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Affectionately known as Pakistan’s “Iron Lady,” Muniba Mazari is a role model whose take on life is nothing short of her powerful nickname.
After getting married at just 18 years old to please her father, Muniba found herself in an unhealthy marriage to a man she didn’t love. As circumstance would have it, Muniba felt stuck.
Then, when she was 21, she and her husband were involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Her backbone was crushed, and she sustained multiple fractures in her ribs, collarbone, shoulder and arm.
Her husband was able to escape the vehicle and survived without a scratch.
In the two and a half months Muniba spent in the hospital following the accident, doctors told her that she’d never be able to walk again, paint again or give birth to a child.
Once determined to live her life as a committed house-wife, Muniba was now questioning her existence altogether.
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A firm believer in ‘turning adversity into opportunity,’ Muniba asked her brothers to bring her something to paint with. Despite having a deformed hand, she knew that sitting in a blank hospital, dressed in a blank gown and surrounded by so much despair, it was up to her to make lemonade from lemons. Otherwise, she’d succumb to death before ever living.
As she began to paint, Muniba made the most important decision of her life: Rather than being the perfect person for someone, she was going to take each moment and make it perfect for herself. It started by identifying and tackling each and every one of her fears.
In recognizing her fears, the 29-year-old was able to cut the cord, and stop those fears from holding her back any longer.
“You know, when you end up being on the wheelchair, what’s the most painful thing: People think that they will not be accepted by people because we in the world of perfect people are imperfects. So I decided to appear more in public.”
Muniba began working as a news anchor for Pakistan Television Corporation. She’s been hired for modeling jobs and full-on campaigns where she is wholly herself, not a victim of circumstance. Her career as an artist started in the very place her life was supposed to end, and today she sells paintings that doctors told her she’d never be able to create.
In 2011, she received a call about adopting a 2-day-old baby boy. He’s now her 6-year-old son.
Among her long list of accolades, Muniba is also the UN’s Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan Women—once again living up to her decision to make every moment perfect, and advocate for those who don’t have the same opportunity.
Her mission is to inspire others in their own pursuit of overcoming circumstance, living up to her title as the “Iron Lady” of Pakistan.
“Don’t die before your death,” she says. “Be grateful, be alive and live every moment.”
If she can do it, so can you. Make every moment count, and start living your life like Muniba Mazari today.
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