This week our reader columnist is Saiyyidah Zaidi-Stone. She’s an executive business coach and founder of non-profit organisation WorkingMuslim. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ is a question my mum used to ask me all the time. The naive six-year-old me said, ‘I want to be happy’. I’m sure that there are psychologists out there that can deconstruct that answer.

So is the 38-year-old me happy? It's a small, simple question but one that makes you think. I have managed to get to the top of my career as a female working in the construction industry. I am one of only 10 female Fellows of the Association for Project Managers. But does status bring happiness? I am married with a son and daughter, but am I happy?

Ask them and most people will say they are fairly happy. Happiness is a complex equation with various ingredients in different proportions - it's not a simple Victoria sponge cake! Good health, a loving family, a good job, a decent wage, living in a ‘nice’ house, believing in God… They’re all ingredients in the cake of happiness. We can debate the last one, but it’s been proven by psychologists that a belief in God does increase happiness. Dare I say it? I am a happy headscarf-wearing Muslim woman.

‘I’M A HAPPY, HEADSCARF-WEARING MUSLIM WOMAN’