[Image description: Real Fouz with gorgeous eyebrows] via Elle Arabia
Dark and heavy eyebrows are all the rage these days and they automatically enhance your look. Whether you’re going for a toned-down everyday look or an intense bold look, darks brows definitely give you that extra ‘oomph’ factor. I absolutely LOVE thick/dark/messy heavy eyebrows and although I have Desi genes to thank for already having dark eyebrows, the heavier the better, right?
Thanks to our makeup haven producers, anyone who has and hasn’t been blessed with heavy brows can get brow kits and fill them in. A not-so-quick trip to Sephora can land you in the midst of a brow-crisis, especially if you don’t want to break the bank.
Benefit’s Ka-Brow! a waterproof, cream-gel brow colour with the brush
This really depends on your eyebrow and hair color.
I prefer ashy/taupe browns for my brows and what I’ve noticed is neutral dark browns work best with people who have dark hair and warmer browns work better for redheads. Something like the shade on the extreme right from this ELF palette would be perfect!
If you have a brow kit, then there’s nothing better than that, but, since this is a DIY, a dark eyeshadow works fine with Vaseline.
Side note: two of my personal favorites are the Benefit Brow Kit (Ka-Brow) or the ELF one if you’re looking for a more affordable version. The Benefit changed my brow game completely, and I love love LOVE IT!!
You can use a regular angled brush or a thicker one. The only difference is a regular one gives a sleeker look, whereas you need to be a bit more careful with a thicker brush because it can give you a messier look.
Now dab the angled brush with vaseline into the eyeshadow. I use a VS darker brown for my brows, but really the shade you pick is up to you. Experiment with a few shades so you can figure out which shade works best for you. Don’t experiment right before a major event. Makeup is art, and art takes time and practice. Always safer to go with something you’ve tried, but, that’s just my 2 cents.
Fast-forward to 3:11 -3:28 for the good parts.
Step 4: Shape your brows
via Giphy
Smudge the color on your hand to test it first.
Next, shape the bottom and top of your brows, almost like you’re drawing an outline for the shape you want them in. Using the angled brush, make small strokes replicating the direction of your brow hair, and fill them out. Start from the outer corners and build it up to the start of the brows.
Step 5: Fill them in
Source: Giphy
This is the fun part because you’re essentially coloring within the outline you did in the previous step.
This lasts for a good few hours.
PRO TIP: use the eyelash wand to brush the brows at the end and to make them look more natural.
Source: Elle
Bonus tip: To make your eyes pop, use a white or slightly golden but shimmery eyeshadow for the inner corner of your eyes.
via Giphy
Use a highlighter below the arch of your brow, where your brow bone is, to set the look.
This method is a great alternative to buying an actual brow kit. But the only downside is, it won’t last as long in comparison to a brow shade. You will have to touch up or redo your brows, repeating the same process after a couple of hours.
If you’re okay with that, though, then definitely try it out.
Slay on! You’re ready to take on the world with brows to kill for.
[Image description: Actress Zoha Rahman on the set of Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home] via Metro
Actress Zoha Rahman was born in Pakistan and moved to the UK with her family in 2012. After graduating from university with a law degree, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Even though it’s the early stages of her career, she was able to land a role in the upcoming Spiderman: Far From Home.
Zoha made headlines when pictures of her hijabi character circulated online last summer. And her popularity rose even more after the release of the film’s trailer. We had the pleasure to interview Zoha recently and ask about her life, her career and her role in the upcoming Spider-Man.
Of course, everyone found out about the exciting new character while watching the movie trailer earlier in the year, so we had to know whether Rahman was excited to take on the role.
Her response? “Yes, absolutely! Even though I auditioned as someone not wearing a hijab, I was asked if I would be able to wear one.”
She continued with her explanation: “I was very happy to be given the opportunity to visually represent Muslim girls. I find it very frustrating that Muslim women are never really seen on the big screen. It’s almost as if we don’t exist in the real world. Cinema is supposed to be a reflection of the real world but we never see the true diversity that we see every day around us.”
“I find it very frustrating that Muslim women are never really seen on the big screen. It’s almost as if we don’t exist in the real world.”
Of course, Rahman’s catapult into fame wasn’t your usual journey. Coming from a Pakistani Muslim background, her family had their doubts about her choice to pursue such an untraditional career route. “It was difficult because they were hesitant when I told them that I wanted to start acting. But I’m quite stubborn, to be honest, and said this is what I want to do, I’m going to try and if it doesn’t work out I can do something else – it’s not a big deal.”
Rahman eased her way into acting, which helped her parents adjust to her unconventional career decision. “I was acting part-time even when I had a 9 to 5 job. It’s only now that I act full-time, and I think they’ve come to the realization that this truly is the career that I want. I had to prove myself to them and it wasn’t easy.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxR_86LBrdQ/
We wanted to know what Rahman thought about how her faith and culture might impact her career, and her answer was exactly what you’d expect from someone who’s thought long and hard about entering the world of acting. “I truly believe that religion is very personal, and I think a lot of people confuse culture with religion. They always group the two together. For example, religion might tell you one thing but it’s not followed by people, but at the same time, culture has the ability to create habits that seem faith-based to some people.”
“It’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that some people in my community don’t take my career seriously.”
She continued, reflecting on how her career might be perceived by some in her community, “It’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that some people don’t take my career seriously.”
Her confidence shone through in every word she spoke. “I am a black sheep where I come from, in that I’m well-educated and decided to pursue acting, but I feel confident in my decision. I believe that’s all I need. I don’t think it’s open for discussion.”
Her desire for authenticity reaches beyond her words: Zoha is genuinely herself, following the beat of her own drum. She doesn’t try to meet the expectations that every person around her wants to place on her. She’s simply Zoha Rahman.
When the trailer was released, revealing her character, Rahman was shocked by the amount of buzz that erupted. “I was not really expecting any of it. It actually broke before the trailer, when some paparazzi shots came out while we were filming last summer. People realized that there was someone in a hijab who was close to the main characters.”
Zoha is genuinely herself, following the beat of her own drum.
For Rahman, the experience working on a Marvel film set was no small footnote. “It was incredible. Marvel films have everything: humor, romance, amazing locations, stunts, and visual effects.” It was obvious that this wouldn’t be an experience that Rahman would forget anytime soon. “To be able to get a taste of everything was amazing. I think I really grew after being on that set and learned so much from everyone around me.”
Ultimately, it’s her hope that the film industry is headed towards a more equal future, one that truly reflects the world around us. “It’s taking too long in my opinion, but there are changes, so it looks like some people are finally starting to walk the walk. Being able to star in a movie as big as Marvel and it not be shown as a negative thing for the plot is amazing. Ultimately, with the background and ethnicity that I have, I worry that I may always be a diversity check for the movies I work within.”
