Hey there, I'm Jason Gots and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.

Started in 2008, Big Think is a kind of online think tank of important emerging ideas

from some of the most creative thinkers on the planet.

On this podcast, we revisit these ideas in new ways. Our producers surprise me and my

guests with short interview clips from Big Thinks archives, ideas we didn't necessarily come here

expecting to discuss. I'm very happy to be here today with Amani al-Katatap. She's the founder and

editor of Muslimgirl.com, the number one Muslim women's blog in the United

States. She regularly provides commentary on social, cultural, and political issues through outlets

such as CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC, and has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian,

and made Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Her new book is called Muslim Girl, A Coming of Age.

Welcome to think again, Amani.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

So I wondered if you could start with a brief story of Muslimgirl.com in case people

aren't familiar with it.

Why you started in the first place, what its rise was like, maybe some of the most interesting

or controversial or pivotal moments

when you realize what it was actually becoming.

So Muslimgirl.com is a little project that I started in my bedroom when I was 17 years old.

I was a high school senior and I was just really pissed off by the way that I was being misrepresented in the media.

The way that I felt like people like me were being just neglected from conversations that were taking place in

the media that were always about us but never included us, right? And so I did what any

...