Durrani Popal Biography

After her graduation, Durrani Popal moved to Los Angeles with the dream of making a name for herself. She applied for and was selected as the merchandising manager at DASH boutique at Calabasas, California. In 2012, the shop was relocated to West Hollywood, California. She also worked at the pop-up retail store of the shop in Southampton, New York, which opened in 2014. While working there, she was featured in another spin-off series, ‘Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons’. It was initially rumored that by introducing the DASH employees, the producers intended to gauge the reaction from the audience for a potential spin-off. They eventually announced the series ‘Dash Dolls’ featuring Popal and her colleagues.

Often called a Kim Kardashian look-alike, Durrani Popal has been largely influenced by Kim's fashion senses and follows her as her icon. However, she also admires Khloe Kardashian a lot, especially the way she has handled an emotional situation involving her boyfriend Lamar Odom. Following the Kardashians in her appearance and behavior, she immediately became one of the leading "DASH dolls" on the show. According to her, in spite of being on a reality TV show, she is actually extremely shy as a person. She always wanted to create her own brand, through fashion design, jewelry and clothing lines. A successful businesswoman, she has already achieved her dream by launching two websites for her jewelry and clothing products.

Durrani Popal has been accused by many for trying to hide her ethnic background on the reality TV show ‘Dash Dolls’. While she is of Afghan origin, viewers have noted an eager attempt on her part to come out as an Iranian. She not only never mentioned in the show that she is from Afghanistan, she also mentioned the Persian dish Ghormeh Sabzi, talked about taking Farsi class, and even revealed that she is fond of Iranian men. She alluded that she comes from a similar background like her friend and co-star from the show, Merhanz "Nazy" Farnoosh, who is of Iranian descent. Ironically, both "Durrani" and "Popal" are uniquely Afghan/Pakhtun names. While many people of Afghan origin criticized her for all these, some, especially women in similar situations, have come to her defense. Citing the waves of criticism she has received for her lifestyle and fashion choices, including being called a ‘bad’ Afghan and Muslim, they argued that if her own community doesn't welcome her, she is right to avoid owning her community in return. However, soon after the premiere of the show, Durrani responded to growing criticism by asserting on Twitter that she is indeed from Afghanistan.

On the show, her boyfriend Shalom, a wealthy Jew from Munich, made an appearance. They met at the Beverly Hills gas station off Wilshire, following which he asked her out. The two soon started dating despite the fact that her religious Muslim parents may not approve of the relationship. During the season finale, she broke the news of her dating a Jewish man to her brother, Abdullah, who immediately opposed the match. She even went as far as to say that she is willing to convert to Judaism if her family doesn't accept the relationship. This again created a controversy, and she received backlash from religious groups. However, the couple eventually broke off.

Durrani Aisha Popal was born on May 6, 1989, in San Francisco, California. She comes from a religious Muslim family originally from Afghanistan. She has a brother named Abdullah who made an appearance on her reality TV show. She studied Fashion Merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco. Her best friend is a girl named Natasha, who she wished would be a part of the reality television show, in case it gets a second season, which unfortunately didn't happen. She is afraid of heights, and has learnt breathing techniques and meditation to cope with her fear of flying.

Her ex-boyfriend Shalom is obsessed with cars and gifted her a bubblegum pink Bentley for her birthday.