Empowering Muslim Women Through Outdoor Experiences with Nadah Feteih

0:01I think I've always had those wild ideas where I can see the North Star and what this will look like 10 years from now, but convincing people of it now is rough. I just love what adventure travel has taught me and that's why I'm so passionate about sharing that with others. It builds a lot of self-confidence. It's incredibly humbling, really pushes your limits. To me, there is nothing better that you can put yourself through and to do something for yourself.

0:30When Neda Fate first started hiking and camping, she fell in love with the rhythm of long days outside. She savored the profound quiet of the forest, the meditative flow of walking on a trail, and the hypnotic crackling of a campfire. But the more time she spent on the trails, she noticed something. She was often the only woman wearing a hijab. It was a little isolating, but it didn't deter her from pushing herself to take on bigger and bigger challenges. As Netta became a more skilled hiker, she decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. That trip sparked an idea. What if she created a community where Muslim women could come together, adventure, and build confidence?

1:12I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.

1:27Neda Fete, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. So for people who don't know you, how do you introduce yourself and your work? Oh, that's a loaded question. I always wonder what parts of me should I share? How do I tell this story? I have a background in computer science. I worked as a software engineer for a number of years. And over the last few years, my obsession with the outdoors began. I started running, trekking, and eventually getting into mountaineering. And the one thing that I've always been passionate about is building community and sharing the love that I have for my hobbies with others.

2:02And so I started an adventure company a few years back for Muslim women. And so I've been running group trips, taking Muslim women outdoors for the last two years. And it's been a journey itself, learning how to be an entrepreneur while also kind of traveling a bunch for my own adventures. And it's just been a crazy journey. I love it. I love it. I'm curious where your love of outdoor adventure began. Like, did you grow up outdoorsy? Were your parents outdoorsy? So I feel like I've always had that free spirit in me. I've always loved being outside. I joke with my friends and I say I'm solar powered.

2:34Like, I just need the sun to get energy and to feel happy. One of my first memories is actually a camping trip that my family took us on in Yosemite National Park. It was me, my two sisters, my parents, and a number of other Egyptian families that were living in the Bay Area at the time. And I still look back at those pictures, and I feel like there was a seed planted then. And, you know, I think we're really fortunate to have had that experience. A lot of immigrants don't really feel as confident or comfortable going outdoors. I didn't fully lean into it until college when my friends and I here in San Diego would go hiking.

3:07And then once I graduated, I started traveling more. So I started driving to different national parks within California and then across the West Coast and then started signing up for different races. I really loved running at the time and building up my endurance to eventually doing big summits like Kilimanjaro. That was my first big trek. And I stood at the summit on January 1st, 2023. And I always say that was a big turning point for me. And it really established my love for the big mountains. How did that trip come about? After I got laid off from my software engineering job at Meta, the end of 2022, it was a big shock for me.

3:44The layoffs were completely random. I was a high performer. I wasn't happy with my work the prior six months, you know, and I switched teams so many times trying to figure out what is it that needed to change. But I did not have the confidence to just quit and to figure out what was going to come next in my life. And so I always say it was a blessing that I didn't have to make that decision and the decision was made for me. And it really just, you know, my world was open. So you got laid off from Meta Facebook in 2020? November 2022. Okay. And in December, I left for Kilimanjaro. So did you just sign up on like a random trip or did you have friends?

4:20Yeah, I signed up with, it's an adventure company based in Dubai. And a lot of Arabs take trips with them. And I remember a lot of the Arab mountaineers and climbers that I was following had joined them on trips before. And even though I'm born and raised here in the U.S., I'm American, culturally and religiously, it was really important for me to go with that company because being around other Arabs and Muslims, you have the same foundation, same culture, same values. And so I think finding those people abroad that had the same passion and love for hiking and trekking, we just had a lot in common and a lot to connect on while we were on the mountain.

4:55What was the highlight of that trip? I think it was making it to the summit and realizing, wow, I'm so much stronger than I thought I was. You know, I've never done anything like this. It was a little nerve wracking signing up for it, going to a different country, hiking with people I've never met before. But I also was confident enough in a way where I was like, I can figure out what I need to figure out to do this thing. And then I made it to the top and I was like, wow, it can only go up from here. You know, if I could do this, who knows what I could do after that.

5:27Mount Kilimanjaro was the hardest trek Neda had tackled up to that point, but it was also her biggest triumph. One factor that made it so meaningful were the connections she made with the other hikers on her trip. Suffering and summoning with people she knew shared her values created a powerful bond. That trip planted a seed. Neda knew she wanted to share these transformative outdoor experiences with other Muslim women.