That is a consciousness that Rahman uses even in considering the fact that she wore a hijab for the movie. “I had a small fear in me that I might not be the right person to represent this because I don’t actually wear a hijab.” However, her fears were assuaged by the positive response she received online: “People were DM’ing me on Instagram and telling me how proud they were to see someone like them on screen.”
Attribution: Design Credit to Noorain Moosvi. Property of The Tempest, Inc. [Image description: A woman is seen from the side hugging herself as her hair and dress blow in the wind. Sheets of paper blow around and behind her.]
A few months ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook memories when my attention was captured by a post I made in 2015. And it read, “I wonder if I’ll ever be happy again.”
The post caught me off-guard because I don’t remember writing it. And, while I used to be a fan of nihilistic humor at the time, it was unlike me to vaguely post something so dark and serious. When I clicked on the post, I realized the privacy settings were limited so that I was the only person who could see it.
I’m not sure why I shared it on Facebook, or why the privacy settings were so limited. It felt like a future diary entry that I knew only I could see. One thing’s for sure though – it reminded me that I’m lucky to have eventually found that happiness which I thought I’d lost.
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ app. At times, it can be triggering for me. They include previous posts about abusive partners I’ve struggled to forget, photographs from traumatic stages in my life, and other tiny reminders of my trauma. I have PTSD, which means these memories are really difficult to view. For that reason, I don’t often look through the app.
But there’s an upside to seeing those upsetting posts too. They remind me that my life was difficult and that things have vastly improved since then in the space of a few years.
Some of the most difficult experiences of my life happened between 2013 and 2016. In this time period, I was more active on Facebook than in previous years because I had solid access to the internet. My posts from this time remind me of the difficulties I had gone through – hating university, having an awful immune system, battling anxiety, changing universities, enduring toxic and abusive partners, losing friends, experiencing multiple sexual assaults, dropping out of university.
Those posts remind me of the times I’ve wanted to give up, the suicidal thoughts, and the feeling of wanting to disappear because life was too hard. I ached to be free of the pain that surrounded me.
So now, when I read these memories, I desperately want to hug my past self – I want her to know that she’ll be okay, I want to tell her not to give up because the places she’ll go and the people she’ll meet will be worth all the pain one day. I want to tell her about the food she’ll eat, the cats she’ll adopt, and the friendships she’ll nurture.
I want to tell my past self that she’ll find a happiness sweeter than she’s ever felt before.
But I obviously can’t do that – we can’t time-travel and we can’t send posts backward through social media. What I can do, though, is take away one major lesson from all this – things can improve.
Our social media posts are often like time capsules. When we look back at our posts from years ago, we don’t just read what we’ve written – we remember the context, the environment we were in, and the feelings we were experiencing back then. When we share an old post from 2009 WhEn Yu TyPed LyKK thiSS***, we’re not just cringing at the way we typed. We’re cringing at our awkward, pre-pubescent selves, who were so keen on following a trend that we didn’t mind taking an extra few minutes to type out a post while alternating the case.
We remember how much we’ve grown since then. Likewise, when we see our posts from dark periods in our lives, we’re hit with a bundle of emotion and we might recoil at the memory of the pain we faced.
I’m always overcome with tenderness when I think about myself when I was a younger, more vulnerable human. I yearn to treat my past self gently, and while I can’t take care of her – I know I can take care of myself in the present.
I often gaslight myself, thinking that my experiences couldn’t possibly have been as difficult as I think it was, but that’s not true – those experiences were hellish, and these posts prove it.
This reminds me of my resilience. I realize I’m in a much better place than I was a few years ago, and I’m confident that there’s no way to go but up. These reminders fuel me with self-love and with a resolve to practice self-care.
Millennials are often criticized for the fact that we record everything on the internet. We’re also criticized for treating our social media accounts like diaries, but there are many upsides to the ways we share our lives over the internet. And one upside is that it can provide us with tools for introspection and healing. These historical records keep notes of our individual growth, and sometimes, those notes are what we need to motivate ourselves to heal.
As annoying as Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ function may be, there’s something amazing about remembering how far I’ve come.
Photo Taken by Verne Ho. Image Description: A woman is sitting crouched on a pink floor, with her head touching her knees. Her arms are folder below her legs, and her hair is covering her face.
I’ve started feeling like I’m not good enough. I just feel really sad.
It’s not just loneliness- to be clear, I haven’t isolated myself. I could be with my closest friends, and all of a sudden, start feeling gloomy. Today it happened while I was in a cafe, and as my friends were discussing their senior design project, I felt a heavy anchor of sadness.
My stomach starts hurting, and my throat feels like it’s constricting. I have a lot of thoughts I want to push out, but I can’t. I’m not going to make it. I’m a failure. I’m not really good at anything. Where am I heading, with my life? Am I fit for the startup world? Will I be able to successfully close the fundraising round? Will I make it?
Nothing seems to happen fast enough, and the only thing that’s flying at a pace I can’t keep up with, is time.
Time enough to answer all my emails, to send out proposals, to meet leads and clients, to close deals, to start new projects, to finalize projects, to check-in with different departments. It feels like there’s not enough time.
But there’s a lot of work to do.
I don’t know if I can make it, to the end of the year, quarter, month, and sometimes even day. At times like these, the only thing that keeps me going is one step. I need to take one step at a time. Sometimes that one step is getting through 5 more minutes. 5 and 5, till I get through an hour. Then another, then another.
Not every episode is this bad, sometimes it’s easier to get through. Sometimes, it’s a lot worse. At the lows, I’m thankful for the people that make up my support system. It’s sometimes easier to word out all my feelings of uneasiness and anxiety, and why I feel like everything is going wrong. Other times, it’s not as simple.
Some episodes I start reminiscing, and spiral down a path of should-haves, could-haves, and what-ifs. Those are the weaker moments. I know there’s no other path I would rather have chosen, but sometimes I do wish someone had told me what entrepreneurship would be like, in the most raw and unfiltered way. I know every entrepreneur’s path is different, but I had no idea what was coming my way when I entered this ecosystem.
It’s also the same naivety I see when I’m at startup events with students pitching startup ideas. They’re so hopeful and convinced they’re going to change the world, or their industry, or that their solution is the best damn one in the market. The confidence is great, and I absolutely love seeing it, but if it was that simple, every other person in the world would have “made” it, quite literally. Based on which article you read, 60% and90% of all startups fail. There’s a higher chance of failure than success, and yet we’re all still so optimistic that we will inevitably make it to the success stat.
