For as long as she could remember, Seham Hammoud Taha wanted to own her own clothing store. She would go to her home country of Lebanon, or Turkey or Syria and bring back beautiful fashions that wowed her friends. “I used to get complimented a lot by my friends and colleagues on my clothes,” says Sahem. “My clothes always used to be imported. Online shopping wasn’t popular yet. It would take a year or two years before the fashion got to Canada. You couldn’t get modesty clothing easily then.”
Her friends urged to open a store but the timing wasn’t right in her life. That changed in 2013. Seham quit her customer service job at a power company and opened her dream store, Seham’s Boutique. She offers the trendiest hijab fashion she can find. She imports from well-known brands from Jordan and Turkey, and is now bringing in Canadian-made outfits, as well. It’s a niche market but, through her dedication and hard work, she has carved out a loyal following in Calgary and across Alberta. “I appreciate my clients. My community has been so supportive,” says Sahem. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have made it. I opened in a recession. We went through a rough patch and we made it through.”
