No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men,” said the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

These are golden words that have often been forgotten during Pakistan’s tumultuous journey through time. With Pakistanis grappling with economic upheavals, political conflict and a persistent morality brigade, the men of Pakistan have often sidelined women. But how long can a gender be sidelined? How can talented, ambitious individuals with dreams and purpose be swept into the shadows?

This Independence Day, Icon has conversations with eight women who have paved diverse, distinctive career paths. Their stories are unique and inspirational and, while they may all have faced challenges along the way, they are proof that, when you dare to dream and plan and work hard, the sky’s the limit.

Anoushey Ashraf

Twenty-odd years ago, fate led Anoushey Ashraf to the newly launched Indus Music channel, where her career as a Video Jockey (VJ) promptly took off. Till today, she continues to be one of the country’s most popular hosts.

She will be there at the coolest concerts, introducing the latest music acts to a screaming, lively audience. She will suit up for a corporate show and take to the stage with a monologue on a new car, a cell phone or a bank. She will go glam on the red carpet, talking to the famous people filtering in to see a fashion show or an awards ceremony. And, if you’re an early riser, you can catch her on the radio, talking for as long as three hours on everything under the sun. From five star hotels to concert stages to Lahore’s old havelis and Karachi’s picturesque Mohatta Palace, you’ll see Anoushey Ashraf everywhere.

In the lead-up to Independence Day, Icon has conversations with eight trailblazing women who have paved diverse, distinctive career paths. While they may all have faced challenges along the way, they are proof that real independence is also a state of mind…

Pakistan’s entertainment industry has weathered political pressures, economic setbacks, bans and boycotts. And all through these cataclysmic changes, Anoushey’s standing as a host de jour has remained consistent. That’s quite an achievement — and she tells me so.

We rewind back to the days of yore, when Pakistan’s music industry was all the rage and Anoushey Ashraf, one of the country’s most popular VJs, was riding the wave with it. “It was amazing. We were becoming household names, witnessing the boom of Pakistan’s creative side, going to concerts with special backstage passes and interviewing the country’s biggest rock stars. There was this one time when I attended five shows in one night with the band Noori. That’s how high in demand Pakistani music was!

“And then, we’d be invited to private get-togethers. The first time the invitation for a private event was extended to me, by Strings’ Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood, I felt that I had achieved everything I wanted in life!” she laughs.

Anoushey recalls another fond memory: “I had become very popular as a VJ and PTV Home called me in for an event where they required a female host. It turned out that I would be hosting alongside Moin Akhtar. I remember being backstage with him and I told him that he was one of Pakistan’s most iconic hosts, and I was feeling so nervous that I could vomit. He responded by telling me that, yes, he had been hosting for a very long time but all he heard these days was ‘Anoushey, Anoushey!’, and so he should be that one that was nervous! It was just so nice of him to say that to me. I consider being up on stage with him at that event a career milestone.”

In another vein, she also recently stormed social media with news of her marriage. All of a sudden, Anoushey sprung images of a beautiful, intimate nikah ceremony on to Instagram and the announcement spread like wildfire. What are her marriage plans now? And as a young unmarried woman working in the media industry, had she faced societal pressures earlier to tie the knot?

“Yes, sure, I had felt the pressure, particularly when I was in my 20s,” she agrees. “I would worry about what people would say. But then I stopped paying attention to it. As you grow older, you develop a thicker skin and become used to the unnecessary scrutiny directed towards you.

“I wanted to keep my nikah ceremony private, which is why I announced it a little later, without any prior hints. And I do plan to continue working after marriage.”

Twenty years as one of Pakistan’s favorite hosts and still going strong, does Anoushey miss the time when Pakistani music was booming and she was the Anoushey Ashraf, the coolest VJ on the block?

“I’ve always done things that I enjoy,” she says. “I do my work, but I also spend a lot of time travelling, reading, writing, spending time with friends and family, and creating social media content. In my mind, I am still the Anoushey Ashraf.”