Entrepreneurship is a tricky road. I’m often asked to speak about my personal journey as an entrepreneur and why more students should consider it as a career path right after university. That’s where I’m wary- because I don’t want to paint an ideal image, when the reality is so far from it. I don’t want to discourage anyone (hell, I chose this for myself), but I worry about giving the wrong impression. There is a reason you see more older entrepreneurs than younger ones, especially in this region. Not everyone can afford to have a startup, when they’re right out of college. And, while there are increasingly growing resources and initiatives to encourage and build out young entrepreneurs, more often than not, there is a long long way ahead. If you want a lot of comfort and financial security, the startup life is not for you. It’s as simple as that.
Most folks glorify the “hustle”, and the “grind.”
Most people romanticize the successful fundraising rounds, and exits. They don’t talk about the breakdowns and the panic attacks. They don’t talk about the rejections in the first phase, the criticism in the second, and the years leading up to the “overnight” success.
Not as much as they need to.
They talk about starving entrepreneurs and tell you to “do what you got to do.”
But, don’t talk enough about how to survive.
Each narrative you read has probably been changed a few times (lo and behold PR), to make it seem like a gorgeous roadmap, where each failure was a milestone to success.
That’s why I’ve built a subconscious filter to bullshit, hypocrisy, the buzzwords, and the pretense.
And in the midst of it all there’s the mental battles with myself; imposter syndrome- a curse I wouldn’t wish on anyone in the world.
We are so blessed. This past week, on March 11th, history happened. Twitter user @JITXA posted the following tweet creating the hashtag #FinePeopleFromIndia
The Tempest. Image Description: Collage of 40 women selected on the list in the article, with a black overlay and title text on image: 40 women to watch: 2018 edition
2017 was intense. We began the year with the largest worldwide protest in history as more than 300,000 people gathered for the Women’s March. That was only the beginning, though. This year we have been blown away by the women leaders who have been innovating in every sphere of life, in every corner of the world.
This list wasn’t easy to create: we are spoiled for choice when it comes to strong, innovative, amazing women and the list is not presented in any order because we simply couldn’t bear to rank such a diverse group of change makers.
If this is what the future looks like, we can’t wait.
1. Brittany Packnett
TechCrunch
Brittany Packnett is a social justice activist, educator, organizer, writer, and speaker – basically the superhero we all need. Her achievements include being the co-founder of Campaign Zero – a police reform campaign, as well as being a member of Barack Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task Force.
Additionally, Brittany is the vice-president of national community alliances for Teach for America and featured on Pod Save The People.
2. Carly Findlay
Harper Collins
Carly Findlay is a writer, speaker and appearance and disability activist. Carly started writing about life with Ichthyosis on her blog in 2009, and since then she’s become a leader in the disability rights movement in Australia. She was featured on the ABC’s You Can’t Ask That in 2017 and she’s working on a memoir.
Carly is working to change the way people think about people with visible differences, shattering the silence and making the world a better place for everyone.
3. Aditi Juneja
Forbes.com
Aditi Juneja is a lawyer and activist who founded the Resistance Manual – a site which describes itself as ” focused on presenting truthful and actionable information to empower people to participate in their democracy.” It is a site with information to resist the Trump/GOP administration.
Due to her incredible work with the resistance, Aditi was included in the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 list, and we had the privilege of interviewing her earlier in 2017.
4. Simone Zimmerman
Jewish Journal
Simone Zimmerman is the co-founder of If Not Now, which seeks to end the American Jewish community’s support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The movement aims to end the war on Gaza, end the occupation and demands freedom and dignity for all.
Simone is an inspiration and symbol of what can be achieved when one refuses to be silent.
5. Monica Jones
aclu.com
Monica Jones is a sex worker and activist working in Arizona to combat anti-sex worker laws that target women of color, the LGBTQ community, and trans women. Monica was arrested under the law she was speaking against, the case was eventually dropped.
She is a badass who continues to speak out about injustices and refuses to allow herself to be intimidated.
6. Reina Gossett
reinagossett.com
Reina Gossett is an activist, filmmaker, and writer who produces movies about trans* women. She notably wrote, directed and produced “Happy Birthday, Marsha!” which follows trans* rights activists, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
Reina has also worked with the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Queers for Economic Justice, and Critical Resistance.
7. Maysoon Zayid
thenational.ae
Maysoon Zayid is a Palestinian-American actress and comedian with cerebral palsy who made history by being the first person to ever perform stand-up comedy in Palestine and Jordan. Maysoon co-founded the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, gave an incredible TED Talk, and also co-hosts the Fann Majnoon comedy show.
She spends three months a year running arts programs for orphans and children with disabilities in the Palestinian territories to help them deal with trauma.
8. Shareefa Energy
shareefaenergy,com
Shareefa Energy is a London-based spoken word poet, writer, and force behind the play, ‘Wombs Cry.’ Shareefa uses storytelling methods to highlight issues in society and challenge stereotypes of Muslim women.
Her achievements include receiving the UK Unsigned Hype Best Spoken Word Artist 2014 award, being invited to perform in Berlin at ‘Poetry Meets Hip Hop,’ and being featured on Channel 4 for National Poetry Day 2015.
9. Imade Nibokun
nowandafterwards.com
Imade Nibokun is a writer and activist who runs “Depressed While Black,” an online platform that shares stories about being depressed while black, fighting the idea that it is a white person’s disease.
Additionally, her written work has been featured in LA Weekly, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, VICE, and WNYC.
10. Lauren Duca
teenvogue.com
Lauren Duca is a writer who changed the narrative of Teen Vogue by writing an article criticising Donald Trump, which spearheaded the direction the teen publication took into the space of political activism.
Lauren won the Shorty Award for Best Journalist, received the Eleanor Roosevelt Tomorrow Is Now Award, and was honored with an Engendering Progress Award.
11. Katrin Jakobsdottir
news.sky.com
Katrin Jakobsdottir is Iceland’s new Prime Minister. Unlike some world leaders who don’t believe in climate change, Katrin is an environmentalist and badass anti-war feminist.
She is the second female Prime Minister of Iceland, part of the Left-Green Movement, and is one of the world’s youngest leaders.
12. Noorjahan Akbar
Noorjahan Akbar
Noorjahan is the founder of Free Women Writers in Afghanistan, which is a collective of Afghan writers and students that promotes the voices and stories of women in newspapers and on the radio.
In 2013, they published a collection of work titled Daughters of Rabia. In 2016, the Daughters of Rabia scholarship was founded to fund higher education for women in Afghanistan.
Their second book, You Are Not Alone, is a guide for women facing gender-based violence. It came out in English in September 2017.
13. Mashal Waqar
Mashal Waqar
Mashal is one of our fearless leaders: the co-founder and CTO here at The Tempest. Mashal is a fierce advocate for accessibility and inclusion, and in 2017 she was awarded the Young Leader of the Year award at the 19th Global WIL Economic Forum.
