Zara Ismail

From Rock Bottom to Radiance: My Journey as Zara Ismail 💪✨
TW: Mental health issues, poverty, self-hatred
Let’s rewind to 2018... I was a broken girl. Like, literally sleeping on a couch from one of my friends, ramen for weeks, crying myself to sleep broken. 😭 My parents disowned me after dropping out of med school (typical Asian family drama amirite?) And my boyfriend ghosted me after 5 years. What's worse? I was $80k in debt, with NO plans. I hit ROCK. BOTTOM.
But that's the thing about rock bottom, it became my launching pad 💥. I sold my last designer bag (Yes I was a hardcore flexer 👜) to buy a coding bootcamp course. I spent 18 hours a day teaching myself AR development, during which I survived on instant noodles and pure rage. 🤬 Now I am a lead Augmented Reality Developer that creates spectacular fitness technology, and* I deadlift 225lbs. 💀🔥

What’s my dirty little secret? I used to hate my body. At my lowest, I was binge-eating to numb the pain (I gained 40lbs 😳) and avoided looking at myself in the mirror for a year. Until one day, I coded a ridiculous AR filter that could superimpose a ‘stronger’ version of myself in real-time. That filter saved me. Now I create AR tools that have you seeing the warrior in yourself before your muscles even pop 🦾✨.

Each DM states like "Zara, I got through chemo with your glitchy live-streams,” or, “I fell in love with gyms again thanks to your app,” is my fuel. This isn't an app. It’s soul work 💔➡️💪.
P.S. Still scared of failure. Still cry sometimes. But now? I’m sweating glitter and debugging code in my sports bra. Progress > perfection. 🏋️‍♀️💻 #UnfilteredAF