MWC’s rebranding and marketing show who Muslim women really are

Muslim Women’s Coalition’s new billboard ad highlights the professionalism of Muslim women and includes Muslim doctors (left to right) Reem Mahjoub, D.M.D., Fatoumata Ceesay M.D., Hanadi BuAli, M.D. and Hina Nazar, M.D.

Close observers notice the Muslim Women’s Coalition has a new name and logo, and it’s hard to miss billboards popping up around Milwaukee that feature confident Muslim women who are business owners and professionals.

“After 30 years, the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition is rebranding. It is now the Muslim Women’s Coalition. You’ve dropped the Milwaukee and you’re going nationwide!” exclaimed Yasmine Elhady, a Washington, D.C.-based comedian and attorney who served as emcee and entertainer at MWC’s 14th annual gala Sunday at the Marcus Center in Milwaukee. 

“We’ve done a whole rebranding and updated everything—the name, logo and check out our new website,” said MWC’s founder and executive director Janan Najeeb in an interview with Wisconsin Muslim Journal before the gala. The new name indicates the geographical reach of MWC’s impact, she said.

The non-profit organization that offers a multitude of services and programs for Muslims and non-Muslims alike recently rebranded and launched the Connecting Hearts and Strengthening Communities marketing campaign. A presentation at the gala gave 365 MCW friends and supporters a look at the multi-platform campaign, which features Muslim women’s strength, confidence and contributions to society.

The first billboard of the Muslim Women’s Coalition’s new marketing campaign features Taqwa Obaid, owner of Taqwa’s Bakery and Restaurant in Greenfield.

MWC grows into new name

The Muslim Women’s Coalition’s history goes back to 1994 when Najeeb and other professional women in Milwaukee organized a Speaker’s Bureau to counter negative stereotypes of Muslim women. The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition gradually expanded its services and in 2010 became a nonprofit. Since then, it has continued to grow as new needs and opportunities arise. 

Today MWC serves not only Greater Milwaukee but the state of Wisconsin with its many programs and services. Its Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival brings films with realistic portrayals of Muslims to Milwaukee. Our Peaceful Home offers a culturally specific family strengthening and domestic abuse program. MWC hosts several services and programs for refugees and youth.

The Muslim Women’s Coalition recently launched its new website, developed by Byte Studios in collaboration with MWC executive director Janan Najeeb, special projects manager Cherrie Hanson and designer Nayfa Naji.

Its Networking Brunch and Islamic Resource Center Book Club create opportunities for Muslims and non-Muslims to meet each other and develop friendships and mutual understanding. “Research shows that fear often comes from a lack of interaction with people from different backgrounds, and we’ve found that to be true. Once people meet and interact with us, those barriers often fall away,” Najeeb is quoted saying to Milwaukee Magazine, which featured her as one of its 2024 Women of Distinction.

“We have become the go-to organization for anyone seeking expertise about Islam, Muslims or Milwaukee’s Muslim community,” Najeeb said. MCW’s Islamic Resource Center, with its lending library, provides resources for educators and others. Its independent, online newspaper, WMJ, provides stories read in 60 countries and creates an historical archive used by academics doing research on American Muslims or Milwaukee’s Muslim community. 

The IRC has long been a destination for the U.S. State Department to bring guests who want to tap into MWC’s expertise. “Already this year, we’ve had an African, an Indonesian and an Irish group,” Najeeb recalled. “The African group was very interested in knowing how we navigate in a society that has racist or Islamophobic attitudes. We had an Irish group visit specifically because they are, for the first time, welcoming Rohingya refugees. They wanted to get some expertise on the challenges and some of things they should be aware of. Because we work with refugees, this is something we were able to talk about.

“We’re doubling our physical footprint in 2025 as we expand into the second half of the building we’re in,” she added. “When we first opened here, we had only a full-time volunteer, myself. Then we added two part-time staff. Now we have a dozen staff members, a dozen more contractors who work with us on a regular basis and tons of volunteers.

“Individuals and groups, city- and statewide and national, know our work and call on us,” Najeeb said. “But there are still a lot of people who don’t know who we are, so it made sense that as we rebranded, we do this marketing campaign to promote the organization.”

Marketing campaign celebrates Muslim women

By the time MWC enlisted Culture X Design (Culture by Design) early this year to create its marketing campaign, MWC’s staff, particularly Najeeb, special projects manager Cherrie Hanson and interactive media designer Nayfa Naji, had been at work for two years on its rebranding/marketing project, Najeeb said. 

They began by meeting with marketing consultant Thea Levin to identify key audiences. Then they worked with Byte, a Milwaukee-based web development firm known for its work with nonprofits and socially progressive companies, to develop a logo, fine-tune its look and messages, and give its website a makeover.