She has given a TEDx Talk on the impact of social media and continues to raise awareness on how to make online content more accessible.
14. Amelia Cook
photo by author
Amelia launched Anime Feminist, a groundbreaking website dedicated to discussing anime and Japanese pop culture through a feminist lens in October 2016. Amelia is a vocal advocate for fair compensation for her team of diverse writers that are often sidelined in the world of anime fandom and has built her business around that – something we discussed in an interview with her.
In 2018, she’s launching Otagai, a platform for creatives to discuss ways to make money doing what they love.
15. Wendy Zukerman
Podcasting Pro
Wendy is the host of the Science Vs. podcast, which she recently moved from Australia to the US. She tackles controversial topics by sticking to the cold, hard scientific facts.
By bringing science to popular, politicised topics, she’s changing the science journalism game.
16. Isabelia Herrera
Feministing
As music editor of REMEZCLA, Isabelia’s accomplishments in 2017 include initiating partnerships with NPR and Apple Music, hosting Remezcla’s first music podcast, and being honored on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30.
At only 25, Isabelia’s passion for music, and race/gender identity has created a diverse insight into the Latin culture. We love her dedication to representing diversity in an inclusive and supportive manner.
17. Alex Petri
Cosmopolitan
Alex Petri has been making us laugh with her column in the Washington Post since 2010. The youngest person to ever have a column in the Washington Post, her satirical take on politics has landed her many fans, including the White House.
In 2017, Petri came into the spotlight when the White House inadvertently shared her piece, “Trump’s budget makes perfect sense and will fix America, and I will tell you why”, on their daily email blast, making her satire “real news.” Her humorous approach to politics is a reminder that there is always light to be found, even in the darkest of timelines.
18. Lesley Nneka Arimah
Brittle Paper
Lesley Nneka Arimah is a Nigerian writer whose short stories have appeared in many magazines, including the New Yorker. Her debut novel What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, a collection of short stories released in October 2017, has already won numerous critical accolades. She is a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree, winner of the 2017 Kirkus Prize, and nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Leonard Prize.
The stories explore the black female experience with incredible beauty and lyricism and are totally necessary for your bookshelf.
19. Princess Nokia
Wikimedia
Destiny Frasqueri, known by her stage name Princess Nokia, is a queer feminist rapper who first came onto the music scene in 2010. She quickly spurned advances of record companies to become an independent artist.
Her album 1992 is filled with smart, witty lyrics about race, gender and gentrification and her podcast ‘Smart Girl Club Radio’ is further proof that the sky is the limit for this amazing human.
20. Molly Yeh
My Name is Yeh
After attending Juilliard, Molly Yeh packed up her Brooklyn life to move with her husband to a sugar-beet farm in rural North Dakota and took the blogosphere by storm with her food blog, My Name is Yeh.
Molly’s blog filled with stunning food pictures, recipes inspired by her Chinese-Jewish roots, and fun anecdotes about farm life has amassed a loyal following which led to the release of her first cookbook, Molly on the Range, in 2017. We love her beautiful, creative recipes that blend her life on the farm with her cultural roots and a deep love for food.
21. Doreen St. Félix
Speakerpedia.com
At only 25, Doreen St. Félix has an impressive resume which includes being the former editor of Lenny Letter, writing for the New York Times Magazine and being listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016.
Currently, she is a staff writer at the New Yorker. St. Félix’s cultural commentary on everything from Whitney Houston to the Alabama Senate Election keeps us engaged, woke and wanting more.
22. Rochelle Brock
wearyourvoicemag.com
The creator of Fat Leopard Photography, Rochelle Brock, is a 22-year-old Brooklynite is challenging beauty norms through her breathtaking photographs. Brock’s work focuses on inclusive fashion photography that reflects women of all sizes and races. Her images of diverse, confident and gorgeous millennials have taken the internet by storm and we can’t wait to see what waves she makes next.
If you don’t have Rina Sawayama’s mini-album RINA on your playlist yet, you are seriously missing out. Rina’s lyrics explore the messy interaction between femininity and technology. Her sense of style, the penchant for calling out online prejudice, and nostalgic ode to pop music, has got us stanning for this future pop-queen.
24. Mona Haydar
thetempest.co
Hailed as “One of the Best Protest Songs of 2017” by Billboard, Syrian-American Mona Haydar’s debut song Hijabi (Wrap my Hijab)became an anthem for Muslim women everywhere. Raised in Flint, Michigan, Mona calls out racism and violence within the Muslim community.
Her passion for exploring the intersections between art, activism, music, and identity led to an intriguing interview with us earlier this year, and we know this incredible rapper is just getting started.
25. Megan Tan
millennialpodcast.org
Creator and host Megan Tan began the podcast Millennial as a means of building a portfolio for potential future employers. Little did Megan expect, her podcast, a personal narrative about navigating life post-graduation in her 20’s, would hit a chord with the listeners and become a hit.
After three years of sharing her stories, Megan bid adieu in her last episode in August 2017. Though we miss her insights into life, we know she is just getting started.
26. Sara Shakeel
Twitter.com
Sara Shakeel is a Pakistani illustrator and artist who quit dental school to create art in the most unabashed and unfiltered way. Sara’s work came into the spotlight this year when she transformed images of stretch marks by adding glitter and crystals to them.
Her portrayal of stretch marks is a reminder to women everywhere that we have the ability to change the perception of beauty and see flaws as art.
27. Aisha Dee
fangirlish.com
Acting in television shows since 2008, Aisha Dee is no stranger to our TV screens. In 2017, this young Australian made a splash on MTV’s ‘The Sweet/Vicious’ and then bagged one of the leads on ABC’s breakout hit ‘The Bold Type.’
Whether it be navigating her sexuality as Kat or being a supportive sorority sister as Kennedy, Aisha’s portrayal of young confident millennial women always has us rooting for her every step of the way.
28. Molly Tolsky
Alma
In 2017, Molly founded the website Alma, which is geared toward young Jew-ish women or, as the site puts it, “Ladies with Chutzpah.”
The website serves as a platform for Jew-ish women to share their personal stories, from an Orthodox trans* woman writing about being torn between her Jewish identity and the trans* community to speculating about Gwyneth Paltrow’s possible Jewish wedding. We can’t wait to see what Molly has in store for the coming year.
29. Aditi Mittal
netflix.com
Fierce and funny, Aditi Mittal could absolutely be crowned India’s Comedic Queen. One of the first prominent comics in India, Aditi has been featured on BBC World as one of India’s trailblazers and has performed across India, the UK, and Los Angeles.
In 2017, Aditi released her first stand up special on Netflix ‘Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say’. Her unapologetic comedic approach to sexism, misogyny and patriarchy is a reminder that humour can be a powerful tool used to instigate change.
