Some people dream to have wings to fly high. A dream to achieve greatness through their words and their courage, and sometimes those wings come with a price. Muniba Mazari is one of the most courageous women Pakistan has. Let’s celebrate her life and achievements more.

Muniba Mazari

Muniba Mazari Baloch also known as ‘The Iron Lady of Pakistan’ was born on March 3rd, 1987 in a small village in Balochistan. She is a Pakistani activist, painter, anchor, model, singer, and motivational speaker. She became the National Ambassador for UN Women Pakistan after being shortlisted in the 100 Inspirational Women of 2015 by BBC. Mazari also made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 lists for 2016.

With all these achievements Muniba Mazari is also the Pakistan’s first motivational speaker and activist who uses a wheelchair. At the age of 21, she survived a horrific accident that caused her major spinal injuries including broken ribs, ulna radius. Her lungs and liver were deeply injured that left her paralysed from waist down. The incident that took place in 2008 changed her life entirely. She was moved to Rahim Yar Khan Hospital, the place where the accident happened and then was moved to Karachi for her surgery.

Muniba Mazari’s career

After shifting to Rawalpindi from Karachi in 2011, Muniba adopted her son Nael. She adopted her son because she knew she won’t be able to give birth and walk again.

She kickstarted her career as a painter. While painting, she found a job working for Areeb Azhar to run his Facebook page for monthly wages. She also started work at her son’s school for a startup project called Dheeray Bolo (Speak Slowly), which involved teaching Urdu at various schools. Eventually, the managing director of Pakistan Television (PTV) at the time, Mohammad Malick, learned about her because of her TEDx talk of 2014 in Islamabad and asked her to work at PTV.

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With time, she spoke on various platforms as a motivational speaker. Some of her notable contributions include VCon Dubai and Malaysia. Where Mazari spoke about her experiences and her courage. She was honored with the title of Iron Lady of Pakistan. She is also under the 100 most influential women of 2015 by BBC, moreover, she was a part of the 500 most influential Muslims of the world.

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Representing UN Women

Furthermore, Muniba Mazari became the first Pakistani UN Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women. On the occasion she said, “I am a strong supporter of UN Women and the role we have in ending gender-based discrimination, and working towards gender equality, making it a lived reality. We need to educate both men and women if we want to eliminate gender-based discrimination, and for this, we have to work together as one.”

Muniba believes, “if you trust yourself, if you have firm belief in yourself, the world recognizes you.”