get upset because they don’t like something that I wear or say.”
As for her decision to wear the hijab on television, Tagouri says it’s a no brainer.
“It empowers me,” Tagouri says. “It helps me do what I want to do.”
she told The Washington Post.
“Me wearing a scarf on my head won’t make me report a story any differently,” she said.