Wakanda's Wrld
This channel is primarily informative within the weird and wonderful world of healthcare. I discuss how to improve the wide world of healthcare along with up to date information. I love to have different guest from different walks of life within healthcare. For podcast guest inquires reach me at shanklindj@yahoo.com
Wakanda's Wrld
How A Nurse Turned Barriers Into A Business That Serves Muslim Women
What happens when a nurse refuses to choose between faith, professionalism, and style? We sit with Samira, a Black Muslim nurse and co-CEO of We Got You Covered, to unpack how modesty, patient dignity, and cultural competence can coexist with performance scrubs that actually fit the job. Her story moves from doula days and pediatrics to home health and wellness clinics, tracing the moments that shaped her advocacy—from patients questioning her English to elders asking her to remove her hijab—and the grace she uses to turn bias into teachable care.
The heart of the conversation is practical and human. We get specific about honoring modesty during exams, accommodating gender preferences when possible, and catching dietary restrictions before they become breaches of trust. Samira explains why representation matters for Black and Muslim patients, and how seeing a clinician in hijab can signal safety. Then we go behind the seams: years of DIY fixes, survey-driven design, countless prototypes, and the decision to launch a modest medical apparel line that blends coverage, stretch, and durability. In an industry crowded with color but thin on cultural options, the brand fills a real gap—and early feedback, including rare returns and requests from men, shows broad demand.
If you’ve ever wondered how to turn a workplace pain point into a product with purpose, this is a blueprint. We talk bootstrapping while working nine-to-fives and raising families, learning marketing on the fly, vending at large community events, and building a customer feedback loop that actually shapes the next release. Beyond scrubs, the takeaway is bigger: make work that serves your community, tell honest stories, and let purpose outlast any viral spike.
Find We Got You Covered on TikTok and Instagram, or shop via their site and TikTok Shop. If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and drop a review to help more listeners find us. Your voice helps us keep these stories going.
https://linktr.ee/WakandaRN
Welcome in, welcome in. This is your Wakanda RN. Always have a lot on my mind, but I'm not here to waste your time. Man, I'm so happy. I got a special guest. You might introduce yourself to the audience and tell us who you are.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. I am Samira. Um, I'm also a nurse. Uh, I've been in healthcare for a very long time. I am the co-CEO of We Got You Covered. That is a modest medical apparel brand. And we are striving to fill the gap in medical apparel where modesty meets function and fashion. Um, that's just like the small, condensed form of who I am.
SPEAKER_00:That is awesome. That is awesome. I appreciate that. So tell us a little bit about, you know, your specialty, um, your journey, you know, tell us what experience you got. Tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_03:So I always try to think about it, but I I believe I've been in healthcare for like 20 plus years. Um I've I started as a doula, and I actually still do-a babies sometimes. I think um one of my recent, well, not recent, but one of the later babies that I've done, she turned, I think, eight um years old. But I've been helping women with that process for a long time. Um, and then I was a CNA for some years, and then I became a nurse. Um, and I've worked, I'm lit, I'm doing my soft nursing now. I do insurance and just like flu clinics, wellness clinics, very easy peasy, not a lot of stress. Okay. Um but I've worked with like obviously the elderly. I've worked in mom and baby, um, uh pediatrics. I was a pediatric nurse for a while. I had I worked at a for a doctor uh when I lived in New York. So I kind of have a little bit of experience underneath my belt when it comes to that. I worked in home health, PDN, like I'm trying to think of all the different I got a pile of badges somewhere.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. It's like you got quite a bit of experience. And then we we need that. We need that. So I'm gonna come back to that a little bit. Um, but I do want to touch on something. So tell me about your experience, uh, about your particular faith being in healthcare. What does that mean for you? And how are you able to take your faith on a day-to-day basis being in healthcare?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I so I wasn't born Muslim. I became Muslim when I was 20. So I've been Muslim for like 28 years, and since that time, I've worn the headscarf hijab. I've worn it all that time. And I've had different experiences because I lived up north. I lived in uh New York, Brooklyn, and then I lived upstate New York, and now I live in the Carolinas. And so I've had a lot of questions. Um, I've had people not want me to be their nurse because of the hijab. Um, you know, a lot of times that's with the elderly, unfortunately. Yeah just because they have their biases, I'll say, and they're not understanding. You know, I've had people ask me before I even say a word, do you understand what I'm saying? Do you speak English? You know?
