It has been two years since Nayma Kose moved to North Carolina from Delaware. She didn’t know if she would find leadership opportunities that reflected her Muslim identity in her new community.
She described moving into a new state and starting over with the given stresses. It was not easy to get involved in the community. However, she did not let that stop her from accomplishing her goals. Since moving, Mrs. Kose has focused on her passion for community involvement, using it to keep herself spiritually uplifted.
Her involvement led to her receiving a “Mover and Shaker Award,” and she was featured in Cary Magazine for it. Readers of the magazine nominated their community’s most ambitious and successful leaders of today and the future. Mrs. Kose is one of 25 nominees to win the award.
“What delighted me the most about this award is that a Muslim hijabi was in a Southern magazine in a positive light,” Mrs. Kose said. “Also, I was happy that Zakat Foundation of America community service projects are being recognized and valued in the U.S.”
As a Muslim, I am taught that God will continue to help a person as long as he is helping others,” she said in a Cary Magazine interview. “That has been a driving force in much of my volunteering, as I always need God’s help in everything I do.”
Aside from taking care of her five children, Mrs. Kose is constantly on her toes as a Zakat Foundation of America organizer, volunteer and mentor. Her views reflect the building blocks of Zakat Foundation of America, as she focuses on helping those in need, empowering them through charitable funds to be able to lift themselves out of poverty. She incorporates her leadership skills within the community to shape leaders into their best-fit roles — whether it be finding someone to lead a basketball camp or someone who may be able to counsel another community member based on shared experience. She evaluates the community’s needs and initiates extracurricular activities for children, per the interview.
When Mrs. Kose was asked in her magazine interview about success, she replied, “Success is when you have touched someone’s life for the better.”