Kulsum Shadab Wahab on dignity, healing beyond survival, and building on courage, not sympathy
Out Of The CloudsShow Notes
In this episode of Out of the Clouds, host Anne Mühlethaler welcomes Kulsum Shadab Wahab, a Bangalore-based philanthropist and social entrepreneur, Executive Director of the Hothur Foundation and founder of Ara Lumiere. Kulsum has dedicated her life to empowering women who have survived acid attacks. Through Ara Lumiere, she creates sustainable livelihoods through handcrafted garments and accessories that not only foster economic independence but also restore dignity, confidence and purpose.
Ara Lumiere champions a new vision of social responsibility within the fashion industry, one that merges artistry with advocacy. This commitment was honoured in 2022, when the brand received the Social Impact Award at the Sustainable Fashion Awards of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI), Italy's national chamber of fashion.
Kulsum speaks with Anne from the heart of that work, and about its cost: what it means to witness such trauma day after day, and how she holds feeling strong one hour and breaking the next. Kulsum shares with Anne how as a little girl, she felt deeply affected whenever someone was excluded from a group, and what an influence her grandfather was when it came to giving and sharing resources. She reflects on the gap between feeling for someone and acting for them (she was born with empathy, she says, but action is something she learnt much later). She also explains why, when it comes to her work with Ara Lumiere and the Hothur Foundation's support of those women survivors, survival is only ever the beginning.
Later, Anne and Kulsum explore the meaning of healing when someone's lost their identities, the work that lies after the surgeries, and Kulsum explains how her background in psychology shapes the way she listens to each woman, rather than deciding for her what she needs (the foundation, she says, is not rehabilitating a case but a person, a story). The pair also discuss skin banking, a cause close to Kulsum's heart, and why pledging your skin matters (see resources below).
Of course, Kulsum also tells Anne how Ara Lumiere came to be, a story of doors opening where no one imagined there was a door. She recalls how a therapeutic workshop at the foundation led her and women survivors all the way to Milan Fashion Week. She also describes what it meant for them, not least to have their creativity seen and celebrated before their pain: a victory over violence, and pain transformed into power.
Kulsum shares updates about Ara Pret, where each garment becomes a story of resilience, beauty and renewal. She affirms her refusal to build a brand on sympathy, choosing courage instead, along with timelessness over trends and slow, steady growth. She also offers an exciting glimpse of what's ahead, with an upcoming collaboration with her friend, the artist Raghava KK. And she speaks about The Phoenix Circle, the community she created to uplift survivors of acid attacks and female genital mutilation, striving for a world free from such violence.
Along the way, Kulsum's rebel streak shines through. A moving, fierce and warm-hearted conversation about dignity, identity and the courage it takes to rebuild a life. Happy listening!
Selected links from episode
You can connect with Kulsum and Ara Lumiere: Ara Lumiere website: https://aralumiere.com/ Kulsum Shadab Wahab on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kulsumshadabwahab/ Ara Lumiere on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ara.lumiere/ Hothur Foundation on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hothurfoundation/
On skin and tissue donation: Swisstransplant - Tissue donation explained in simple language (in French) Donate Life America - Register as an organ, eye and tissue donor in the US - NHS Blood and Transplant - Tissue donation in the UK MOHAN Foundation
Other links: Raghava KK - Artist collaborating with the women of Ara Lumiere "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield - Song that represents Kulsum Story is The Strategy - Anne's 2h on-demand masterclass Website:
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