Noor Abukaram is the Founder of Let Noor Run - A nonprofit that aims to raise awareness about discrimination based on religious beliefs in sports. In 2019, she made news after being disqualified from a high school cross country race for wearing a hijab (head covering worn by Muslim women). This happened despite achieving her personal best. This led her to work with state legislators in Ohio to work on Senate Bill 181, which would prevent the state’s athletic governing body OSHAA (Ohio High School Athletic Association) from creating rules that are discriminatory to religious groups. This was signed into law by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in 2022.
Noor first started to wear the hijab as a teenager and has since been proud to wear it. When her disqualification story happened, it inspired her to become involved in advocacy. At first, Noor was hesitant to share her story with others, but was later convinced that this was the right thing to do after a conversation with her sister. She shared her story with Ohio State Senator Theresa Gavarone and together they worked on a bill to address the issue of discrimination in sports. While this seemed like an issue that would be easy to solve, this took several years before it was signed into law. Those years were frustrating, but Noor credits her faith and having the right support system for supporting her throughout her athletic and advocacy journey. In the future, Noor wants to continue working on Let Noor Run as there are still parts of the country where there is discrimination in sports. She also wants to use her story as a way to inspire others to make change when they see something that is wrong. From a runner’s perspective, Noor wants to compete in more marathons and she is already getting ready for a few as of this recording (find out which ones in this conversation). In addition to running, Noor loves to play soccer. In fact, she used cross country as a way to get ready for soccer due to the amount of running and stamina that is required. Academically, Noor is a student at Ohio State who is currently studying Fashion and Retail.
In this conversation, you will hear:
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You can also check out her personal website:
Personal: https://letnoorrun.com