30. Iman Meskini
moviezine.se
Iman Meskini is a 19-year-old Norwegian actress who portrays a young, Muslim teenager named Sana Bakkoush on the TV show Skam. In a country like Norway that is predominantly atheist, Iman’s portrayal challenges tropes around Islam being radical, backward, and oppressive.
Iman hopes that her portrayal of Sana will help people to learn how to separate culture from religion. She joined the Norwegian military on a volunteer basis because, as she states, she “enjoys a challenge.” We’re so excited to see how Meskini grows as an actress and advocate for Muslim rights.
31. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer
suadabdulkhabeer.com
As a scholar, artist, and activist, Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer is revolutionizing the world’s understanding of the intersection between Muslimness and Blackness through her anthropological research and performance art.
Dr. Khabeer brings her research to life through one-woman performances like “Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life,” a performance ethnography on Islam and hip-hop. In addition to this, Dr. Khabeer leads Sapelo Square, an incredible online resource documenting the Black American Muslim experience.
32. Kehlani Parrish
kehlanimusic.com
Kehlani Parrish is a 22-year-old African American, Caucasian, Spanish, Filipino, and Native American singer, songwriter, and dancer whose recent album SweetSexySavage (2017) received critical acclaim. She has been nominated for a Grammy, AMA, and BET award.
As a queer person having gone through an attempted suicide, as well as difficulty in her early career, Kehlani is a role model to us for her bravery and honesty.
33. Yara Shahidi
blavity.com
17-year-old Yara Shahidi is well known for her role as Zoey Johnson on Black-ish and her upcoming spin-off Grown-ish, but she is also an activist for representation and diversity in Hollywood. In a recent article for i-D, Shahidi explained that she wants to use her platform as an actor to discuss politics in a way that is accessible to everyone.
Her belief in advocating for the understanding of the “spectrum of humanity” is what we all need in the current political climate around the world.
34. Saher Sohail
indianwomenblog.org
24-year-old Saher Sohail, better known as the Pakistani Martha Stewart, is famous for her witty artwork challenging western stereotypes around Desi culture, and oppression within Desi culture itself. Sohail provides a platform for South Asian women to revel in their shared experiences and discuss important political topics.
We’re looking forward to seeing how Sohail’s art will grow in the future!
35. Thi Bui
nbcnews.com
Thi Bui is the author of The Best We Could Do, a graphic memoir about her family’s immigration from Vietnam to the U.S during the Vietnam War. Bui wrote the novel empathizing with her parents’ experiences as human beings, rather than parents.
In the difficult political climate around immigration in the U.S, Bui hopes that her novel will encourage people to see immigrants as human beings rather than “Others.” We are so excited to see the effects Bui’s book will have on the public, and what she has planned for the future – a nonfiction book about climate change in Vietnam.
36. Nayla Al Khaja
arabianbusiness.com
39-year-old Nayla Al Khaja is the first female film director/producer in the United Arab Emirates. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her films, including the Jury Special Prize for “Best Short Fiction” for ‘Animal’ at the Italian Movie Awards in 2017.
Al Khaja is also the CEO of her own film production company, Nayla Al Khaja Films, and is the founder of Dubai’s first film club, The Scene Club.
37. Reima Yosif
The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship
Reima Yosif is likely the quietest about the work she does, but if you do some digging around, you’ll definitely find it. She is the Founding President of Al-Rawiya Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting empowerment of Muslim women through education, arts, and integration. As part of her non-profit work, she worked on a research project for Religions for Peace USA, commissioned by UNICEF in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Armed with a diploma in Classical Arabic, she has scholarly licenses to teach books of Hadith and Tafsir – a powerhouse amidst a space that is dominated today by men. She has extensively studied and written on comparative Islamic Jurisprudence. She has translated over 200 Islamic texts into English and is also a published poet.
38. Lena Waithe
Autostraddle
In 2017, Lena Waithe won an Emmy for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series” for ‘Master of None,’ the first Black woman to do so. Her portrayal of Denise on the show is a revelation: a portrayal of the kind of gay woman that rarely makes it on TV.
Her moving Emmy acceptance speech went viral and had LGBTQIA+ people around the world reaching for tissues. Her next project is a show she created and wrote, ‘The Chi,’ about her hometown on the South Side of Chicago.
39. Jean Liu (Liu Qing)
Wikimedia
Jean Liu is the president of Didi Chuxing, China’s largest mobile transportation platform. A breast cancer survivor, mom of 3 and one of very few women executives in the country (in 2015, just 3.2% of CEOs were women).
At the helm of Didi, the company has outperformed its competitors, including Uber!, and is paving the way for the sharing economy to revolutionize China.
40. Becky G
gazettereview.com
Becky G, a Latina singer, actress, and model, had a pretty busy 2017. Her single Can’t Get Enough with Pitbull charted #1 on the Billboard Latin Charts and she starred in her first film role in the Power Rangers movie franchise.
As the Yellow Power Ranger, not only did Becky G kick some supervillain behinds, but she also knocked out stereotypes with her portrayal as the first visible queer superhero in mainstream cinema.
It was great to have conversations with so many individuals who were either working in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives or keen to learn about them.
The 19th edition of the Global WIL Economic Forum took place last week. Being part of the event was such a profound experience- the venue was bustling with energy and the event brought together so many amazing women. I’ve covered countless conferences and forums in my past 5 years in Dubai, but I can easily say the WIL Forum ranks as one of my favorites.
This was also the perfect chance for us to get some career advice, from four incredibly accomplished boss ladies. In an increasingly competitive landscape, most graduates and seniors have the same worries- especially as they get graduation inches closer- getting a job, tackling fears, accepting the “right” job.
That’s exactly why we’ve got some incredible career advice for you!
Who we spoke to:
Charlotte Chedeville, Dawn Metcalfe, Donna Benton, and Michaela Alexis
Why they’re amazing:
Charlotte Chedeville is the Senior Project Manager of the Global WIL Economic Forum and does a lot of behind-the-scenes magic. In 2016, she was awarded by UN Women Canada as a Young Leader for Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Empowerment. Since then, she has developed projects from the ground to promote inclusion and equal opportunities, and recently joined Professors Without Borders, a not-for-profit organization focused on providing higher education opportunities for the youth in the developing world.
Dawn Metcalfe is the founder of Dubai based PDSi, which helps individuals and teams get even better at what they do, and has worked with business leaders around the world to change the way they see the world, their behavior and their impact on others. She is an executive coach, facilitator, trainer and leadership advisor, and her insights and straight-talking approach have kept her constantly in demand from large multinationals and government entities, across the Middle East, over the last 10 years. Dawn’s latest project, HardTalk, is an innovative programme designed to help people get better at having the difficult conversations needed for success.
