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Crown The Brown Exclusive: Junaed and Musu
Crown The Brown Exclusive: Junaed and Musu – “We Celebrate Each Other’s Culture With Love”. Every love story is unique and love is an experience we all share in different ways! Junaed and Musu truly turned heads online when they shared their beautiful wedding and continuous love that they share.
The beautiful couple have showcased ways in which they have truly embraced each other’s background and culture, with Junaed being Indian and Musu being Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian.
A match made in heaven, we were so excited to know more about this exceptionally beautifully wedded couple and their love story! This is what Junaed and Musu shared with us!
Tell us a little bit more about yourselves and your background.
Junaed is Indian, born in London, raised in Zambia and later in London, Musu is Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian born in London and raised in America (Portland), we both live in London.
You and your husband have such a beautiful union! We’d love to know more about your love story! Where did it all begin?
We met at a mutual friends birthday party, and it turned out we lived quite close to each other. We went sight seeing around London for our first date , checking out different monuments and food spots.
What would you say that you love most about each other?
Junaed: the thing I love most about Musu is how unselfish and caring she is. She knows how to take care of me and people around her. Shows affection and love in the most warming ways and never fails to pick me up when I’m low. Musu is also a great teacher and exudes energy.
Musu: There are many things I love about him but I love his humour. He can always make me laugh and brighten my day. I also love his heart. He is so deeply loving and accepting. He makes me feel as though I am free to be my complete authentic self. He’s always creates environments that make others feel loved, appreciated and cherished.
As a couple, you have surely learnt so much more from one another having such beautiful and vibrant backgrounds. What is one thing each of you have learnt from each other pertaining to your own background and culture that you have incorporated in your lives today as a married couple?
We’ve really learned how to balance each other’s cultures and merge them together. We tend to look for all the good in our cultures and highlight that whilst tackling things that may be a bit challenging and overcoming those negative cycles. We really dive into each others cultural food and fashion.
Junaed: I have learned that our cultures have many similarities, being a strong unit as a family is really important. That means showing up to events, being present and understanding that the extended family can be as important as the nuclear family.
Musu: My biggest takeaway so far has been food. I have really learned how to be a confident cook since being married. Junaed’s mom has been so loving and nurturing as a teacher. This has allowed me to not only develop my cooking skills but also incorporate many Indian dishes into our daily diets.
What would you say were some of the biggest challenges that you have encountered in your relationship over time and how did you both work through it?
Communication was one of our biggest challenges and we worked through that by constantly aiming to create safe spaces for us to openly communicate. Although, it is natural for couples to have disagreements we always work hard to make sure we understand each other’s perspective.
We also work with a standard in mind that we are constantly learning about each other. This prevents us from making assumptions and encourages us to approach each other with care, tact and love.
You share the beauty of your union and integrated culture online. It is absolutely mesmerizing to see you both so in love and celebrating your culture together. What has the experience been like being in the public eye?
It’s been amazing. We’ve had so many positive interactions, a lot of which has come from people that don’t even know us which is lovely. It has also at times been a bit overwhelming but it’s been a lovely experience overall.
There has been some negative comments but it’s heavily outweighed by the positive. A lot of it is because people have had negative experiences or examples carried from the older generations that may sometimes be projected.
You recently shared snippets of your wedding. Take us back to that day. We witnessed the beauty of sharing and celebrating each other on that very day, as well as becoming a union. Many weddings serve certain traditions and cultural norms. You both incorporated certain parts of your heritage into your special day. Tell us more about that!
It was such a lovely experience. Especially for our families who got to take part in loads of cultural traditions from both sides over two days. Our first day of marriage included the Indian tradition of giving wedding thali’s and having a mehndi celebration along with the Sierra Leonean tradition of having a calabash.
The Calabash included a knocking ceremony and our first Nikah and prayers done with immediate family. On our second day we had another Nikah at the mosque and held our reception with our extended family and friends.
What do you think is society’s assumptions and expectations when it comes to cultural biases and interfaith or interracial marriages in 2021? What was your experience and what would you change?
I think society assumes there are more differences than similarities and tends to project that. Often times it is assumed that Musu is a revert when the reality is she was born Muslim and comes from a Muslim family and country.
Also, we’ve had such a wonderful experience in interracial love, where our families have both been so loving and accepting of us and our relationship. However, we understand that this has not been the case for others and often times have to explain how our experience actually has been.
As a married couple, what has been something new that you have learnt being married and how has it changed your relationship?
We’ve learnt how to enjoy the little moments. Getting married and then going straight into lockdown meant that we had loads of time to really just bond. Covid lockdown meant that everything we planned for 2020 was put on pause.
It was during that time we really started to appreciate the extra time and quiet moments we were having together. Really just enjoying each other’s company.
What advice would you give other newly married couples or those that may be fearful of being disapproved of for their relationships of any kind?
We would recommend that you keep open and honest communication at the forefront of your relationship. People are often fearful of what they don’t know and understand. However, if you are secure in who you are and who you are with, there are no challenges you cannot face together. Especially, in terms of showing your family the beauty of the person who you have chosen to love.
Above all, Junaed and Musu share a love worth sharing. A beautiful union that we absolutely adore. Their love for each other transcends beyond words and we love being able to share their love story!