I retract my question. She certainly is.

Nimra Kashif

Nimra Kashif dabbled with the idea of starting her own design business for the longest time before she finally went ahead with it. The timing had to be right and, with young children and living in a joint family, she wanted to be fully prepared before she plunged into a designing career.

She took some initial steps before the pandemic — roaming through markets, purchasing fabric, working with embroiderers — before finally, in 2021, her eponymous label was launched formally.

In three-odd years, Nimra’s business has mushroomed rapidly, and credit for this goes as much to her eye for aesthetics as to her astute marketing strategies. “I took my time, observing the business strategies employed by other ateliers, and realised that marketing was key. You need to have a great photographer on board so that your design stands out. You need to invest in a good make-up artist, great models. When investments are made into a fashion shoot, customers’ perception of the brand changes. They somehow begin to take it more seriously.”

Has she also particularly worked with celebrities in order to generate more mileage for her brand?

“Of course,” she says. “Having an established model on board also makes a difference. Similarly, when celebrities wear your clothes, you observe an instant increase in your brand’s Instagram following.” She recalls, “When Ushna Shah and Shaista Lodhi wore my designs in ARY Digital’s Jeeto Pakistan game show in Ramazan, I got a lot of queries!”

And having taken her time to launch her professional career, how is Nimra managing the balancing act between work and home? “My children are older now, so that helps,” she says. “I have also set up my studio and workshop in the basement of my own home, so that I can easily manage the demands of my personal life with my professional ones.

“I am the first woman in my in-laws [family structure] to start off her own business, and I have been very focused on making sure that my work does not disrupt all that I have always done for my family. Luckily, I have a very supportive husband and I am able to balance everything out.

“It helps that I love what I do!”

Nida Mumtaz

Nida Mumtaz’s acting career can be traced back to PTV’s heydays, when she ventured on to the screen as a leading lady. However, there are long gaps spacing out her various acting projects until the present day, when she’s much more visible on screen playing maternal roles in multiple TV dramas.

“I have taken breaks in my acting career and I don’t regret it,” says the veteran actress. “My children were young and I felt that they needed me at home. I didn’t want them trailing after me on drama sets, getting distracted and their routines falling out of order. For seven years, I did not work at all. In this profession, it is all right to take a break and, then, join back after some time, once you feel that you can manage the timings.”

But joining back into Pakistani entertainment isn’t really a cakewalk. Competition for acting roles is tough and, when Nida rejoined the fray, a number of other senior actresses had also gained popularity as TV drama matriarchs. High-end drama productions were few and far between and a number of actors would be clamouring for the same role. Not everyone got signed on. Not everyone managed to make an impact. Does she miss the time when she would be the leading lady?

“No, there is a time for everything,” she says. “I just found my way into acting. My mother was in the profession, as was my uncle, and it was just a natural progression for me. I returned to the industry once my daughter got done with her A-levels. Acting has now become much more lucrative and I wanted to earn from it.

“Also, I feel so proud when I travel outside of Pakistan and people tell me that they are watching our dramas. They just don’t remember me for my present-day work but also remember the older PTV dramas. Having said that, I don’t miss the old days at all.”

She adds, “I have always been sensible. I enjoy my career and I enjoy my time at home. And I just quietly go about my work. The audience appreciates my work as do my peers. And at this point in my life, I am enjoying improving and pushing myself further with every new performance!”

Shaista Lodhi

“It’s very important for women to stand on their own two feet. And to strengthen themselves, not just financially but also emotionally,” says Shaista Lodhi.

She has applied this mandate very well to her own life. From being one of TV’s most popular morning show hosts for more than a decade, Shaista did an about-turn in 2013 and adopted the role of an aesthetician and entrepreneur. The TV career was set aside as she studied various courses, honed her skills and eventually launched her first aesthetics clinic.

