Interviews with ProductiveMuslims/ Muslimahs are back! After our initial success with the Interview with sister Zohra Sarwari, we thought we'd revive this feature on this blog and interview more Productive Muslims around the world to inspire us all inshaAllah. 

Today we interview Sr.Tamara Redfern, Head Coach, Founder of SisterShine LifeCoaching

Assalaamu Alaykum Warahmatulahi Wabarakatuhu

Welcome to the ProductiveMuslimah interview sister Tamara – may I take this opportunity to say jazaakumullah khair for spending some time with us to inspire us and to give us all some productivity tips insha’Allah.

To begin insha’Allah:  

1) Tell us a bit about yourself – a bio – so sisters can connect with you insha’Allah

My name is Tamara Redfern and I am the founder and head coach of SisterShine LifeCoaching. I am a mother, a wife, an artist, a life coach/personal development specialist and an educator. I am a dreamer, I am a poet, I am a singer and pretty much I am believer. A believer in Allah swt so therefore I am a believer in all things, that everything is possible if you believe in Him, if you put your faith in him first. Once you take that step forward and really give it your best effort- have no worries that it will fall through- because whatever it is that He wants for you is the best thing. That’s what it will come out to be-the best thing.

2) Why did you decide become a life coach and what inspired you?

I feel like I’ve been a coach my entire life. However something that inspired me to coach professionally was the death of my father (interestingly enough, tomorrow will mark 2 yrs that he passed away of prostate cancer). That was a major turning point in my life. He had been fighting the cancer for 2 yrs and when we found out that there were no other options for him, I realized that I could choose 1 of 2 ways of dealing with his death. I could lie in the middle of the floor and be angry with Allah for taking him “so soon” (I had already done that in 2005 – or I could try another way and plan out my reaction , plan my life’s course for when he was gone and how I wanted the whole experience to go.

Well I chose the latter and decided to do what he himself would have been proud to see me do. To live my life to the fullest, to SHINE.  I love teaching and learning but my true passion -the thing I could do all day and night and only be more energized by it is- helping women live their lives fully without excuses and without holding back just SHINING!  It’s like turning on a small lite bulb inside a dark room, a little bit of light can make a great BIG difference. Shining is taking what Allah has given to you and buffing it and polishing it and giving it back to Him. I LOVE to see sisters SHINE! That’s what really keeps me going. 

3) How do you manage your time? Workload/resources/people?

As with everything else I am a work in progress when it comes to time management. I like to experiment with new ways to share with my clients. However, prioritizing and taking care of the rights and responsibilities I owe first is the most effective way to manage people, resources and work. Remembering I am a servant of Allah (swt) before I am a wife, mother or coach or anything helps me to keep my focus. That means making time to nurture that relationship with Him. Praying on time, fasting, listening to Quran etc. all things that bring me closer to Him. So when Allah comes first all other things will fall into place. It’s really so simple that it’s hard to believe. But when we try to do it the opposite we see how true it is. Allah, following the Sunnah, my family, my private time, my clients. That’s what works for me. And sometimes my private time has to move up closer to the number 3 spot but that’s ok too!

4) Did you ever want to give up? What kept you going?

There was a time when I wanted to give up. It was only for a short period, but at the time I had lost focus of why I wanted to coach and I began to look outside of myself for reassurance and direction. What kept me going was having shared my dream with a great friend who helped remind me what MY long term dreams were and that I was indeed still on that path. She helped me see that I was exactly where I had said I wanted to be and that was a good thing! I wasn’t living someone else’s dream I had actually plotted my own chart for success and landed right at my goal!

5) What are some of your success stories – in brief?

There is a group of wonderfully talented sisters that I have been honored to work with in my R² Ramadan Revolutions Program. These sisters are committed to changing themselves in all areas of their lives and they are not looking for the quick fix or accepting excuses anymore.  They are truly working on adopting new behaviors and manifesting serious growth in their lives! I am truly blessed to work with them. I have seen them grow by leaps and bounds in such a small amount time and I am excited to see what the rest of the year holds for them. Some of my other client’s testimonials are listed on my website as well.

6) What advice or inspirational words would you give to our sisters reading this interview?

My advice to sisters is to take time and go deep. Listen to what you say to yourself and to others and see if what you are saying is true or if it’s a lie. A lot of times we don’t do it. We don’t take the time to listen to ourselves and ask “what is that I’m saying to myself? What is this dialogue that I have going on in my mind” and it is a dialogue it’s not even a monologue with all the back and forth it’s like talking to ourselves. Ask yourself “how true is what I am saying? Do I believe it? And if I don’t believe it what is it that I’m going to do about it to change it?” Once you start asking yourself these questions write out your answers, talk out your answers , paint them , dance them do anything to express yourself and then ask some more questions. Once you get to this point you will start to unearth a lot of the things that were hidden there and perhaps you will find some more hidden talents too! So my advice in a nutshell is to dig deeper. (By the way – one of my jobs is to ask the really good, deep questions :) )

7) Do you have any future projects/ventures in the pipelines

Currently I am working on a book (I smile when I say this because now it’s like o.k. I’ve written about doing it, I’ve spoken about doing -it to someone else and now I’m saying/writing it in this interview). So Insha’Allah, be on the lookout in 2010 there is a book coming out. It’s a very personal project as it will have a lot of my work in it; my writings, my poetry and possibly some art as well. So you‘ll get to see another side of Sister Coach Tamara. In addition there are some other DYNAMIC projects I am working on at SisterShineLifeCoaching.com and some other upcoming sites.  All throughout the year I will be introducing exciting new events and programs so visit SisterShineLifeCoaching.com for more updates on what’s new!

8) Some final inspirational and productivity advice to our sisters insha’Allah

Finally, my top two productivity tips and some inspirational advice: 1) stay in a state of wudu and fast.  I know your thinking “Wudu? How will that help me to be more productive?” When you are in a constant state of wudu you can pray as soon as the salat is called. Stop –drop- pray.  You get the blessing of continually being in wudu, you can read Quran at any given moment. It keeps the shaytan at bay. It’s like the quintessential success principle! As far as fasting, I notice once I am in the habit of fasting I don’t really bother with things that drain or consume my time without much benefit.  I am calmer when dealing with my kids. I have less energy to waste and I realize that the important things must be done and small things can be brushed away. The last piece of inspirational advice I have is to practice the S3 Philosophy:  Supporting Sisters’ Successes! It only comes back to you manifold!

Jazaakumullah khair sister Tamara for your time – we hope our readers have been inspired by your words insha’Allah and become more productive.

Sisters, please visit sister Tamara’s website: http://www.sistershinelifecoaching.com/. We leave you with our duas from the ProductiveMuslimah team!