Donna Benton is the founder and chairman of The Entertainer, she started the Entertainer in 2001 after identifying a market need for both providing consumers with dining incentives and enabling restaurants to reach new customers. Donna worked alone to build the business from the ground up, from managing corporate legalities, recruiting merchants, to doing door to door for sales. She’s grown the company from scratch to having a portfolio that includes 39 products, providing offers across 18 destinations in 14 countries and drives over US$ 1.3 Billion dollars into the global economy every year.
Michaela Alexis is the President of Grade A Digital, a Social Media and Personal Branding Agency in Ottawa, and has thrived in the content marketing community, successfully managing over 100 brands in the past 7 years. She’s also a Linkedin influencer and frequently writes about her experiences; she recently started a revolutionary #letsgethonest campaign and was able to get millions of people to share their struggles and be brutally honest about their experiences on Linkedin.
What’s your career advice for those graduating?
Find your tribe, and understand that you have a story regardless of how fresh you are on the job market or whether you’re just starting out or whether you’re working as a barista. If you want to be a marketing executive it doesn’t matter where you are – use what you have right now; we all have perspectives that are unique and valuable and necessary.
The reason that I’ve been sharing my voice as a millennial is that others were talking for millennials and about how to engage with them in the workforce. So I jumped in and say here is my perspective, and we all have those perspectives. So never worry about being too fresh or being at the beginning of your journey. If anything it’s a blessing to be at the beginning of your journey, because now you have an opportunity to show people the process of what it’s like to succeed and fail in the challenges that you have to overcome. -Michaela Alexis
The truth is, most fresh graduates don’t really know what they want to do. Except for the few who graduated in very specialized fields, most of us go out of university with no real specialty, only having had limited exposure to the job market and the many, many jobs that exist. And that’s okay. Don’t stress out thinking your first job should be the one. Instead, explore opportunities and go where your instinct takes you.
Another thing is that when you’re a job seeker – especially in the early stages of your career – the mindset usually is: “There are thousands of wanna-be consultants/secretaries/nurses. I need them more than they need me, and I will do whatever it takes to get the job.” While this might indeed get you an offer, it could cost you a lot more: being unhappy at work can have major repercussions on your health, it can hinder your personal and professional growth, and even affect your confidence and self-worth.
When I first graduated, I did exactly what my parents and my teachers had taught me: I wasn’t too ‘picky’, I had to get a foot in the door and prove myself. That might have been the right thing to do back then but, as time went by, I continued to approach each new opportunity the same way. But salary is not everything, and finding yourself in the wrong place is a painful experience – which is why my foremost advice to young graduates is to remember that you are interviewing the employer as much as the employer is interviewing you. Not only will this help you find the right place for you to thrive, but you will also gain respect from serious organizations for not being so ‘desperate’. – Charlotte Chedeville
How do you maintain work-life balance and still give your mental health enough time and attention?
It is unreasonable to expect, the same work-life balance throughout your whole career. If you are ambitious then you will have to work harder and that may involve long hours. But, if you have to differentiate yourself I don’t think it is in terms of how hard you work, it is about the results that you get and those results are more and more likely to be results of getting other people to use them.
A leader is somebody who has to get other people to do things in order for that leader to obtain their vision. Relationships. Be nice, play nice with other people. That does not mean sucking up to them or letting people get away with stuff- it means not to bend the rules. Don’t treat others as you would want to be treated, treat others as they would like to be treated.
How you are willing to behave in order to be seen as respectful is very very different. The platinum rule is you have to go into other people’s heads and work out what it is that they need in order to see you in the way you want to be seen. – Dawn Metcalfe
A healthy work-life balance is a key to long-term happiness – but it’s your job to ensure that it is healthy and that you’re happy with where you are. Remember that balance is fluid and priorities will change at different stages – e.g. you have to work harder to get a promotion and focus on your personal life when you have your first child.
Find your daily or weekly rituals that are for you – for me it’s exercise. My morning run on the beach is for me – not my businesses or my kids. But a happy me equals a happy mum/boss. And finally, try not to compare yourself to others. Be a leader, not a follower. – Donna Benton
Advice on dealing with nerves before meetings or interviews?
Everyone gets nervous about meetings when you start out, but it gets better with practice so throw yourself into it and learn something from each one. Do your homework and be as prepared as you can. It’s critical to really know what you’re talking about – and to appear confident, even if you’re not.
And always be presentable and look the part – first impressions really do count. – Donna Benton
If you can picture that emotion you can get a grip on it- the more accurately, the more gradual you can get and the more of a grip you can get. Just saying to yourself I am feeling nervous is a start and it will help. Doing the whole deep breathing thing helps too.
You need to acknowledge the emotion that it is a reasonable thing to feel, it is perfectly reasonable to feel nervous before you go into a meeting or an interview. Everybody in that room has been there, everybody in that room wants you to do well. The fact that you are in the room means that you have a right to be there. So grab that chance and make the most of it. If you never do anything then you can never screw up. – Dawn Metcalfe
There are multiple times when we’re presented with different opportunities, so how do we make a critical decision that we will not regret later?
I have what I call my personal commandments written down in all my notebooks, and they’re just truths that I live by. I use those commandments for every single decision that I make. And, it’s allowed me to never have any regrets because I know that I’m always being honest and truthful to my values and what I hold true. So I think that when it comes to looking at different opportunities really asking yourself am I doing X because I should be or I feel like I should be or am I doing X because it really seems like a great opportunity and it’s going to fulfill me. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. We get very caught up in titles and work. But really, at the end of the day, a large salary isn’t going to fulfill you, it’s not going to make you excited to get out of bed in the morning. It’s not going to make you not dread Sunday nights and having to go back to work the next day. – Michaela Alexis
Job hunting can be frustrating in terms of timelines, so what do we do when professionally, things don’t seem to be happening fast enough?
Nothing ever happens fast enough. Things take longer. Again, if your job search involves throwing CVs randomly at people, I get 60 CVs a week minimum saying “Dear sir, please find attached…” Nothing like “Dear Dawn I read your …” you have to give people a reason to help you. And there is just so much out there in the world and like you said the competition is so high but if you don’t give people a reason to help you then why would they? Someone else will come along and be nice. – Dawn Metcalfe
There’s no way around it. You have to prove yourself at all stages of your career. You don’t just get respect – you have to earn it. As I said before you have to be prepared to work hard. By that, I don’t mean work extremely late or for hours on end, but work effectively, conscientiously and always strive to excel. And always be a team player. Never utter the words, “it’s not in my job description.” – Donna Benton
Use LinkedIn, Twitter and other channels to share your interests, showcase your abilities and create connections. From the moment I started working and had a CV that counted more hobbies than months of experience until today, LinkedIn has opened so many doors – helping discover new ideas, meet potential employers and even connect with Ministers and celebrities. – Charlotte Chedeville
Recently, The Tempest had the opportunity to interview Haben Girma – an accessibility advocate, Obama’s Champion of Change, and Harvard Law School’s first deafblind graduate. As co-founder and CTO, I was able to snag the interview – and it was an incredible conversation.
