Emirati Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

Is there an Emirati way of working or leading a team? How different are Emirati work ethics from other ones in the world? And how do Emirati nationals navigate multicultural company rules? Based on his experience as senior executive of oil and gas company Total, Sultan Al Hajji, who is also the President of Alliance Francaise in Abu Dhabi, shares his insights and observations.
In the last part of our conversation, Sultan also tells us about a personal loss in his life that had a profound impact on his future relationship with others and redefined priorities.

--

Music credit: ccmixter.org / ramblinglibrarian_-_Night_Has_a_Thousand_Eyes_(ft._Aussens_iter)

Sultan Al Hajj is the son of a self-taught oil and gas worker - who was also one of the last Emirati employees to strike against  British leadership – and the grandson of a “medicine man” providing psychological relief to fellow villagers. Sultan grew up in the emirate of Sharjah, at a time when the UAE was not yet a country, and made it to the highest positions at the oil and gas company Total in Abu Dhabi. He is currently also the President of the language institute Alliance Française.

In this episode, which is part 1 of our interview with him, Sultan shares colourful childhood memories, including doing his homework on his belly in a tent with a kerosene lamp, and old days' special teaching methods at school. Sultan also recalls some of his family’s strong personalities who shaped his character.

Jalal Luqman’s name is known today both locally and internationally. But his journey to becoming the UAE’s first digital artist in the 1990s was not a walk in the park. Although his passion for computers and art showed at a very young age, reality forced him to make other professional choices first. After a dramatic event in his personal life that turned him from wealthy to poor overnight, while he was studying business in the USA, he managed to finance and complete his degree by doing blue-collar jobs - while secretly following art classes in the evening.

Jalal’s art is sometimes qualified as dark, and has gone through different phases, using a large variety of media.

A few weeks ago he published his first novel: The Armagondas – Volume 1, an epic fantasy graphic novel.

During this interview, Jalal Luqman goes back to this long journey and remembers life as a child, when his father worked as one of the first lawyers in the country.

Episode 03 Webpage: http://emiratistories.com/03-jalal-luqman

Music: Getting Older, by Martjin de Boer - featuring Javolenus

Suhaila al Dhaheri, is a law student at Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. At 21 she already has experience in running elections and holding a mandate to represent the interests of her peers. Suhaila was elected President of her university’s Student Council and at a federal level she has also been a member of the Emirates Youth Council for one year.
In a country that little more than a decade ago has launched the first elections of its history for its consultative legislative body, progressively increasing the number of eligible voters, her experience contributes to the general journey towards more public participation.
Suhaila lives in Abu Dhabi, pursuing her desire “to make a change”, but is keen to maintain a strong connection to her roots in Al Ain. Born at a time when her country had already gone through significant transformations, she embraces the future with optimism.

Two years after the loss of her mother, Dubai artist and entrepreneur Leila al Marashi, 35, decided to build on her experience in a creative way with The Power of Pink project, an art installation focused on the colour pink, dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer in the UAE.

In this episode, Leila speaks about pink in the life of an Emirati girl, teenager and grown-up woman. She tells the story of her mother and her father, of how they met, explains what is behind the pop-art pictures that she created a few years ago to "make East meet West", her fashion design business and her experience of different corporate cultures in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

---

Emirati Stories is a podcast dedicated to introducing the Emirati culture and society through individual stories. Episode 01 was recorded in Abu Dhabi and hosted by Nathalie Gillet.

Show notes and pictures are available on: http://emiratistories.com/01-leila-al-marashi

Emirati personalities from a variety of backgrounds walk us through their life experience, their sources of inspiration, their motivations, sometimes their doubts. In a quiet atmosphere of Abu Dhabi, away from the whirlwind of news, guests speak about themselves at their own pace, going back to the roots and key influences of the past. 

Halfway between journalism and literature, this podcast aims at offering new tools to understand the way people in the Arabian Gulf think and see the world around them. Stay tuned to listen to our first episode to be posted soon.

Emirati architect Alamira Reem Bani Hashim came back from 12 years in California with a PHD in Urban Planning, becoming the 1st female Emirati with that distinction*. In this episode she explains why she left the UAE at 17 to study abroad on her own. Describing herself as an overachiever and perfectionist, Reem experienced depression, an imposter syndrome, but finally found herself and her own identity.
Her husband Arsalan explains how they met and what matters for them as a couple in the Emirati context. Both are also partners in business after founding an interior design company with an original concept and name that resonates with their lives: “The Native Bohemians”.

This episode was hosted by Nathalie Gillet, and was recorded in public at the French language institute Alliance française, by Fahim Benchouk from the company Fuzyo.

----

* Episode 10 of “Emirati stories” was dedicated to Reem's work on Abu Dhabi and the story of the UAE capital's development. We strongly recommend her recently published book “Planning Abu Dhabi”.

** Music: "Unbury Your Heart", by Snowflake

Alamira Reem Bani Hashim explains how evolving political priorities and social realities in the UAE have shaped Abu Dhabi's development over decades, before and after the discovery of oil. Reem is an Emirati researcher and PhD holder in Urban Development who recently published "Planning Abu Dhabi", a book on Abu Dhabi’s urban history over the last century. This episode is part 1 of our interview.

Music: "All Together", by CSoul
Available at ccMixter.org http://ccmixter.org/

Sara Al Shorouqi, 41, is one of the most senior Emirati female executives in one of the UAE's biggest investment groups. Her father (a teacher and school director) and mother (an artist) played a crucial role in her building self-confidence and managing a career while raising 4 children as a single mother.
In this episode, Sara also speaks about her battles against stereotypes in the workplace - and outside the UAE in general - about Emiratisation, and how medical issues finally changed the perspective

A true feminist voice with an Emirati twist.

Music: credit to NiGiD - "Liberty Road" 
(ft. Loveshadow Doxent Zsigmond)

Rashed Hassan is a young film actor in Abu Dhabi. His passion for movies and storytelling as a child took a new turn as a young man when national service gave him the opportunity to meet experienced actor Mohammed Ahmed, and audition for a role in one of Humaid Al Suwaidi’s feature films.
In this episode, Rashed speaks about his experience of the UAE's recently introduced national service, his family, his emotions when he is acting, his idea of the ideal life partner, and finally what his part-time job as a concierge agent at Rosewood hotel - an unusual job for an Emirati national - has taught him.