Henna Rustami On Growing Up As A First-Generation Afghan-American Runner + Going From An Unknown to Ivy League Champion

The CITIUS MAG Podcast

January 16, 2020

To start off the year, we wanted to introduce you to one of the kindest people me and my new co-host (Ryan Welsh) met in 2019. Henna Rustami’s name might be familiar if you’re an Ivy League alum because she was a Heps champion. But before she rose to some prominence on the college scene at Columbia, she grew up on Long Island to an immigrant family who left a war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Doug Binder of Dye Stat wrote a great story on her in 2017 as she was setting her sights on some school records during the indoor season.

Henna is one of the members of the Brooklyn Track Club in New York City and in addition to balancing her workload as a second-year law student, she’s not giving up on lowering those PRs from college. She wants to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Track Trials and serve as an inspiration for girls who look like her since some role models were lacking when she was growing up. Henna is awesome and we convinced her to join Instagram after we stopped recording.

Follow Henna.

You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify!

❤️ Have your team join The Feed’s Club Discount Program. Members of clubs or schools who sign up for the program will get 15% off all their orders on The Feed and they will provide each school with a custom landing page + a unique discount code to their school or club. If your team joins, they will also have priority access to their nutrition coaches. If you are interested, email Riley Masters – riley@thefeed.com – and get your team working with the best resource for athletes.

❤️ Protect your legs, nipples and arms with SQUIRREL’S NUT BUTTER. They use all-natural ingredients in everything they make. If it’s not natural, it’s not good enough for your skin. The products are made to prevent skin damage as well as restore and repair damaged skin. You can use promo code CITIUS20 for 20% off on all their anti-chafing products on their website. SquirrelsNutButter.com/ today.

▶ Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

✩ Connect with Chris on Twitter and Instagram.

👔Biz Inquiries/Write Us: chris@citiusmag.com

Chris Chavez

Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.