SPEAKER_00:Um that's so messed up.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's really jacked up, and I'm like, yeah, I'm from Brooklyn. I speak English. You know, um, yes. I've had people say, Can you take your hood off? You know, uh different things. Is it cold outside that you have all that on, you know, or literally feel like I'm not competent to give them care and ask for, you know, another nurse. And you know, sometimes that's possible, but sometimes that's just not possible. You know, to switch, depending on what the day looks like, what floor you're working on, what area, it you may not be able to switch. So um I always, you know, try to embrace it with kindness. And um, you know, I I prefer people to ask questions than assume, right? And so I just always try to educate more than anything. Of course, I'm a human being, so there's times in my life where that's gotten annoying, or you don't feel like sometimes you just don't feel like telling people what the deal is. It's like at a certain point, it's like you go Google it.
SPEAKER_01:Right. You know, right.
SPEAKER_03:But I try, you know, when we're as nurses and people in healthcare, the reason why we got there is because we have an empathetic side. We have uh that ingrained nurturer in us. You know, that should be the reason for most people. These new people, I don't know, but I'm not gonna say nothing about that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man. Oh man. Oh, you you man, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We not even, we that's probably a whole nother show.
SPEAKER_00:I I I know, I know. We we that may be a whole part two or something, but I already know. I already know. I I will say though, uh it I if I could relate to that somewhat, I'm sure you've experienced this as well. I mean, I I've had people of the younger generation and older generation that have told me that, you know, as a black male, they've told me like we don't see you, we don't see too many of us in this space. So it's good to see somebody like you in this space. And I would imagine it's the same thing for you to see a Muslim woman within this pr healthcare space. I feel like that that's a there's a lot of Muslims, both male and female, that need to see, like, hey, we have one of ours that's taking care of us. I mean, have you experienced anything like that? Or can you kind of elaborate on that?
SPEAKER_03:I absolutely agree on like a couple of levels. Like when I was in nursing school and they they have the you know, the chapters when we're gonna talk about diversity, we're gonna talk about different religions and things like that. It was very interesting because my teacher was always like, uh, hey, can you uh give more information on this? And it's like, uh although I don't mind, I feel like there should be more culturally, you know, uh information, right? So even as black people, we want to be, you know, there's things culturally. So a lot of times as a Muslim, I am black, as a black Muslim, it's different than other races of Muslims, right? There is a general umbrella. So majority of women, they although we are taught in school about keeping people covered and you know, only exposing what you need to look at, that doesn't always happen, but that's very important to like a Muslim woman. So a lot of times culturally, some Muslim women only want female practitioners. They may not want even, you know, any type of male there. Now there is a difference, you know, in an emergency situation, you gotta you gotta take who's available. Uh and we know that. But if we can accommodate, of course, you will want to accommodate. I've had people light up, honestly. Muslim people light up when they see me as their nurse because it's not uh although there may be Muslims, there a lot of them don't wear hijab. So um it's comforting, I think, to see, you know, a Muslim practitioner being there to take care of them. The same way I think for any black person, it's comforting when you have, you know, a black practitioner uh taking care of you as well. So I think it's important, you know, and there they're I don't think like just culturally things are talked about on maybe what what they would what they would like or dislike, you know, even there's food restrictions. You don't you don't want to give a Muslim any pork, you know? And some of these things are just missed in the I guess education um you know part of it. So yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yeah. I second that. I second that. I remember um yeah, I'm way in the south. I I can't I mean I mean some of the stuff. Yeah, so Oklahoma, Texas, that's where that's where I'm located, around that area. And so, you know, it's it's funny because down here, you know, there's not many um Muslim men or women down in this area. So but I do have people who are Muslim faith that I've taken care of. And I remember I had a particular patient that had dietary restrictions, and I remember that one time on her plate, somebody tried to give her a pork and she has Alzheimer's. And I remember I said, She cannot have that. She cannot have that. And everybody was like, Why can't she? I said, It's because it's part of her dietary restrictions. She's Muslim. And some people look, they were blank, they didn't understand, like, what's the difference? I'm like, you have to respect people's cultural preferences.
