March has been an overwhelming month, so much happened in March, I have no idea where to begin. All I can say is that I’m so grateful to everyone who believed in me and encouraged me to move on and grow in this field.
Highlights for March – 2019

1. Featured Interview with a US-based magazine
   
   

   
2. Moderator for Dubai Modest Fashion Week, where I got to deal with renowned fashion designers and Dignitaries.
   
   

   
3. Won Best Fashion Blogger 2019 – By the World Fashion Festival
   
   

   

   

It’s so hard to believe, how much effort, challenges and sacrifices it took me to reach here, for me, it’s still a dream, and I’m so grateful.

There were so many lessons I’ve learned, from mistakes done, from being naive, and above all not prioritizing my self.

I would like you all to know it took a journey of more than 4 years, to reach this place now, built & designed my own blog, to building the right relationships and learning the importance of ME.
Work in a positive environment to bring the best version of yourself.

I used to work for a corporate organization for 10+ years, though I’ve learned a lot from them, I felt stuck, to describe it, I’d say I felt like a bird stuck in a cage, I knew there was much more to me, I had to spread my wings and not be under the walls of the corporate world forever, it was no match for a creative individual as myself, when you stay and work in a static environment, you become stale.. you become the worse version of yourself. It’s always important to be in a positive and appreciative environment.

Let go of the negative influences in your life.

Whether it’s your old high school friends, college mates, work colleagues. If you feel they remind you of the past with unpleasant feelings, just let them go, let the excess baggage off your shoulders, the moment you remove all these negative influences you will realize how light you feel, and this will help you to move forward and fly high.

You will also come across people who will only want to be apart of your life when you are successful but were never there when you needed them.

Only stick to the right group of people who love you, and support you genuinely these are the people that should matter to you and be your support system.

Commit to your family time, prioritize your spouse and kids.

The mistake I see a lot of social media professionals do is not prioritizing their family time, but instead would prefer to attend multiple events in a day. This is not important, in fact, I’ve spoken to a few agents and they find it funny and weird how these professionals would do anything to attend events, they do this to get validatation from others, which is wrong because in reality no one cares.

Events should be attended when it’s something your passionate about, it should be convenient for you and your family. You’re only doing the brand a favor by filling in seats, they don’t usually care who attends as long as their number is filled. So give time to your family that’s what’s going to last so its best to invest your time on what’s important.

Learn to say NO

If there’s one thing I learned in this blogging journey, its how you should learn to say NO, some brands and agents can take advantage of your services, and try to squeeze out as much as they can from you. While you have to sacrifice your family time or work late so you can keep up with your brands from other countries. It’s not worth it. If you don’t learn to say No in the beginning, they will keep taking advantage of you so its best to draw the line from the very beginning of your work.
Don’t compare yourself to others

Most of us are guilty of browsing through our feed and wondering how everyone seems to have a perfect life or achieve so much. Everyone has a back story, your chapter one would be their chapter 20, you never know what the person has gone through or the challenges they have faced to reach their success. For instance, to now be getting an award is a dream, because I worked so hard, got rejected, got underestimated to reach this point. So don’t compare yourself to anyone, believe in yourself even when no one else does.
Don’t change yourself and your beliefs

I’ve seen many social media professionals change their whole personality, above all their identity just to fit in, which I find highly disappointing. Your identity is your most precious thing to hold onto because its always your uniqueness that makes you stand out of the crowd and be recognized. By throwing off your uniqueness people will never respect you and all you’d look like is an insecure person who has zero confidence. Your identity is precious remembered that! What ever your race, your culture, or your beliefs, You are YOU.
What brands/agencies really see

Most of us think that it’s only if your fashionable or a size zero with a fair skin you’d be respected and considered the elite professional. But no that’s where your mistaken, I do agree there are some brands that are biased and support only certain nationalities according to the region. But most brands I’ve dealt with it, looked at my work, my dedication and the quality of content I put out and ofcourse as long as I was decent looking. That was very surprising to me since I’ve always thought to believe they were always after the physical features first. But no, which is why a girl like me got awarded for Best Fashion Blogger, now that’s something to think about.
Invest your time in developing yourself

In this fast-paced world, and social media it’s very important to keep up with the game, by this I mean invest in learning a new skill, Learn about social media tips, or new apps and ways to improve your content. It’s this what matters more than just a photo shoot or looking good. Remember looks don’t last for long, but your work and talent does.

So rather than wasting all your time socializing and attending all the events possible, learn to prioritize and develop yourself more.
Keep a healthy relationship with everyone and ignore the negative ones.

You’ll come across of a couple of unpleasant personalities, learn to ignore them you don’t have time to deal with this, you will notice friends you were close to change and in some cases jealousy takes over as you grow successful, ignore the negative influence instead move on and make new meaningful relationships that will help you grow and become a better person. Learn to make friends with other nationalities, this helps you grow as a person and an opportunity to learn about a new culture.

Never underestimate hard work.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned and truly believe is that hardwork pays off and is your key to success in life. Dont take anything for granted. often when you think you are at the end of something, always remember it’s a beginning of something else. There’s a sea of opportunity out there don’t limit yourself or your dreams, because anything is possible!

For now, this is all I could think of, I hope these lessons I’ve learned helps you in your journey. Let me know what you think, comment below.