About me

When Michaela Corning, Founder and CEO of the Michaela Corning brand, embraced Islam in 1999, she realized very quickly how difficult it was to find modest attire especially for her corporate America life. In addition to everything in mainstream retail being short, tight and cropped, if she did find something more modest it was either very frumpy and matronly or didn’t represent her culturally. She loves wearing abayas to special events or to the mosque, but not at her previous day-jobs. This need is what prompted her to start her business in 2000. She started with importing a few scarves and abayas from Kuwait and sewing matching sets. Quickly her business grew supporting the local Seattle Muslim community and beyond. She frequently partnered with two other local sisters who also had hijab businesses, and they took part in local Eid events and hosted many “hijab parties”. Collaboration with Muslim sisters has been a part of her passion since day one.

For nearly 2 decades, the business was more of a labor of love for Michaela. Her business ebbed and flowed with her personal and professional life until fate pushed her into this business fulltime. After being let go from her corporate sales leadership role during the height of the COVID pandemic in July 2020, Michaela decided to put all over her energy, experience, passion and education into her brand. She declared that her passion was truly in her artistic endeavors as a fiber artist making clothing, hijabs and even jewelry. With the support of her family, she took her brand to new heights including doing an exclusive pop-up inside Nordstrom Bellevue in October 2023 and also opening a women only salon and boutique called Barakah Beauty Collective in Seattle in December 2021. 

In addition to providing items of high quality and unique style, her brand represents a more diverse group of women. Her focus is to present real women wearing my brand to show the everyday Muslim woman that she can look very chic and stylish without spending an hour doing her make-up or stressing about a few pounds or laugh lines.