“The goal was already clear,” CXD strategic partnerships director Maureen Post told the gala crowd, “To challenge harmful stereotypes, celebrate the diversity and strength of Muslim women and to encourage the greater community to recognize them as integral contributors to Milwaukee’s vibrant social fabric.” 

CXD managing and creative director Geraud Blanks added, “Janan really made it a point to say, ‘We support Muslim women and girls, but we support all women and girls. We want this campaign to speak and resonant with everyone.’”

The working relationship between MWC and CXD is strong, Post said. Before starting CXD, Blanks and Post “had been heavily involved with Milwaukee Film and in bringing the Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival to the Oriental,” she said. “Through that work we were able to see the dedication, intentionality and scope of Janan’s vision. And similarly, Janan was able to see our commitment to cultural inclusivity, storytelling and advancing equitable awareness.”

Presenting authentic images of Muslim women 

The Connecting Hearts and Strengthening Communities campaign embodies a core message of celebration, empowerment and strength, Post said. “With that, we launched the rebrand of the new name—Muslim Women’s Coalition—that represents the expanded mission to foster mutual respect and understanding, not just in Milwaukee but across the country.”

The marketing campaign is funded by the United Way Racial Equity Fund Grant to help MWC build its organizational capacity. “They fulfill their mission by building a community where everyone has accurate, objective knowledge of Islam and Muslims so that Muslim women and girls feel safe to be who they are,” the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County website states. 

Blanks and Post strongly believe in the principle of show, don’t tell, Post said. “We focus on creating authentic, compelling visual representations that highlight true stories of people in those communities.”

“Through a combination of powerful imagery and impactful slogans, the campaign showcases Muslim women and girls as business owners, professionals and leaders that they are. This multi-format initiative is about more than just representation; it is about creating lasting change through understanding, empathy and unity in storytelling.” 

“In thinking about how we move beyond the idea of tolerance … we want to show confident images of Muslim women, particularly Muslim women wearing hijab, in public spaces,” Blanks said. “This is where we start, with a model and a great photograph.”

Blanks showed a photo of Taqwa Obaid, owner of Taqwa’s Bakery & Restaurant in Greenfield, standing in front of her large brick oven, arms folded across her chest, eyes looking straight into the camera and a subtle smile on her lips. 

“Next slide,” he called, and the oven was gone, replaced by a purple background, with the new logo and a tag line.

 “This is where the collaborative process takes place,” Blanks explained. “We take the brand’s colors. We add a slogan and send it over.

“Nayfa says, ‘I think it is a tad too dark.’ We lighten it up a bit.

“Janan says, ‘Instead of building cultures, let’s go with celebrating cultures.’ The piece comes together.

“Now we have our first image, our first asset. Then we move to putting them out into the community. 

“We started with billboards. We had a static billboard on 794 headed west. We had about four billboards rotating in the Marquette interchange for roughly a month and another at Oakland and North.”

The next phase of the campaign focused on digital marketing, with advertising on both WUWM and OnMilwaukee, media outlets that reach broad audiences. “Janan was very explicit about saying, ‘I don’t want to just preach to the choir,’” Blanks said. “This campaign is about reaching non-Muslims.”

“Now we are in our second phase where we focus primarily on social media,” he continued. “The piece with Taqwa will run for another week. Next week will start a new piece. Next slide.”

On the screen, an image of four female Muslim physicians appeared.

“This one was hard to do,” he admitted. “As you can imagine, getting four physicians together in one place at the same time was not easy. They are busy people. Luckily, we had Janan and Janan is a force of nature, so she made it happen. That image will appear in digital ads on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and LinkedIn starting next week.

“This campaign will run probably through mid-January. We expect when you see this come across your timeline, we will get a lot of likes and shares. That’s the whole idea, to share it not only with your community but outside as well.”

Finally, Blanks shared a 30-second video that featured 11 girls in a classroom that demonstrated, “with a little curiosity and understanding, differences don’t have to divide us.” It featured a girl asking another about her hijab and had the tag line: “At the Muslim Women’s Coalition, we are strengthening Milwaukee with one conversation and one moment of understanding at a time.”

“The most important thing in this whole marketing initiative is to show who we really are,” Najeeb said. “The Muslim community is quite prominent and very impactful in Greater Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin. Many of our families have been here multiple generations. We’ve helped build Milwaukee. We’ve helped build Wisconsin.

“There are people who would like to put us in a box. They create an othering that we are resisting. We are making a clear statement that we are a long-time part of this society and we have a positive impact on Milwaukee.”