“It was a one-room clinic,” she recalls, “because that was all that I could afford at the time. I was aware, though, that perhaps people expected something more grand from me because of my reputation as a morning show host.”

Slowly, surely, she steered the SL Aesthetics Clinic towards expansion. “I now own five clinics across Pakistan, with the sixth in the pipeline,” says Shaista. “I also work in collaboration with two other clinics and visit them regularly. And I just got on board the University of Lahore’s aesthetic department as a visiting faculty member!”

The ’SL’ umbrella has further expanded to include a number of other brands: the SL Basics line runs the gamut from haircare to skincare, make-up and bodycare; SL Naturals is an organic food brand offering a range of natural, herbal products; Sheen by Shaista Lodhi is a recently launched clothing line and SL Foundation is a philanthropic organisation working on various projects. There is also SL Digital, a work in progress, which will aim to introduce a variety of programmes through social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

She has also been making occasional forays into acting; for instance, in the drama Pardes,opposite Sarmad Khoosat and, more recently, opposite Aijazz Aslam in the drama Fanaa. What steered her in that particular direction?

“It’s something that I had always wanted to do, so I decided to give it a try,” she tells Icon. “And both these projects had such great scripts. I got the chance to work with and become friends with some amazing people, like Sarmad Khoosat and Marina Khan!”

She has a busy work schedule but, as her children grow up and leave home, can her personal life be lonely? She heaves a sigh. “Yes, very. You’re fine as long as you’re outside, doing work, but then you come home and the loneliness can really hit you. It’s difficult, but I seek strength in prayer.”

There are lessons to be learnt from Shaista Lodhi’s journey; of resilience, ambition and having self-respect. Many years ago, the morning show audience was drawn to her because of the examples that she set on TV. She’s still setting some fine examples.

Tehmina Khaled

It was destiny. Tehmina Khaled hadn’t considered becoming a PR consultant. Her career as a journalist had already spanned 18 years when she left her job at a major newspaper due to creative differences. She was searching for a new job when her good friend, designer Rizwan Beyg, reached out to her.

It was the year 2009. The Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) — the Karachi-based council representing fashion in Pakistan — was about to stage its first-ever fashion week and Rizwan, as chairperson, and Ayesha Tammy Haq, as the Council’s CEO, wanted to have a meeting with her.

The brainstorming session in that fateful meeting convinced Ayesha that Tehmina would be just the person to handle the many nitty-gritties involved in hosting Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW). With Hum TV’s newly launched fashion channel — Style 360, remember? — officially on board, Tehmina planned out an extensive pre-hype campaign. Designers were interviewed and videos were made of their ateliers, as they put the final touches to their fashion week collections.

The fashion week itself became a historic event — it took place around the same time as a Taliban attack in another part of the country. The models on the catwalk and the gruesome images from the militant attack were published in the local and international press simultaneously.

The second FPW took place some months later and major international publications were invited. Carla Powers of Vogue was so impressed by the show that the decision was taken to feature Pakistani fashion in Vogue’s prestigious September issue. Tehmina coordinated back and forth, sent out e-mails and arranged images. The international coverage of the show will always be remembered as one of Pakistani fashion’s proudest moments.

Once she had expertly reigned in the fashion week behemoth, Tehmina’s career in PR was jump-started. There were new clients who wanted to take her on board and plenty of queries.

“I hadn’t thought of a name for my company till then,” Tehmina recalls. “My husband [actor and musician Khaled Anum] had launched a company called Take II Theatre and registered the name. He suggested that I could take up the Take II name. ‘Take’ is an acronym for the names of the members of our family and, eliminating the ‘Theatre’ part, that’s how Take II PR started.”

The rest is history.

She adds, “And yet, despite the years that I have invested into this field and the impressive number of events and projects that I have represented, I still hear the occasional snide comment from my male peers. ‘Will women now be handling PR?’ I heard recently. Men like to play the woman card more than women do and it infuriates me. As professionals, our work should speak for itself rather than our genders!”