SPEAKER_03:Even if she can't remember it.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, yes. And they were just they thought I was crazy, and sure enough, that port got removed. But they but they just they didn't understand. And so it being those advocates, you you you gotta have the advocacy for your patients. You have to. You have to respect cultural preferences and differences, even if it's different than your own, you still have to respect people. That's why we get into this field because we're empathetic, we're we're nurturers, just like you talked about. So you saying that just reminded me of that particular story. So I just had the I had to share that real quick.
SPEAKER_03:No, that's wonderful. I'm I'm glad that you were aware enough to be an advocate, you know, and I think there needs to be, you know, more talk. I think as time has progressed, there has been, you know, more talk on it, and there has been more understanding, I would say. Um, but I I feel like when I went to school, it was, you know, and I went to school in Pennsylvania. I was living on the border of New York and Pennsylvania. And I feel like some of those people, I was the first Muslim that they ever saw. And um, you know, so it was interesting. But it's I always say I don't want to be a teacher, but I've been a teacher for years.
SPEAKER_00:Sometimes you thrust into that role regardless, you know. Um, but I did want to ask you, can you please tell us about the business? Please tell us about the materials that you make um for modest clothing. Can you please tell us more about that? How'd you get started and tell us just tell us generally about it?
SPEAKER_03:Oh man. So I do tell my story, you know, on social media often. Um we've only been in business or selling modest scrubs for a little over a year. But when I went to nursing school, I for me, now this is not everybody's level of modesty. My level of modesty is I'm gonna wear hijab, which is a scarf. Any shirt that I wear is going to cover uh my behind. So it's gonna be mid-sigh at least. So obviously we know what the scrubs look like. They don't quite do that, right? And so when I was in nursing school, I actually asked, you know, they give you that one uh scrub, and I was like, I'm gonna need two. I'll pay for extra because I needed to take one, I cut it, and then I sewed it to the bottom of the other one to kind of make two flaps, one in the front and one in the back, so that at least my behind was covered. Um, and so I did that during nursing school, and then after I kind of like used to sew my own scrubs. I used to take things and like patch it together. And I just was like, this looks dumb. Like you don't even look professional and well put together. Um, I got to a point where I started buying scrub dresses and like altering them to like make them kind of what I thought would be, you know, still a scrub but appropriate, you know, with pants or whatever. And so I'm like, this is annoying. The fabric was not nice. It was cotton, no stretch. It was just it faded, all of these different things. So I have another friend who um who's my business partner, and she actually made her own scrubs in nursing school. Like she she went to the dean and was like, listen, I can't wear those regular scrubs. And she's a little uh fluffier than I am. So she was like, I'm a fluffy girl, and I just can't do that. So they actually allowed her to make her scrubs, and it was interesting at that time, and mind you, this is years ago that a lot of the other students were like, Hey, where was that option at? You know, where'd that come from? Jumping ahead, uh, I I guess about five years ago, we were talking and I was still like working out and about, you know, not doing insurance at that time. And I was like, all my scrubs are faded. I don't feel like sewing, I don't feel like buying anything. I in my mind, I was like, why has nobody come up with this idea? Like, what there's a lot of us Muslims out there, why don't you want to help us be covered? And um, and so I said, I'm about to just make my own scrub brand. And I was talking, this is one of my really good friends, 20 plus years of friendship, uh almost 30 years of friendship. And she was like, Let's do it together. And literally that moment we just started sketching and asking our co-workers questions and other Muslim uh healthcare workers that we know, you know, what would you want? What do you like? What do you not like? You know, surveying everybody. Um, like I said, about a year, a little over a year ago, after getting a million prototypes, having several different manufacturers, breaking the bank. Um we finally, you know, came out with a design. And um just a couple of weeks ago, we released our second design. So it's, you know, it's uh it's um Hey, have you subscribed or followed yet?
