Alya Mooro is one to watch. Born in Egypt and living in London, her Instagram has become a platform to empower others and encourage important conversations on everything from career to diversity.
She now has a book on the way, as one of the first writers to publish under Amazon’s own publishing imprint Little A, that focuses on rewriting negative stereotypes of Middle Eastern women.
Listen up to Alya’s take on using social media as a force for positive change to push the diversity conversation…
How did you get started on Instagram?
Growing up, I spent a lot of time on the computer and have always loved sharing things online. I had an anonymous blog in my early teens – way before blogging was a thing! – and was an early adopter of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and wherever else was the place to be on the web. When Instagram first became a ‘thing’, I was on it almost straight away! Back then, it was nothing like what it is now and I used it primarily to put filters onto my photos and share them with my friends. It grew and changed as I did.
How do you use it as tool to push diversity?
I think that – just as with everything else – Instagram is whatever you make it. As Katherine Ormerod, author of How Social Media Is Ruining Your Life, put it in her book: you are what you eat, and there is a reason why the homepage is called a feed. For me, IG is a tool of empowerment because it’s a place where we can narrate our own stories, embrace our diversity and connect with like-minded people all over the world.
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What’s your main mission when sharing?
To show that it’s okay to be yourself! Whatever that looks or feels like. As I’ve grown more comfortable in my own skin and my own life, I’ve increasingly felt able to showcase all the different aspects of my life, as well as realised the importance of doing so.
“It’s easier sometimes to just show the finished, photoshopped, glossy product but that’s not realistic, nor is it fair to do.”
My friend Laura Jane Williams has a wonderful tagline which is ‘none of us are fucking up like we think we are’. That, and ‘it’s easier to be yourself if you can see yourself’ are things I think about often and I always try to talk about the ups and downs and behind the scenes and the whole, imperfect image. We are all nuanced human beings and I’d be doing both myself and others a disservice to only show the highlight reel.
So how do you communicate your true self?
An interesting exercise I recently did that I would recommend was to come up with three words that summed up my ‘brand’ and what I wanted people to feel when consuming the content I share. It really helped put things into focus in terms of what it is I’m actually trying to do on the platform and I’ve found it helpful to remind myself of when I’m about to post something.
READ MORE: Talking body confidence with Stephanie Yeboah
How do you deal with the comparison trap?
I’m very conscious about which accounts I follow and make sure to fill my feed with people who inspire and uplift my mood as opposed to people who make me feel crappy.
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I also try and be as conscious as possible about the amount of time I spend on the app and what my mood is when I click on. I’ve noticed that if I’m feeling a bit low or tired or unfulfilled, I spend a lot more time scrolling and whatever I see is likely to make me feel infinitely more anxious and unsure about myself.
I don’t check my phone for the first or last hour of my day and that has made a big difference because it allows me to be more grounded in my day and in myself before receiving thousands of pieces of information.
Which other diversity focused accounts do you love following for a mood-boost?
One of my favourite accounts is that of author and journalist @laurajaneauthor. She is unabashedly herself, with all the nuance of that, and always has something interesting to say. I also love @florencegiven and @ginamartin.
You’re also a big advocate for forwarding the diversity conversation.
Yes, I think one of the best things about social media is that it allows people to control their own narrative and to share their own stories rather than waiting for permission from the traditional gatekeepers, who often have very narrow ideals of what is ‘normal’ or ‘desirable’. The more diverse voices and faces and lives we can see, the more it empowers others to join in the diversity conversation and the more it broadens our ideas of what is ‘normal’ or ‘desirable’.
“The more diverse voices and faces and lives we can see, the more it empowers others to join in the diversity conversation”
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How do you use Instagram Stories in comparison to your grid?
Interestingly, I’ve found that since Stories launched, I’ve been posting on my grid a lot less. I think people consume Stories very differently and it allows for a lot more engagement and conversation. I love stories for the fact that it allows more room to showcase your personality, the behind the scenes of the work and the ins and outs of your day – the end result of which is usually shared on the grid. You don’t need to overthink your content because it isn’t going to last very long so you can post a lot more and a lot more flippantly.
So exciting you’ve written a book about diversity! How did ‘The Greater Freedom’ come about?
I’m SO excited! It sounds weird to say but for a long time I had a sort of imposter syndrome of being Middle Eastern and / or Muslim because, growing up in London, I didn’t fit the narrow depiction in the western media of what this meant I should look / think / be like. As I grew older and began to see more and more reductive media stereotypes, as well as increasingly feel the pull of both cultures in varying ways, I realised that I had to contribute to the conversation.
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Why is it important to discuss the topic of diversity?
A saying that best sums up my current ideology is: ‘it’s easier to be yourself if you can see yourself.’ The belief in how important it is to have representative voices talking about their various nuanced lives has been a driving force in writing my book, as well as in everything else I am currently working towards. Growing up, I had no one I could relate to in the mainstream media, other than perhaps Princess Jasmine (#jokingnotjoking).
“The belief in how important it is to have representative voices talking about their various nuanced lives has been a driving force in writing my book.”
I wrote this book for the younger me, as well as for everyone like me, who may need a voice to help justify the things they think and feel and experience, or at least a small part of that. The current political climate across the world is also one where fear of the ‘other’ is rampant, and Islamophobia an ever-increasing reality. I strongly believe that the things we as humans have in common are far greater than our differences. I wanted to put a face and a story to the ‘other’ to help highlight that.
Did your Instagram influence the deal?
I think it may well have! I think Instagram is a visual CV of sorts: this is what I have done and this is what I stand for. It’s an easily-scrollable way to get to know what someone is about and what they may bring to the table.
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In what others ways has your career changed thanks to IG?
Internships that I got thanks to connecting with editors on social media. Coming across calls for pitches on Twitter that I’ve responded to and subsequently gotten. Using various platforms to keep in touch with hundreds of contacts I’ve made over the years. Many of whom have changed jobs or industries or gotten promoted and sometimes contact me to take part in a variety of projects. My career and my IG has been so intertwined from the very beginning I’m not sure quite how to separate them.
“I’m sharing something that I want to say; it’s for the message not the acknowledgement of it.”
Any final tips for boosting engagement?
Not to overthink it! A lot of people lose sleep worrying about how many followers they have or how many likes they’re getting. I’ve heard kids at school can get bullied for not getting many likes on a photo and that’s awful. Honestly, I’ve had times where I get like that, too. And sometimes if a photo I’ve posted doesn’t get many likes I’m like, aahh! But I try not to worry too much and just make sure that I’m posting what I want to post. And not just something I want to get a lot of likes for. That way, either way, I’m sharing something that I want to say; it’s for the message not the acknowledgement of it.
I love that Instagram is thinking about hiding the like count. I think worrying too much about these things can often have a negative effect. What I’ve found so far is that the best way to improve your engagement is to be true to yourself. And to share things worth consuming. Overthinking what that might be is a surefire way to jeopardise the likelihood of you managing to achieve that.