Her sons, now grown up, are building their own respective careers and Tehmina’s Take II PR is now a well-established, thriving business — what’s next for her?

“I want to start taking out more time for my family, to travel, read and become more selective about the projects that I take on. My career in PR was borne out of my passion for Pakistani fashion and, at this point, when I have worked with some of Pakistan’s most established, prestigious individuals and organisations, I want to pick and choose projects that excite me.”

Faiza Lakhani

Women want to wear what Faiza Lakhani is wearing. Pirouetting on to their Instagram feed, fluttering a gorgeous silk dupatta, she makes them peer a bit closer at their cell phone screen, zooming in on the design details, before possibly checking out the label that she is wearing.

Later, in another Instagram reel, she roams about a store, picking out home décor or cosmetics or more clothes — and women zoom in yet again. They want to buy what she is buying. As a social media influencer, Faiza can be pretty convincing.

However, Faiza’s career didn’t start off with these very well-planned Instagram reels. Back in 2012, she took a break from her banking profession and had the idea to launch a website dedicated to curated fashion content in Pakistan. It was merely going to be a creative outlet for her, since she enjoyed both writing and fashion.

The website — Secret Closet — was a hit, and its popularity brought in a set of challenges. Faiza recounts, “When we first started, we were simply creating content in order to build an audience. As our reach grew, we had to figure out how to monetise this model while still bringing engaging fashion content to our followers. Secret Closet was the first of its kind in Pakistan and there was no set monetisation model to follow. We had to figure things out on our own!”

She continues: “Another challenge was when Instagram came along. The content consumption behaviour of the audience changed. Where we used to write lengthy, detailed articles and blogs on our website, we now had to adopt a more concise approach. Now, we had to deliver creative visuals and captions to engage an audience that was scrolling to the next post within minutes.

“The coronavirus pandemic brought about its own changes. Until then, I had never planned to be in front of the camera as much as I am now. When there was a lockdown, there were no events, shows or exhibitions. So, I and even others started dressing up and styling ourselves at home, creating content.

“Things just took off from there. When we started out, I think we were Pakistan’s only fashion-centric online publication. With Instagram, many more pages and blogs were launched. I think, in our own way, we helped the influencer profession to grow in Pakistan.”

What’s next for Faiza and the ever-popular Secret Closet? “As long as I am working and enjoying my work, I don’t overthink too much,” she says. “I don’t want to be part of any rat race and enjoy having balance and flexibility in my life.

“If I were to mention one thing, it would be that I hope Secret Closet becomes a regional platform. Pakistani fashion is beloved around the world and, as the industry grows, so can we!”

Moomal Shunaid

Roaming through the Moomal Productions’ office building is like taking a trip down TV drama memory lane. Framed all along the walls are posters of the many hit dramas that the production house has steered over the years. Some had stormed ahead in the ratings race, others had won massive critical acclaim, quite a few had been showered with awards and had jump-started the careers of the actors that had been part of the cast.

The latest jewel in Moomal Productions and, more specifically, its CEO Moomal Shunaid’s crown is the drama Ishq Murshid. The Farooq Rind-directed drama, starring actors Bilal Abbas Khan and Durefishan Saleem, proved to be an all-out hit, hauling in high ratings and a huge fan following around the world.

Talking to Icon, Moomal observes, “I really believe that Divine intervention ensures the success of a drama. There have been times when a drama has taken ages to go on the floor. Directors keep coming and going, actors keep getting changed and you get so frustrated that your morale hits an all-time low. The only thing that keeps you going is that you have an entire production team working with you and you have to keep trying to get the drama shoot started off. It could take six months, even a year.

“And then, there are dramas which start shooting within two months of the script’s finalisation. In the case of Ishq Murshid, I think the good intentions and great vibes shared by everyone on set played a huge role. All of us were intent on making the drama an entertaining watch. I remember being surprised when even the drama’s title track became a huge hit. I had thought that the song was very old-school, like a track from the 1940’s, and that people wouldn’t like it. But it became so popular!”

