Faces Of The Future

If you know you are young, and feel you are different and have contributed to change, write to us. We’re a click away at fw@haykal.com.

Faces of the Future:

The talented and well-known local photographer who continues to make a name for herself in Syrian and regional media started her career professionally in 2000 as a part of the FCC’s Photography Club. In 2004, she decided to study in the Contrast Institute in Brussels. Meanwhile she worked as an assistant photographer for Julien Claessens, a fashion and publicity photographer, as well as acting as a studio assistant for Studio 202, a photography studio in Brussels. She considers herself really lucky, because working while studying gave her the opportunity to learn under the guidance of elite photographers, including some of the teachers of the famous LaCambre École Nationale Superieure des Arts Visueles. Her grandma’s death brought her back to Syria reevaluating her priorities.  

The son of a tourism veteran, and grandson of a cofounder of the Syrian Air Force, Michel Arcouche ventured into new territory, charting a career path for himself in banking at Bank Audi Syria, and community service, as a two-time board member of the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA). He lived in Kuwait from 1992 to 1995, and then went to the American University of Beirut to study Computer Science. He also went to Imperial College London to do an MBA degree and lived there from 2005 to 2006. He dreams of making Syria the place everyone wants to visit.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/michel-arcouche

started working when he was 17 at his family’s textile business. When he lived in the US, in Detroit, Michigan he worked with Binkers international, owner of top chain restaurants such as Chili’s, Macaroni Grill and others. After that, he moved to Dubai and also worked with Brinkers international as a store manager, then district manager, then operation director. Hosam is getting a Master in food service management from Cornell to achieve his dream of establishing a successful chain of food services. He is working now with the Husseini Group and First Cup as a Chief Operation Officer.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-hosam-mardini

director of the agri-products department at Zein Brothers & Co. He has a bachelor degree in business administration from the Lebanese American University in Beirut in 1998; he has become a respected board member for a company covering a wide base of fields from food and agri-products and fodder, to building materials and transportation. He is also proud to be the president of the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA) - Latakia branch. Ammar dreams of establishing and adding a new industrial department to his company, and exporting products with the slogan “made in Syria” written on them.     
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-ammar-al-zein

head of the Network Operation Center (NOC) at SCS-NET, the biggest ISP in Syria. He started with SCS-NET as a technical support phone operator; his experience in computing grew as did his reputation in computing circles. Noticing his skill, the administration moved him to NOC, and three years later, he now heads the department. He dreams of being the number one go-to-guy in computer networking at least in the Middle East. And he aims to getting the CCIF, the highest achievement in the world of networking.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-shafik-abdul-samad

her short career has spanned some of the major heavyweight aid organizations, such as FIRDOS, Oxfam, and UNHCR. Life circumstances have taken her all over the globe, from metropolitan Montreal, Beirut, Paris, and Damascus, to remote Aru and Bunia in the democratic Republic of Congo. From it all, Canadian-raised Syrian Hatoun Saeb learned adaptability, open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. She dreams of writing books of her own, and becoming a writer.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/hatoun-saeb

Karim has a master’s degree from Westminster University (UK) in public relations and public communications. Currently the managing director of one Jordan’s leading PR companies, iRelations , Karim is our first non-resident Syrian guest to be featured on Face of the Future. He is a second-generation Syrian living abroad, who has spent a big chunk of his life in England but the nagging voice in his head had him move back to the Middle East. He dreams of getting the Arab world portrayed fairly in the rest of the world.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-karim-mardam-bey

currently the managing editor of Happynings, a social, lifestyle, and luxury magazine. It was during his last year of high school that Shukr came up with the idea for a school magazine, he went on to organize the media club that would run the magazine, and published the first edition of “Soriati(my Syria)” in 2004, the first and only high school magazine in Syria. After high school, Shukr chose media studies and journalism at Damascus University, and it was during this time that he was commissioned to publish a supplement for al-iqtisadi called “Roowad al-Shabab”(youth pioneers) a guide for young entrepreneurs and CEO in Syria. Karim is intending to travel to do his master’s in media management at Westminster University, but he believes that his chances are in Syria, his country.  
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-karim-shukr