SPEAKER_02:If you want more content like you're seeing now, then just give a follow. Help me help you.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, what's the word? Like a love project. It's really dear to our hearts because we struggled, right, for so many years. And we've spoken to so many women that maybe aren't as boisterous as we are that have struggled and continue to struggle, but there aren't any options. Um, I think today there might be like four other um Muslim brands that offer something similar to me. But four? Is that yeah, just about four of them now.
SPEAKER_00:Whoa. I didn't know it was that few. Wow. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:But I mean, when you think about scrub brands, sneaker brands, the bread aisle, four is like a drop in the sea. So, you know, we we're we're steady uh marketing it and trying to, you know, make people know that we exist. Um, as we continue to work our nine to fives and kind of it's like a boot bootstrap. We don't have any outside funding or sourcing or anything. It's just we really believe in this uh mission and we are just trying to, you know, get it out to get it out there to as many women as possible.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I love that. What's the what's the feedback been so far?
SPEAKER_03:Um, the feedback has been amazing, actually. You know, we we really ask our customers a lot of questions like, what would you want differently? You know, how what changes? What do you like? What do you love? What do you hate if there's anything you hate? And really, I think in the year and a half uh maybe that we've been selling, it's less than a year and a half, but I'll I'll I'll just use that number. About a year and a half, we've maybe had like two returns over that time. So you know everybody loves them. And uh it's funny because a lot of men uh we get a lot of comments from men. Well, why can't you make one for men? Why can't you make one that's a little longer for men? Come on now.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, maybe, maybe one day, maybe one day, right?
SPEAKER_03:I listen, I I'm like, can we just have this? Can y'all go tell your wives and your sisters and whoever else needs this?
SPEAKER_00:There you go. There, there you go. There you go. But I think that's I think that speaks volumes to what you guys are doing, though. I mean, thank you. Obviously, the the target audience is Muslim women, and so even if it's just a couple of guys, I mean, I think that still speaks to me. I mean, they're interested in your products. I mean, that's count for something. So absolutely. I think that I think that's pretty cool. I I really, really do. So, I mean, it sounds like you guys, you know, you have your business partner, you guys have been working hard, you guys have been getting feedback. Where do you see this business? If you have you thought about like the next three years, the next five years, like where do you see this business? What how do you envision it? Tell us about it.
SPEAKER_03:Well, um, we've thought about it a lot. Uh, because really the sc the scrub industry is like a billion-dollar industry, right? Just scrubs alone. Oh, yeah. And so this right now, you know, um, thinking about this for all, we've thought about this for years and just never put our idea to action. And I think, you know, obviously for me, three years, we will be quitting our nine to fives and um, you know, doing this full time. That is, that is the one of the many uh three-year goals. And really, this can be, you know, a big business. This can be a multimillion dollar business because we're right there on the ground building it up. And there's not a lot of other, you know, companies that do this. None of the big name companies have come out with a product like ours to facilitate not only Muslim women, but women, any women that want to be covered. Now, you know, like I know that you you've seen Victoria's Secret at the job, okay? Because I mean, and some of it to me is just too much. Regardless if I dress this way, you know, covered, we're here to take care of people. I don't you gotta wait till you go outside to do all that.
