Nurjahan Boulden on Clubhouse

Bio

💃🏽 Belly Dance Teacher 🧡 Gun Violence Survivor
🎙 Storyteller ✍🏽 Writer

Pronounced: NOOR-jah-HAHN, meaning Light of the World ✨

My mom and aunties taught me how to belly dance as soon as I could walk. I danced and danced and danced, until a bullet stopped me in my tracks.

I got shot in the leg with an assault rifle in a random shooting when I was 21 years old.

I pushed through some of the best parts of life:
👉🏽 graduated college
👉🏽 started a career in education
👉🏽 got married
👉🏽 had 3 (pretty damn cute) kids

But I never felt safe. I never felt whole. I never felt ok.

The guilt of surviving after watching a man next to me die was so overwhelming that I never showed anyone I was still struggling.

10 years after my shooting, I heard another survivor sharing her story, raw and vulnerable. I told her that she inspired me, and she invited me to open up about my experience publicly. When I shared my story for the first time in front of over 300 people, it felt like a huge release. It was the first time I let other people witness me in my grief, my pain, and my constant fear.

That moment was the catalyst for my recovery, and it’s what continues to fuel me today. I do my best to pay it forward by sharing my story far and wide and encouraging other survivors to do the same.

I’ve been featured in Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health Magazine, the LA Times, AJ+, and more, including dozens of podcasts and shows.

It took me along time to get back on my feet, physically and emotionally. And now that I’m here, I dance at every chance I get 🙌🏽

💃🏽 You can dance with me, too! Subscribe to my YouTube channel for short Belly Dance Tutorials (including accommodations for disabilities and chronic pain) @ Nurjahan Boulden 👉🏽 link in IG profile

🧡 Join our Gun Violence Survivors club on CH 👇🏽 Free toolkit for gun violence survivors at feelsafeagainprogram.com/toolkit

🎙 Feel free to DM to book me for podcasts, shows, or events

✍🏽 Keep your eyes peeled for my memoir, coming soon ✨

Ooo, also...

❤️ I’m a Muslim ☪️ married to a Christian ✝️. Just doing our part to foster 🌍☮️

🙇🏽‍♂️ And if you think my ethnicity’s tough to pin down, you should see my kids 😎

linktr.ee/Nurjahanboulden
Cash App: $NurjahanBoulden