Haben will also be speaking at Naseba Global WIL Economic Forum this October in Dubai. WIL is a true catalyst for change and because they connected us I was able to have a fascinating conversation with Haben that ultimately led to our pivot and commitment to accessibility. Before the actual call, we’d gone back and forth with a few emails- she sent me two links, which I think all journalists should read: a guide to producing positive disability stories and FAQs about her around accessibility, and general writing advice for journalists writing about people with disabilities.
Here’s how the call went: Haben’s friend would type what I was saying, and her keyboard was connected to a machine translator that would convert the text to Braille. She’d then respond with her voice.
I looked forward to the call because I’m also passionate about accessibility, although my previous work has been in Deaf-accessibility initiatives. I wanted to know more about Haben’s work, although just one article alone won’t do justice to her list of accolades. She’s worked as a lawyer in the DRA (Disability Rights Advocates), has given an Apple keynote on accessibility to developers, and even fought a case against Scribd, to make their content accessible.
“There are 1.3 billion people with disabilities in the world,” she told me.
“That’s a huge population, like almost the size of China, and a lot of companies completely ignore this population. But, it’s in our interest to think about this population and to think about what products we can build, or rather than having separate products, making our mainstream products accessible to everyone. There are guidelines online that teach people how to make websites accessible to blind readers, so blind people can access websites. Or, how to make videos accessible to Deaf people, like captioning on videos.”
I asked her how audio can be made accessible since the boom in podcasts has made them an indispensable part of current culture. She said, “What’s helpful is an audio transcript. Deaf individuals who want to hear the podcast will need to read a transcript. If I’m going to access a podcast, I need a transcript. Another thing to keep in mind is it helps your readership. When there’s more text associated with the content, it allows for more keyword searches. So people who are searching for that topic are more likely to find your podcast if there’s also a transcript with all the associated keywords. So it helps everyone, not just the deaf community.”
So, how could we then tackle stigmas that people have – questions that they’re afraid to ask people with disabilities?
“Fear causes people to lose so much. Lose potential knowledge, lose potential friends. I wish people would stop living in fear and start asking questions so that they can learn. I really appreciate when people ask questions out of a place of empathy a desire to understand,” and she can differentiate when people are trying to understand vs. when they’re asking a question and communicating pity by saying statements like: “Poor thing I would never survive if I was in your position.” or “Ungrateful, I don’t have your condition.”
“I can tell when something comes from pity versus the desire to understand. I’m always happy to answer questions and to teach people- that’s why I’m in this space of being a public speaker, a teacher, a lawyer. I’ve decided to choose this. Some people with disabilities don’t want to have to deal with educating the public, and it’s everyone’s own choice, not everyone should be an ambassador, it’s their personal choice whether to teach the community or not.”
I asked her about the changes she’s seen in terms of accessibility, and what corporations are doing. She said she’s definitely noticed a change and while she’s also doing a lot of work, she also tells me about other organizations who have been advocating for access for years, and how many changes have happened because of them. She mentioned Amazon’s Kindle books and how they weren’t originally accessible to the blind.
The NFB (National Federation of the Blind) advocated for Kindle books to become accessible. And eventually, Amazon changed its products to make them more accessible. “So now if I want to read a Kindle book, I can get any book on their store. It can be converted from speech to Braille.”
I asked her about her time at DRA – Girma worked for the DRA after school and she tells me was able to focus on things that interested her, like access to digital, and she elaborates on a case against Scribd, where DRA was representing the NFB, “Scribd insisted that they didn’t have to make their online services and digital library accessible. The judge ruled in our favor because the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to online businesses like Scribd. That was a huge victory, it was thrilling to be able to reach a landmark decision, to impact history and make a difference in our cultural history.”
This was also when Girma realized, “There’s more to advocacy than just lawsuits and I decided to make a switch and focus more on teaching. I wanted to help people do the right thing, so they don’t get sued.”
She continues, telling me something I didn’t know: “Apple is the most popular choice for people with disabilities…and they are doing more than any other company to make their products as accessible as possible.
The iPhone is the most popular smartphone amongst blind individuals- there’s a screen reader called VoiceOver on the iPhone, and it reads everything out loud on the screen from digital to braille.”
She continues, telling me about Tim Cook’s official statement about how accessibility is a priority at Apple: “It means so much to have the leadership of a company acknowledging and telling all employees that accessibility is a priority and a human right. I wish that more leaders of companies would come out and say to us that we’re going to prioritize this.”
This was the point in the conversation when I truly felt that as a co-founder I had the power to make this change happen at The Tempest. Learning from Haben and leaders in the disability/accessibility community like her is critically important for understanding the kind of revolutionary changes that we are aiming to make at The Tempest.
Accessibility isn’t a buzzword: something you can add on to your site or product and hope for the best. It’s a challenge, an ongoing mission that requires creativity, empathy, and commitment to building a world that works for everyone in it.
After all, inclusivity is the foundation on which The Tempest was built.
The Tempest is proud to be media partners with Naseba Global WIL Economic Forum. The WIL Forum is a catalyst for change by focusing on diversity and inclusion and leading efforts such as an inclusive internship project for this edition. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
When we first began The Tempest in early 2016, our company ethos was crystal-clear: evolving global conversations using inclusivity and diversity through every facet of our work. It is an ethos that has allowed us to compete alongside older, more established media entities, a set of values that every person on the team espouses on a day-to-day basis.
Through the lens of inclusivity and diversity as core values, growth took off – and continues to do so – with the conversations, realizations, and messages our platform fosters daily reaching millions from more than ninety countries across the world. Between 2016 and 2017, our audience grew by 500%. Our audience is composed of engaged, enthusiastic individuals who are seeking out their place in the world – mostly women, mostly politically engaged, and tapped into a larger reality that stretches far beyond their zip code.
Quite simply, our audience reflected our team at Tempest HQ – people we’d love to grab a coffee (or chai!) with to discuss anything from technology to travel, beauty to cultural realities.
As a young media company, our team consistently makes an effort to step back and gauge how we’re doing – and what we can do better. To stay stagnant is to strip our mission of its effectiveness, and besides – experimentation and smart pivoting is part of how The Tempest thrives.
