Raised by a Roman Catholic family in upstate New York, Aurora began her path to self discovery at age 16 when she decided to forgo confirmation at the local church. It was around the same time that she got her first tattoo, became straight-edge, and started working in the music industry. I thought that was going to be my career until I got sick, Aurora says of her time working as a tour assistant. My GI condition was just affecting my work too much, the amount of physical labour, no sleep, and high stress was just not good for it. I had to re-route my life and that was where Islam came in.

After converting at age 18, Aurora started blogging as a way to make friends within the community. It happened so quickly after I converted, Aurora says of the rise of her modest fashions blog. I didnt know that there was a hijabi fashion scene at all. I wasnt ready for it.

Aurora was immediately chastised by other hijabis for violating the Hadith, a collection of sayings from the Prophet Mohammed that states that it is haram (forbidden) for women to be tattooed. But to Aurora, getting tattooed is no different than applying makeup, another popular beauty practice that is forbidden under Islamic law.

People dont believe in wearing a lot of makeup if youre going to wear a hijab because the whole point is to be modest Aurora says. I typically dont wear a lot of makeupBut I see a lot of sisters who [do], and at the end of the day its moreso about your intentions. They are trying to wear certain clothes and wear a hijab in this world that is so hard to wear a hijab in right now. If they wanna wear some false eyelashes and some lipstick, who cares? Do whatever you need to do as long as youre taking steps.

Instead, Aurora wants to see more women supporting each other online. A lot of times we encounter what we call the haram police on Instagram who want to tell you everything thats wrong with what youre doing, she says. Its better for girls to encourage other girls to get closer to hijab, or to get closer to their faith and say hey, just because you like wearing makeup doesnt mean you cant be religiousI meet a lot of people who say oh, I could never do that because I wear makeup and I do this that or the other thing. Who cares? Do it on your own terms and take one step at a time.

And thats exactly how she did it. Aurora, who initially had issues with hijab (the heavily contested topic of her MTV episode), has since come to terms with her Islamic identity by pursuing a slow conversion to the faith. I didnt know who I was as a Muslim yet, she says, of her time as a modest blogger. So when I took a break from social media and took some time to look at why I was having issues with hijab, I realized it had nothing to do with hijab. It had to do with all the issues that I had inside that I needed to deal with. Instead of dealing with those I was just putting hijab over them to feel like a part of the community[I realized] that Im never going to be happy wearing it or fulfilled wearing it unless Im doing it for God, for my own religious journey. Aurora now wears a turban full time, and while its still not proper hijab, its what shes most comfortable in. I feel very balanced, she says. I feel like Im able to express my personal style, who I am, my personality, and still stay true to my morals and beliefs.