From scratch: Building the life you dreamed of!

In this conversation I sit down with Anum, the co-founder of Squat Wolf, and we talk about what it really takes to build a life from scratch. She left her comfort zone more times than she can count, and she never stopped dreaming about the life she wanted to create. But what struck me most was how grounded she is. How she credits her parents, her husband, and her faith for every single thing she has achieved. This is not a story about a lone wolf. It is a story about the small moments that shape you, the people who believe in you, and the quiet power of respect and gratitude.

A childhood that defied the norm

Anum grew up in Hyderabad, the eldest of three, in a household where education was everything. Her father was a banker who spent his whole life at one company. Her mother did her masters at a time when almost no woman in her family had. In a culture where people would say, “Why spend money on girls? She is an amanat, a trust, not an investment,” her parents chose the best school in the city and sent her there. The extended family pushed back hard. But her parents had a firm belief. “My parents were the advocates of equality,” Anum told me. “In our household, I was treated exactly the same as my brother.” That small, brave decision to invest in a daughter shaped everything that came after.

The bus ride that lit a fire

When it was time for university, there was no business school in Hyderabad. So Anum moved to Karachi, alone. Her father took her on a public bus, the kind that is always overcrowded. He found one seat and made her sit. He spent the whole journey sitting next to the driver, on the hard floor. Anum cried the entire way. “I can never allow this to happen again,” she said. That moment, that image of her educated, hardworking father not getting a seat, changed something inside her. She started daydreaming as a child about giving her parents a beautiful house, sending them for Hajj, taking them to see the world. That bus ride turned a dream into a promise.

Building a life and a business with your best friend

Anum met Wajdan when they were teenagers in Hyderabad. They studied in the same convent school, but the boys and girls sections were separated by a small church. They connected through common friends, and when he asked her to be his girlfriend, the first thing she did was tell her mom. Her mother’s response was, “As long as you are not distracted from your education and this boy is serious, it is fine.” That progressive mindset carried through. Anum moved to Dubai for a job while they were engaged. Wajdan liquidated his shares in the startups he had built in Pakistan and moved to join her. They got married in 2015. A year later, they launched Squat Wolf.

The idea came from their own lives. They were both into fitness, running around Dubai Marina, hitting the gym. They noticed everyone wearing big, baggy Nike and Adidas shirts that were made for sports, not for the gym. “We saw people wearing clothes that were not making them look nice,” Anum said. They started ordering international brands that actually fit well and flattered the body. People at the gym kept asking them where they got their clothes. They spotted a gap: no local gym wear brand existed in a city with the highest number of personal trainers per capita in the world. So they decided to build one, with zero experience in apparel. “We were like, how difficult could it be? Let’s try it out.”

Respect: the foundation of it all

I asked Anum what she thinks women should look for in a partner. She didn’t hesitate. “Respect. It is the most important thing.” She explained that love alone is not enough. “If you remove the love, what would remain?” She asked. “Would you still respect this person? Would you still like them?” She knew from a young age that she would only marry someone who had a personality close to her father’s. Someone she could genuinely look up to. Wajdan, she says, is a genuinely nice human being. He treats everyone, from a CEO to a cleaner, with the same level of respect. That humility, she says, is sometimes mistaken for weakness, especially in the corporate world. But she has learned that soft power is the real strength. “If you can compose yourself in a triggering situation, if you can be calm, that is more powerful than someone who reacts aggressively.”

Gratitude and the next dream

Anum has ticked off almost every goal she set for herself as a child. She funded her own wedding so her parents wouldn’t spend a rupee. She sent them for Hajj. She moved them to Dubai, and now they live in the same building, just a few steps away. Her in-laws are there too. “We don’t have to cook,” she laughed. “We come home tired from the office and food is always there.” But she is not done. Once Squat Wolf is established as a global brand, she wants to do something for the women in Pakistan. She wants to bust the myths that are used to justify inequality, often in the name of religion. She wants to create awareness, maybe through a YouTube channel, maybe by working with scholars, maybe by starting a school. She doesn’t know the how yet, but she knows the why.

Before we wrapped, we talked about the role of luck. Anum said, “Success is a result of hard work and luck. You cannot ignore that there is a higher being that made it happen.” I felt that deeply. I am in my postpartum phase, just had a baby, and this conversation reminded me that pride and gratitude can go hand in hand. You can be proud of what you have built and still know that none of it was possible without the opportunities that were presented to you, the people who supported you, and the grace that carried you through.

This episode is for anyone who is building something from nothing. For the woman who is dreaming of a different life for her parents. For the couple trying to build a business and a marriage at the same time. Anum’s story is proof that you can stay soft, stay humble, and still build an empire. You just need to know your why, surround yourself with the right people, and never forget to say alhamdulillah along the way.