Aliyah Umm Raiyaan converted to Islam 25 years ago and has been involved in UK da‘wah for over two decades. In 2010, she founded Solace UK, a registered charity that supports women who have converted to Islam and find themselves in difficulty.

In 2019, she launched the YouTube show Honest Tea Talk, which brought raw, unscripted conversations to the forefront of the Muslim community. Aliyah continues to devote her time to helping women realise their full potential while nurturing a deep, personal relationship with Allah.

In 2022, she was approached by Penguin Books to write her first publication, Ramadan Reflections, which became a Sunday Times Bestseller upon release in 2023. Her second book, The Power of Du‘ā, was described by Mufti Menk as “Empowering… of great benefit to those who wish to have their doors flung open by Allah.”

Aliyah is also an international speaker and delivered a TEDx talk on The Power of Your Pain. She lives in East London, where she home-educates her youngest children.

Dr. Naila Althagafi is originally from Makkah, the program curator and the founder of The Retreat, a company dedicated to enriching women’s spiritual journeys through meticulously crafted Umrah pilgrimages and reflective retreats rooted in the prophetic tradition and excellence (ihsan). With a lineage of Mutawefeen – caretakers of pilgrims in the holy lands – her family’s service during Hajj inspired her path. A filmmaker with an MFA and PhD in Communications, she’s also a certified Saudi tour guide from the Saudi Ministry of Tourism. Combining her expertise in convert care and organizing spiritually immersive retreats, she blends practical guidance, cultural wisdom, and profound historical insights to create transformative journeys to pilgrims. Her passion for amplifying Muslim women's narratives through film and research further enriches her holistic approach, ensuring every journey she curates is both deeply personal and authentically rooted in the Islamic tradition and the heritage of the holy lands.