5:59How soon after you got back from Kilimanjaro were you like, I need to start something? This is my next job. I was ready to leave the country again right when I came back to the U.S. after Kilimanjaro. I came back in January, still was unemployed. I had so many other dreams and goals and beautiful places I was finding online that I wanted to go trek and hike in. And at that point, I was sharing a lot of my adventures on social media. And a lot of women in my community would see the places I'd go to or the adventures that I'd go on and would say, oh, I would love to do that or I never have people to go with.

6:36And so that was kind of where I realized, let me see if there are other women that would want to come with me. Maybe I can organize something. So I planned a weekend camping trip in Death Valley National Park. And so we drove up for the weekend. And after posting on social media, 50 women had responded saying they'd love to go camping with us or with me at the time. This is just your own social media account. Yeah, I just posted it. And I realized, wow, people just want to go with someone who can plan the whole thing and has that expertise or that experience. And it was the first time a lot of these women were camping.

7:08And, you know, those evenings we would spend just stargazing and around the campfire and those reflections that got so deep and folks really opening up and being vulnerable. and a number of other girls in that group had gotten laid off. Just the tech industry was going through a really rough time. And I remember sitting there with 19 women around me and realizing, wow, if I hadn't lost my job a couple months ago, we wouldn't all be here.

7:36On that first trip to Death Valley, Netta saw how important it was for Muslim women to spend time outside together. She also discovered how much she enjoyed leading these trips. From there, Netta decided to put on another excursion a few months later, and another one a few months after that. This was the beginning of a guiding business, which she named Me 'oa Collective.

8:03So you took some people to Death Valley. You probably planned some other trips after that. Where was this aha moment where you're like, I have to plan this. I have to start this. This is my next job. When does this happen? So it'll happen pretty quickly. I think I did that first group trip in February, 2023. I did one more trip in May and maybe one more in September. And it was October, 2023. And I found out that REI Path Head Ventures was partnering with Founded Outdoors to launch this accelerator program for people of color starting small businesses in the outdoor industry. And as soon as I read that line, I was like, well, that's me, you know, and I knew what I was running had a lot of potential.

8:42We had really high demand in all of our trips. We were selling all of our trips out and it was profitable. So I was like, OK, this sounds like a business to me. What's the mission of Metwalk Collective? Well, I used to say Metwalk Collective is an adventure company rooted in faith, exploration and self-discovery for Muslim women. I'd only ever come across a handful of other hijabis or Muslims on the trails. And so it is very important for our community to be out there and to be visible, especially now. with everything that's happening in the Middle East. And we're trying to carve out those spaces where we can also heal and we can be outdoors and we can be with each other.

9:22And nature is just so healing. And that's where the name Matwa Collective comes from. Matwa in Arabic means a place of refuge or sanctuary. And that's how I'd always felt about the outdoors. And when you think of a refuge or a safe space, it's so hard to even contextualize what that would mean in the world that we're living in right now. And so if we can even have like that small slice of like solace through an hour of meditation that we're doing outdoors, we're just hiking in silence. Like it's really beautiful. And a lot of the noise that we're surrounded with right now, it's hard to find that.

10:00Many of the women who join the METWA trips have never hiked or camped before. One possible reason is that they might not feel comfortable hiking in mixed-gender company or traveling solo, which can make outdoor adventures feel out of reach. MetWall Collective addresses these barriers by organizing women-only trips that teach skills like packing gear and setting up tents. From a business perspective, it quickly found success. In the first year, MetWall Collective hosted over 500 participants on outdoor trips.

10:35So Metlaw Collective, you started it in 2023 and your first year was really impressive. How many trips did you actually run? Yeah, we ran 26 group trips in our first full year, which is a pretty insane number from what I realize now after kind of entering the industry and seeing how other adventure companies run. And I always say we're assembling the train tracks as the train is running. That is a lot for year one. What kind of trips did you take people on? We did a lot of nature trips here in the U.S. We would visit national parks. We would do a lot of cabin trips, glamping trips. We did maybe a couple of backpacking trips.

11:11And did you lead all these trips? No, I stopped leading trips by like month three and then started finding other really passionate women from the group trips that I had run. And they obviously believed in the mission and wanted to contribute in some ways. So then kind of had a very casual training process and then pulled them into leading trips. And we're kind of slowing down now. You know, I want to make sure that we're properly training all of our leads and we're putting out quality experiences. But it's a collective because I don't want to be the face behind it. I want us to build and to grow this community in a way where these women can work with us as outdoor guides.