SPEAKER_01:Like preach.
SPEAKER_03:Some of it is just like this shouldn't be, there gotta, we gotta upgrade these rule books or something, but that's a whole nother situation. But I we do believe, you know, most of our customer base is United States, but this is a this is a worldwide um, you know, thing. Even with our market research, there are not um other companies, you know, in other countries that have something uh similar that we have either. So, you know, this this can reach worldwide, you know, as long as we get our marketing together and we get, you know, more people to know who we are. It can go big. And we're personable. So who wouldn't love us is how we feel.
SPEAKER_00:There you go. There you go. There you go, there you go. So how so tell me a little bit, how have you guys marketed your brand? How have you guys marketed your business up until this point?
SPEAKER_03:A lot of our marketing is social media, which is like free marketing, um, word of mouth. We do travel sometimes and do different vending events. Um, we've gone to uh a couple of the larger Islamic events that have like 50,000 plus people there, where there'll be a lot of vendors. And I mean, of course, it because the we're so such a small percentage of us, we're usually the only uh modest medical apparel brand there. So it's you know, it does very well. Um, so that's really what we we've done is a lot of self-marketing and we're looking into um because we're nurses, like we're in healthcare, we're not like business people, we're just doing it. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:So yes, I do.
SPEAKER_03:We're learning kind of as we're going. Um, so we're we we take feedback, we take classes, we go to uh, you know, events and different marketing um functions, just trying to, you know, let people know who we are.
SPEAKER_00:I love that, man. I I feel as though because what you what you're saying right now, and I hope the listeners can can grasp this, because whether you are you're gonna make, you're gonna join in with your company here, you're gonna sell uh modest scrubs or not, everybody has a entrepreneurship mindset or maybe something they want to do, maybe something you want to sell, maybe they have a dream. I feel as though that what you're what you're laying out right here, you have to do the work. It's not gonna come to you overnight, it's not gonna just fall in your lap. It sounds like you and your business partner are putting in the work. That's what it sounds like to me. You still got your nine to fives, and you still going to classes, you're going to venues, you're you're doing, you know, the marketing, you're doing, like, you're doing all this. And I think that's the side that people need to hear and or see is that if you want to accomplish something like this, you want to be your own person, you want to be your own business owner, put in the work. So if you're listening, take a good listen.
SPEAKER_03:That is facts right there. And listen, we're both mothers, we're both wives, right? And so that's a whole nother aspect of your life. But nothing, let's we could just go back to nursing school. That wasn't easy. You had to put in work. Anything that you want to accomplish is, you know, going to be work. My my marriage being, you know, uh 28 plus years was work, right? So anything that you want to accomplish. Thank you. Listen, it was work, okay? I love that man, okay. Just in case he's watching, I love you. No, um, but it anything is work. So, you know, I think social media sometimes makes us believe that, you know, I'm a I'm gonna go viral and then I'm gonna be making a million dollars or six figures or whatever, whatever different people like, oh, I did this thing and I made this amount of money. Trust and believe the successful, even social media people are putting in work. They're putting in work.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes. I think some people they misunderstand. They think like, oh, I'm gonna get a viral video, and then that's gonna be it. That's gonna be.
SPEAKER_03:No, you gotta back that up now.
