Multifaceted young woman Shehrbano Taseer's Miracle Moments

She is a journalist.She is a fashion designer.She is strong. A graduate from Smith College, USA, Shehrbano Taseer is a multifaceted young woman who knows there are no short cuts to success. She is someone who has found a great deal of satisfaction in being a working woman and is able to beautifully convert her passions into her profession. With a penchant for writing and journalism, she has contributed to reputable local as well as international magazines and publications such as Newsweek, the New York Times, Guardian, BBC, and the Sunday Times. Her current focus is on running Sunday Times, Pakistan’s leading fashion and lifestyle weekly magazine, which was founded by her late father Governor, Salmaan Taseer, as one part of his media conglomerate. Recently, she has also launched a clothing line, Rema & Shehrbano, with her sister in law and is greatly enjoying her latest venture.

“I have been really lucky in that sense because of the incredibly hard working and kind people my parents have been, a lot of doors were always open for me, and people have always been very supportive and welcoming towards me and my siblings in our professional lives,” she says. But as any young person starting fresh on a career path faces challenges, she too faced some that mostly revolved around the inexperience, emotional unintelligence, and naivety that are part and parcel of being young and idealistic. “Those challenges get smoothed out after a few months or years of working, especially if you are willing to take each day as a learning experience,” she believes. However, the difficulties that she faced on the family front at a young age affected her deeply on a personal and professional level. “I think the darkest period of my life was losing my father so suddenly. I was only 21 and very, very close to him. His death took me a long time to accept and deal with. Just 8 months after my father was killed, my older brother Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped by the Taliban for four and a half years. For many years, I remember feeling very unanchored and afraid,” she explains.

Though she believes that being a woman means a lot of compromise and sacrifice on a daily basis, and working women have to work twice as hard to manage their time effectively, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Financial independence is extremely important to her, which doesn’t only give a woman the freedom to make her choices but also sets an example for her children and the society. “When children see that their mothers are financially independent, they will also understand the value of money and be inspired to be self-sufficient in life when they grow up.” On maintaining a work life balance, she says that she still has a lot to learn on that front. “There are days where I can go to the gym in the morning, get all my work done during the day and come home and cook my husband a meal and then take my dog for a walk, but then there are also those days where I come home at 8 PM and forget I had put a roast in the oven in the morning which I was supposed to take out before I left for work!”

Grateful for her relationships and blessings, she advises young women to remember that no matter how successful you are in life, you are nowhere without God, your family, spouse and good friends. “Always see the good in people, and try to remember that everyone is fighting their own battle”, She said and added that, “never become complacent, no matter how good life is, and strive to become better and better. But also don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.”

Miracle Woman Shehrbano Taseer seemingly has everything that a young woman could ask for – a loving family, a successful career and supportive friends. But she has also dealt with serious emotional setbacks and losses in her life. The fact that she never stopped being strong despite the turmoil her family went through first with her father and then with her brother makes her a POND’s Miracle Woman for 2016. She carried the legacy of her father forward and for her, the magazine’s successes are her Miracle Moments. Looking back, if there is one thing she would do differently, she would spend even more time with her parents. She is sensitive, she values relationships and she is surely an inspiration for all women her age who want to leave a mark in this world and be recognized for who they are.