was born in Kuwait, then moved to Egypt and after finishing her high school, she went to US (Minnesota) to get her university degree and now she lives in Syria. She is currently a master’s student at the American Graduate School of education; she obtained her teaching diploma through an online program in Arizona, and majored in history for her BA at Minnesota State University. She currently teaches at al-Watanya National School in Syria.  She is the head f English department, acting as a senior advisor, helping students get into college. She also initiated the girls’ basketball team, serving as a coach since 2006. Through wearing her Hijab, Mona proved that Muslim women can be veiled and achieve wonders, when armed with determination and education. 
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-mona-soukieh

he has lived in Athens, then moved out to Boston USA, and later to California then moved back to Greece.  He is an actor, director, producer and the son of the renowned director Khaldon Maleh. He has a degree in film-making and a minor in psychology from Emrson College in Boston, Maleh has managed to gain diverse international experience in the filmmaking industry in a short period of time.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-khaled-maleh

was raised between Jeddah and Damascus, and then moved to work and study between Cairo, Dubai, Qatar and New York. She is now a Communication consultant, PR manager and writer, she is full of poetry. Her first book of Poetry “Who Got Eve out of Heaven” achieved notable critical success in the Middle East and was highly acclaimed by renowned Arab artists. She dropped out of the American University in Cairo to start up an internet services company with a friend in Dubai. From there, she was called to work with a number of the top multinational advertising and PR agencies in the region. Moving from Dubai to New York City to pursue her studies at NYU, she continues to work on campaigns that tackle issues of youth empowerment and promoting corporate and social responsibility, something she tried to accomplish as former co-host on a prime time youth talk show on MBC.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-bushra-hamwi

with a master’s in environmental management from the Imperial College at Wye, University of London, and a bachelor’s in environmental health from the American University of Beirut, Jondi’s Career began at the age of 21 when she joined UNICEF, Damascus and was the youngest Project Assistant working there on health and nutrition projects and providing assistance on the implementation of a number of programs, including the healthy villages program, the social Mobilization program and the Education program. In 1998, Al Jondi joined UNDP as an Environment Program Officer, and later became an environment and energy team leader in 2004. One year later, Jondi found her true passion and moved to the field of poverty reduction.    
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-shaza-al-jondi

at 25, Chaoui is venturing into medicine from a very unconventional angle. Currently, he is completing his PhD in Computer and Robotic Assisted Surgery at Telecom Bretagne and PRAXIM. He moved to France in 2007 and received his Masters in Image and Signal Processing from Telecom Bretagne in France after earning a B.S in Biomedical Engineering from Damascus University. He participated in the creation of the first Syria branch of the institute of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE).  
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-jean-chaoui

the senior Project Coordinator for the Syrian Health Development Sector, Dr. Rola Kaakeh, has reached this lofty position at just 21 years of age. Though born and raised in the US, kaakeh has always associated with her Syrian roots. She received her doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Purdue at the age of 19, with a minor in organizational leadership and supervision. She moved to Syria in 2007 to pursue a career in health sector development. Once here, she received the “Excellence in Public health Practice Award,” in recognition of her commitment and contributions to the national public pharmaceutical practice; here achievements were recognized by President Bashar al-Assad and First Lady Asma al-Assad, and her “brains were applauded in magazines and news papers.  
http://www.fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-rola-kaakeh-0

is the human resources officer at Audi Bank. With a diploma in education, a bachelor’s degree in library & information sciences (with honor), and a master’s degree in business administration, Sarraf is involved in a range of activities as diverse as human resources, education, youth scouts. She is a member in SYEA (Syrian Young Entrepreneur Association) and a talented undiscovered poet, having written a collection of poems that she plans on having them published, with a forward by the Syrian scholar Iskandar Luka.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-rima-sarraf

a young painter of Syrian descendent, she doodles with words and gives them a soul, a character and dimensions. Exhibited in group and solo shows across the US and sought by collectors around the world, 29- years-old, Hibrawi’s art work premiered at 2006 Los Angeles Cultural Calendar and it is currently represented by the Chiarini Gallery in Santa Ana, California. Her work is also featured online for the Syrian Culture, Arts and History Center in Montreal, Canada. She is also running along with her best friend and partner Judy Fleenor, their commercial art business, (Mypopart.com).   
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-kinda-hibrawi