11:44I can build a team of women who can help us, you know, build this to a point where it's serving thousands of people. When I taught surfing, women would come for like a weekend or a week-long clinic, and then they would quit their job, divorce their husbands, or move across the country to San Diego. Yeah. And their life would never be the same again, and then it would keep going and going and going. I'm curious if some of these women have developed courage that they've taken outside of their lives to do other things. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, and that's why I love the focus on adventure travel, because, you know, we're not just going on these retreats or these vacations.

12:17I want people to feel uncomfortable. I want them to push themselves out of their comfort zone and to do something that scares you. And I think that's how I developed a lot of the confidence and courage that I have now. I used to be so, so shy growing up. My mom always says I didn't start talking until I was five. And so I really feel like a lot of the outdoor adventures I've done have given me a lot of confidence to pursue other wild ideas and to live in the way that I do now. What adventure have you done that's given you the most confidence? Was it that Kilimanjaro trip? Oh, that was a Concagua.

12:47I did a Concagua in January. I stood on the summit of the highest mountain in the Americas January 16th, I believe. It was a 16-day expedition. I'd never camped for that long or been in the mountains or really roughed it for that long before. And it was an experience that really tested me, not just physically. I think I was well prepared for it, but mentally, you know, you're just left to the elements at some point. And as much as you've trained for the summit, you know, day 12, you're on the mountain and you're monitoring the weather forecast and you don't know what the wind conditions are going to be like your summit day, if you're going to need to go up earlier or later and you start to feel the symptoms of altitude sickness and, you know, you're wearing the same clothes for like seven or eight days.

13:35It's just crazy. And it gives you a lot of gratitude for what you have in your day-to-day life and a lot of humility. What was the hardest part of Aconcagua? You know, what's so funny is I'd almost bailed from the Aconcagua summit two months prior. I was just really stressed and overwhelmed with work. I was guilty about taking time off to go do the summit. It was almost three weeks. I was feeling guilty about the financial investment I'd be putting into this. But I'd connected with one of the social media and community managers at Goo Energy Gels. And we kind of chit-chatted for a little bit. and he knew about my summit and he'd ended up mailing me a whole box of gels with like a really nice postcard and note that said something like what you're doing is amazing I'm really proud of you I have no doubt you're gonna summit Concagua and I swear the day before I'd gotten that package I had already sent the email dropping out of the expedition I was like just not feeling confident anymore and so getting that note from someone who actually doesn't know me at all but believes in me in some way kind of made me feel like I should still put in the effort and try to pursue this.

14:41And so he knows that. I told him afterwards, I actually changed my mind and I decided I'm just going to go through with it and went through the entire expedition and made it to the top. And so it was worth it. That's really cool that a total stranger in the outdoor industry just sent you some goo with a note and it really impacted you. Yeah. And that's why it's so important to support marginalized communities and people of color like me that are in this space, because it's so demoralizing sometimes when you feel like you're the only one trying to do these things. Even though I was physically and mentally ready to pursue this big expedition, no one understands it from my community or my family.

15:14So I will still second guess why I'm doing these things. And for someone from the outdoor industry who's supported a lot of other athletes to just extend that gesture and that note, words mean a lot sometimes when you're not feeling the best, hearing it from someone else. And so, yeah, I emailed them back. I said, put me back on. I'm coming.

15:40Receiving that kind of recognition and support from a stranger had a huge impact on Netta's confidence. It mirrors what she's doing with Metwa. She wants to give the participants not only the tactical skills required for camping and hiking, but also faith in their own abilities.

16:10Neda Feteh is the founder of Metwalk Collective, a company that runs adventure trips for Muslim women. Neda has a background in tech, and operating Metwalk Collective has been a real learning experience for her. Now that outdoor adventure has become her profession, Netta has made it a priority to keep going on expeditions just for fun, like her trip to Aconcagua. While she's gained confidence on bigger climbs, one challenge has followed her from the very beginning, finding outdoor gear that feels comfortable and modest. For many Muslim women, the right clothing can be the difference between feeling ready for the trail and staying home.

16:54with metwood collective it's the first time a lot of these women are going outdoors and they're always asking for recommendations on gear and clothing and there's been a gap in the market clearly you know no one's really served our community before and so there's so much potential not just in my own personal experiences and expeditions that i want to pursue but in sharing that with so many others well okay let's just talk about the biggest difference in your community aesthetically. There's only one difference. Recovered. Yes. Can you tell me like what has worked? Is there any gear companies that are awesome?