[bctt tweet=”Tempest HQ has decided to actively incorporate accessibility into every initiative.” username=”wearethetempest”]
With that in mind, we came to the realization that while we were practicing inclusivity for much of our audience, we were falling short for a significant demographic: people with disabilities. With more than 1.3 billion self-identifying people with disabilities in the world, we were doing a disservice to crucial members of the world by failing to fully optimize our offerings for their consumption, too.
Rather than attempt to brush this realization under the table, Tempest HQ has decided to actively incorporate accessibility into every initiative and product offering. Our pivot is spearheaded by our Co-Founder and CTO, Mashal Waqar, who notes that, “As a company, we have a considerable amount of power in shifting norms and expectations. As such, we are prioritizing and employing techniques to make sure our content, in all formats, including audio and video, will now be fully accessible. Quite simply, we are here to prioritize accessibility because it is a human right.”
[bctt tweet=”With inclusivity and diversity as core values, growth took off and continues to do so.” username=”wearethetempest”]
Through this shift, we hope to see more corporations, media outlets, and organizations move in a fully inclusive, accessible direction that brings the entire world to the table. We are still a ways from a world in which everything is accessible, but things are changing.
The Tempest is committed to being at the forefront of the accessibility movement.
Four years ago, I was studying at a college in Texas, absolutely exhausted.
I remember walking out of my American History class after it had ended for the day, ending up at the campus Chili’s Grill. I was acing all of my courses, but I was just so tired. Everything was taking an emotional toll. I ordered my usual, a 4 Cheese pizza. Nothing else was halal there, and since I kept halal, the fact that I couldn’t eat anything except that pizza made my life miserable.
I called my mom and broke down. I couldn’t do this anymore.
I knew that in moving to America, culture shock would be natural – inevitable! -but that it would eventually pass. I’d enrolled in a Computer Science program, taking classes that I absolutely loved. It wasn’t until I was at school, in good ol’ Texas, that I came to a pretty big realization.
I’m a child of the Middle East, through and through.
I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. I should have been ecstatic about going to school in America, but I was so unhappy that I needed a way back to the Middle East.
Qatar was soon out of the question because the tuition was too high. The U.A.E. had two promising options: the Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai (RIT Dubai) and another, one that a few friends attended. When I looked into the second school, I found that U.S. credits usually weren’t transferable, which was a big issue for me. Why should I lose all the hard work I’d put in while I was in America?
I didn’t know anyone at RIT Dubai, but the more I looked into the school, the more it fascinated me. More than just the look and feel, the university also hit all the things I was looking for: incredible courses, affordable tuition, and solid accreditation. I was getting good vibes – so with that, I made up my mind.
First, of course, I had to tackle the big P word: parents.
It took a lot of back and forth before I could convince my parents around why I’d decided to abandon college in America (what about the American dream?) and opted to follow my heart to a university in Dubai.
It was simple. I didn’t just feel homesick – I felt foreign. It didn’t feel like home. How could I adequately explain to them that biryani wasn’t spicy unless it was home-made, that the shawarma I’d tried was a joke and the manakeesh? I don’t think I ever found good manakeesh in Texas. This may seem dramatic, but food is life for me, regardless of the situation.
Obviously, I didn’t focus on food to convince them.
I spoke to the academic advantages of RIT Dubai: how I wouldn’t be a number amongst hundreds of students because the class size was that much smaller. That’d mean I’d get a more personal class experience. On top of that, it was a branch of an American university, so my credits wouldn’t be wasted.
It made a lot of sense to my mom academically, but, at the end of the day, the safety sold her. Dubai is a safe city and RIT Dubai is a safe school. My mom had always been a bit reluctant about my decision to go to America, to begin with, even though she encouraged me to go – a decision I quickly regretted once I reached the opposite side of the Atlantic.
I had not been prepared for the racism that I felt in Texas, a reality that soon led me to realize that America was not the utopia I thought it’d be. It was a stark contrast to my life in the Middle East. Welcomed is a good adjective to describe life in the Middle East. I felt welcomed here.
I explained that I’d switch majors and enroll in the Computing Security program, and – thanks to the university’s opportunities – I’d have professional work experience before graduation.
Moreover, they even had a study abroad option for all majors, to study at the main campus in Rochester, NY or in Croatia for up to two semesters at the same tuition (an option most of my friends would later take up enthusiastically). My dad was a bit iffy at first, but once he checked out the details I’d introduced, he jumped on board.
I couldn’t have predicted just how amazing my experience would be for the next few years at the school. It was the perfect hybrid: a space to grow personally and professionally, in every sense of the word. The university gave me countless opportunities to push and develop my self, refusing to accept personal limitations and excuses for an answer.
Sometimes, we had to struggle for opportunities – other times, we were given them on a silver platter. It took some time for me to pinpoint exactly what I loved about the experience, but here goes.
My favorite part of the academic journey was hands down serving as a member of Student Government. As a part of the team, we were given a budget to improve campus life like we’d promised during the campaign. The way we did that was completely up to us – a concept foreign to my friends at other schools, both in the Middle East and abroad.
As someone who’d barely had an extracurricular life in high school, the on-campus engagement was a dream come true. More than anything, the experience profoundly impacted the way in which I approached my own limitations and reality, and – looking back, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
I had a strong support system throughout my time at RIT and made friends that are truly like family. I was able to drive my passion and ambition through the opportunities I was given. When I finally walked across the stage for graduation this past spring, my future was already laid out for me – and it wouldn’t have happened had I not made that fateful shift those years ago. Texas might just be a faint memory now, but my decision to take control of my education still rings true in my ears.
I’ve always heard people say that college is what really changes you. They weren’t wrong. All the pieces of my college life fit together as everything came full circle at my graduation: I got to represent the RIT Dubai campus as the UAE delegate at the RIT New York graduation and got to represent myself at the RIT Dubai graduation.
I got the best of both worlds: a ceremony in the U.S. and one in the UAE.
Four years ago, I made the best decision of my life.
IN
COLLABORATION
WITH
RIT Dubai and The Tempest are partnering to give you the best education of your life through fresh opportunities, incredible classes, and the ultimate education. Give yourself the degree you deserve by choosing to take your life head on.
We just can’t win, can we? You’ll undermine us in our moments of weakness and in our moments of strength. We just cannot win. You want to strip us of everything and play the role of Cinderella’s evil stepmom, and victim-shame when we refuse to.
Well, honey, it’s 20-freaking-17.
The incident started with Varnika Kundu, an Indian woman who accused an Indian politician’s son and his friends of stalking her, with a possible intent to kidnap, while she was driving home, in a detailed Facebook post. In response, the BJP politician asked why the victim was “allowed to stay out late.” In response, Indian women have taken over Twitter, tweeting pictures at midnight with the hashtag #AintYourCinderella.
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