He is the managing Partner for Business Intelligence at Strategic Axis Advisors LLC. He holds an MBA in Strategic Planning from Davenport School of Business, and an Honorary Graduate Diploma in International Political and Economic Studies from Georgetown University. Mohammad Agha currently stands as Senior Program Consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He is also an active member in SEYA, World Affairs Council of America, The Liberty Fund, and the Fund of American Studies.    
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-mohammad-agha

After graduating from the Academy of Arts College in San Francisco, Malek moved to Dubai in 2002 to join the multinational agency TBWA\RAAD, where he currently works as Creative Group Head. Malek believes that one cannot learn about advertising in school, one learns the profession through work; by thinking ‘out of the box’ and approaching life, situations and people with passion. His work has been recognized by a number of international festivals; namely the ACC San Francisco Golden Buddha Awards, the Campaign Awards, the International festival of Non-profit Low Budget Communication in Italy, the Loerie Awards and the Lynix Awards.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-malek-atassi

her paintings are exhibited around the world, in countries like France, Belgium, Monaco, Spain, and Switzerland , her mother is the distinguished Syrian poet Nada Kahal. Abu Jeib was born in Lebanon, raised in Paris and later in Syria. She earned a degree in French literature and a diploma in piano from the conservatoire d’Auberviliers in Paris. She continued to paint and held her first exhibition in Damascus at the French Cultural week in 1995. She taught drawing classes at the faculty of Architecture at Damascus University, and designed dolls and story-boards for cartoon companies.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-may-abu-jeib

30-year old Rachad holds a BBA from the American University of Beirut (AUB) and a currently doing his Masters of Business Administration at the Imperial College, London, juggling both a full-time and a part-time MBA. After graduating from (AUB), he left to Dubai to start his own business in 1998. After that he relocated to London in 2000 and joined HSBC’s Mergers & Acquisitions’ division. Then he became Senior Executive at Ernst & Young. And now he moved to the Gulf region to take his new role as Vice President at NBK Capital, the investment banking arm of the National Bank of Kuwait.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-rachad-fayez-challah

is a senior member of the Junior Chamber International (JCI) - Damascus Branch. She holds the rank of vice-president of the community Area and stands as JCI’s representative on the organization committee of the Arab Youth Forum. Katia became the director of JCI’s Youth and Children Commission only one year after joining the international organization and was awarded “Best Commission Director” in 2006. She is also an exceptional architect, having studies interior design at Universite de Montreal and obtained a diploma in architecture from Milan in Italy.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-katia-chatta

after receiving her medical diploma from Damascus University in 2000, she completed her academic, laboratory and clinical training in basic science and medical sub-specialties. She started her graduate studies in 2003 and obtained an MA in Dermatology and Venereology from Damascus University. She now works as an instructor at the Medical College at Damascus University, teaching clinical sessions to senior students. She is also active on international level, working as program consultant for the United Nations Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA) and shines in the field of social and charity work. She took the initiative of drafting the Law of the Disabled in Syria. She is a member of the National Team of Childhood, She is a co-founder of the Syrian Organization for the disabled (AAMAL) and the Rainbow Institute. She founded volunteer team in Dar Zeid Bin Haritha for abandoned children. BASMA is her latest achievement, through which she supports and helps children with cancer.

http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-chadan-naji

27years old karim Tabbah is the vice president at the Nasco Group that is active in petroleum services, agricultural services, medical services and exhibitions, and the marketing manager of two of its sub-branches, namely the Syrian Medical Services and the Allied Expo. He is an active member in the three NGO; the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), the Social Forum (Al Muntada alijtimaii) and the Syrian Environment Association. He left Damascus in the 1996 to study Management at the Royal Holloway University of London. Later he moved to London School of Economics and Political Sciences and earned a Master Degree in Accounting & Finance in 2001.His decision of letting down interesting job offers in the UK and joining Nasco Group in Damascus was driven by his keen desire to discover the challenges and potentials of Syria.
http://fw-magazine.com/content/face-future-kareem-tabbah