17:23Yeah, absolutely. And I started a whole series on Instagram trying to review modest active wear options, things that I've tried out and things that work for me and, you know, the system I've landed on. But I can honestly say that the reason why it took me so long to get into running was because I did not feel confident enough to run outdoors in my headscarf. I was like, I'm going to get so many stares. I was still really self-conscious in high school. And it's just material that you feel like is going to stifle me. And I just didn't know what my options were. And I just didn't want to get stared at, you know.

17:57But when I saw other hijabi runners and they were doing it so flawlessly and they were training for marathons, I was like, wow, I can actually do this thing. And so representation and seeing people that look like you doing these things matters a lot. And that's why I still share things online and I share my own journey into getting into these hobbies. From a safety perspective, you know, a lot of us don't feel comfortable running in certain spaces as a covered Muslim woman, especially in times we're living in now with a lot of racism and rising Islamophobia. And you need that community and those people to run with to feel comfortable and safe doing it outdoors.

18:30I feel like I quickly, you know, got that confidence in terms of running by myself in different places, but I still struggle to find out what I should wear. A lot of sports hijabs have the wicking material that maybe is a little bit more breathable. It just never really fit me very well or I didn't feel comfortable running in them. My system right now is I usually find an outdoor hoodie like those sun hoodies that they make that have the hood with at least some sort of neck coverage. It's got a collar. I have ones from Black Diamond and from Mountain Hardware that I feel like work really well.

19:02I don't see a lot of running tops that have hoods that also kind of give you that neck coverage. And so I've been trying out a bunch of those. There's a lot of Muslim women out there that are working on making modest active wear options. I was wondering if this is your next wild idea. A lot of people have been asking me and I'm like, I have enough projects on my plate right now, but I will support any woman that wants to. And we've had a number of women who have reached out that are building things and I've tried out some of their products. A lot of the issues, though, are that there's a big emphasis on gym wear.

19:33and the one thing that I my a lot of my hot takes when I've been doing these reviews that's the same with like hiking gear and just even for non-coverage yeah and I'm just like okay the hoodie that you just made is fantastic I've tried it out and that works if I'm going to the gym but I will not be running 10 miles in this and so it's really hard for me to express this to those smaller modest activewear companies that are trying to build things that you know will fill a need for what a lot of the women in our community are looking for. I feel like, you know, the runners and hikers like me are still a subset maybe of active Muslim women and women that are into fitness.

20:10But I mean, regardless of whether you're Muslim or not, I just feel like there should be more modest options for women out there, you know, both, you know, on the running side, I've had a lot more luck, you know, with hiking gear, where I feel like naturally it is a little bit flowier, or it's just not as tight and form fitting. Ah, I was like modest. I'm like, I just need sun coverage. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of the sun hoodies are a little bit looser. If you're going to be outside, you don't want something that's super tight. And can you describe your choice of clothing for people to understand what you're coming from?

20:39A lot of Muslim women are, it's a whole spectrum. There are some women that choose to dress more modestly and more conservatively. Then there's others who don't wear the headscarf, but still don't want to really be wearing shorts and want, you know, longer options. I try to find a balance in what I'm doing and so I try to make sure I'm wearing a longer top that at least covers me from behind because I don't wear a lot of sports hijabs and I wear the hoods with like a hat over it to keep it on it covers my hair completely but it doesn't really work the best in terms of covering my neck and like your neck is still something you should be covering as like a woman who's wearing the full hijab and that's something that I struggle with myself and I'm really honest about with my faith is making sure I'm covering myself completely as someone who's more visible as an influencer.

21:28And I know I have a lot of women that are looking up to me. And so I think you just end up feeling a lot of that pressure in terms of being the best role model you can be, but also being yourself and accepting that you're struggling with certain things.

21:44As a Muslim adventurer with a social media presence, Neda says she's had to deal with scrutiny and negative comments from people outside her community. She's also felt judged by other Muslims. In fact, Neda even had to convince her own family that these outdoor trips are safe, appropriate, and life-changing experiences.

22:08I'm really curious what your parents and your family thinks of this because you told me that they've drank the Kool-Aid. They've come around. It's been a process. I can safely say that five years ago, I was met with a lot more resistance in pursuing any of these objectives or hobbies. I used to have to make PowerPoint presentations to convince them to let me go on some of these treks. And I even put on those slides, look, there's other Arab and Muslim women that wear hijab that are climbing. Why can't I do this? You know, and obviously doing my research, just worried. My dad has three daughters.