Home, she tells me, played a pivotal role in steering her career. Her mother-in-law, Hum Network President Sultana Siddiqui, was instrumental in getting her started. “She would share scripts with me and ask me to read them,” recalls Moomal. “She had taken early retirement from PTV at the time and was working freelance. When she launched her production house, she named it after me.

“Then, when she was directing the drama Marvi, she trusted me with the job of calling the drama’s writer Noor ul Huda Shah and asking for the remaining episodes in the script. That’s how I started off. Noor ul Huda Shah and my mother-in-law were my mentors, and I became very involved in the scripting process.

“My children were still young when my family started working on the inception of the Hum TV channel,” she continues. “Once they had obtained the licence, they started preparing a year before the channel went on air. I would have the morning free at the time, till the afternoon when the children came home, and I also got involved in the scripting.

“My office simply started from home. I would meet writers, go over scripts. I had always loved reading and writing, so it all came naturally to me. Eventually, I began writing my own scripts too. I have written many long plays, including a soap called Saiqa,starring Ahsan Khan and Juggun Kazim, and Pani Jaisa Pyar, starring Ahsan Khan and Saba Qamar. I took a break for a few years when I left to live in the US. On returning, I headed the script department at Hum TV for some time and, then, about 10 years ago, I branched out into production.”

Moomal is undeniably one of Pakistani entertainment’s movers and shakers. Does she think that women have it more difficult when it comes to building their careers?

“Yes, it is more challenging because, in our culture, the responsibility of handling the home also primarily falls upon the woman. Still, I feel happy to see so many women entrepreneurs. It is difficult to balance family with career but, with the right planning and passion, it is possible!”

Rubina Qaimkhani

One could say that Rubina Qaimkhani — Senator for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and head of its Sindh Women Wing — was predestined to have a political career. Her grandfather played a crucial role in the formation of PPP alongside its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Her mother served the party for 30 years, working closely with the late Benazir Bhutto on several projects and programmes. Rubina was newly married and a new mother when Benazir Bhutto selected her as a representative of the party in the National Assembly.

Over the years, many of the causes taken up by Rubina have been related to women’s rights and children’s education and rights. She set up schools and colleges in underdeveloped regions, including Umerkot, where she herself hails from.

“There had been no college for girls in Umerkot,” she tells Icon. “Girls would obtain their matriculation degree and then, if they wanted to study further, they would have to travel to Hyderabad. A lot of girls simply did not study onwards because of this.

“About a decade ago, I set up a cadet college in the area, right at their doorstep. We run awareness programmes in the college and also provide students with access to computers. It’s a government college and I have used the development funds available to me to equip it with all that the students need. We are also now in the process of setting up a hospital in the region.”

She adds, “I also actively participated in the implementation of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, ensuring that legislation was carried out that would punish parents involved in the marrying off of underage youth.”

Her political career may have been impressive but Rubina endured a debilitating tragedy when her young son — her eldest born — died in a car accident. “For five years after his death, I was unable to return to politics,” she says. “Then, with the support of my family, I took up my professional responsibilities again. I had always been very sensitive and my son’s death has made me even more emotional, particularly when I witness the cruelty directed towards children.

“There have been times when I have visited the Child Protection Bureau and have had goosebumps when I have met with abused children. There have been times when I have cried. As women, we speak up for our rights, but what of the children that aren’t even old enough to speak? How can they fend for themselves? Today’s child will form the future of Pakistan and I have been dedicated to getting laws passed for their protection and creating awareness about children’s rights.”

She adds: “Throughout my political career, I have worked hard to bring about changes that will be for the betterment of my nation. I have headlined movements even when I was pregnant with my second child and balanced the demands of my home and motherhood with my political responsibilities. People criticise Pakistan and its politics very readily but, truly, change can only come about when every one of us makes an effort.”

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 11th, 2024