SPEAKER_00:That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Uh so I remember I had a mentor reach out to me um about a year ago, and I was just making content, and he reached out to me, he said, and I remember his name is Kevin. He was a uh former Navy uh guy, and he's uh currently a nurse. Shout out to Kevin if you're listening to this man. Um and he was like, Are you just making content for the sake of making content or are you making content for a purpose? I thought about it. I was like, right now I'm making content just to make content. He said, think about something you actually love to do and then make content from that. And that's hence that's how this podcast got started. I said, Man, I love podcasts. He said, Well, okay, well, make podcasts. I said, Okay, well, cool. I'm gonna just make podcasts. So, I mean, eventually I have my own visions and dreams for where I want this podcast to go. Um, but so if you're listening, I mean, you gotta start somewhere and you gotta make content with a purpose. So, whatever your purpose is, don't just make it just to make it, okay? Um, if you if there's a need out there, um, kind of like what Sam and her team are doing, if there's a need out there, you need to go meet that need. Okay. That's a good way to have content that is sustainable. Okay? Absolutely. Think about think about pain points, think about, okay, what is what is something your community that they may need, and then try to address that. So if you're if you're struggling, you're searching, that's just kind of like a you know little tidbit out there. But if you have a burning passion, you have a burning desire, then whatever that is, go all in for it. Okay, so that's that's what I'm gonna say. It's the truth.
SPEAKER_03:And I mean, okay, let's even talk about you what you're saying, that you were making content just to make it, but how many black male nurses, right? Because even male nurses alone, that's small and far in between.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And you know, sometimes they don't get the what's the word I want to use, even the big up or whatever that they should be getting as male nurses, right? Yeah. So it's it's appreciate appreciative that you're here and you're doing what you're doing. Um, you know, sometimes it's not looked like, oh, a male nurse, but I've I've been grateful for some of my male nurses that I've worked with and come and encounter with for different reasons because sometimes you need, listen, I need you to come in here with me. Or, you know, this guy might feel better with you being his nurse tonight. You know what I mean? So it's it can go a couple of different ways. So it's it's good to see you doing what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and I I I appreciate that. I really do appreciate that. So, man, I'm I'm gonna tell you what, man. I don't I don't know if I'll have to bring you in for another episode or what, because I'm looking up, I'm like, dang, it's already been 26, 27 minutes. Um, but okay, so let me let me switch points here. Where can people find you? Where can people find you, find, find your business? You know, let people know where they can find you.
SPEAKER_03:So we are on uh TikTok primarily. Um, so we got you covered, scrubs on TikTok. We are on Instagram, we got you covered. You can um have go to our website, we got you covered.org. We're in the TikTok shop. So if people are interested in actually buying, they can purchase right from TikTok or the website, either one. Um and you know, we're always around different places. We did start a YouTube, but that one's kind of like a little bit here and there, just because listen, this is a two-woman show. We don't have any employees yet, and we are just doing it how we can do it until we get to that next level. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:I appreciate that. Okay, so we're gonna stop right here. We're gonna stop right here. But listen, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming back. Absolutely. You know, how you got started. I I I really do, man. I feel like um this is gonna be inspirational to a lot of people that's gonna be listening.
SPEAKER_03:I hope so.
SPEAKER_00:I I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_03:I'm a I could talk for days. I'm a I'm a chatter box. So listen.
SPEAKER_00:That's why that's why I'm like, yeah, we may have to. I will let I'll come back.
SPEAKER_03:You just let me know when and we'll make it happen.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Okay. I may have I may have to take you up on that. I better get your schedule and take you up on that. Because there's there's a there's a couple other things I can really get your your thoughts and opinions on.
SPEAKER_03:I haven't got some other stuff to talk about.
SPEAKER_00:I have I haven't even touched on uh scrubs and brands. I have I may have to say that for next time. I want to get your thoughts on some brands and stuff too. But we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll pause. We'll pause. We'll pause. I'm gonna give you some food. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you some food for thought too. But uh Absolut, I I appreciate you. Um thank you guys for tuning in with Shova Kondarian. Be on the lookout for this episode, man. Uh depending on where you listen to this, you may be listening to this just audio form. If you want to see the full uh version, it's gonna be on YouTube, so be sure to check that out. And uh thank you guys. I love you guys and peace.
SPEAKER_01:If you like any of the content, please feel free to like, comment, or subscribe. If you want to continue to donate to the channel, you are more than welcome to. Your donations go a long way. Give me a follow on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Much love.
unknown:Thank you.
