Smile! It will change their lives!

This post is based on completely true stories! Although I did not want to write a post on this, but since a recent incident took place, I honestly couldn't stop myself to write!

Everyone living in this country do face those people who work under the sun. Today, I just saw a person walking down the street near to my home (where you won't see ANYBODY walking, everyone is facilitated with a car even just to go for grocery). It was strange because the guy was completely dripped in sweat and was carrying around 15 kgs of a bag in one hand, and 5 kgs in the other. It was 1:45 pm, around 48 degrees and no one would actually be able to bear this heat. I stopped my car and asked the guy, where is he willing to go. Because if it was on the way back to my home, I could easily drop him. He said that he's going to Doha (which was about 30 - 40 kms away from that area) and he's going to the bus stand (which was approx. 3kms from that place) to take a bus towards Doha. I couldn't bear that heat myself and offered him a lift to the bus stand. It took me around 6 minutes to drop him to the bus stand. But what's so different about this story?

Well, when I dropped the guy, he told me to come out of the car. I was a bit nervous on what he wants. When I came out, he was having tears in his eyes, and he hugged me. I asked in Hindi, "What's wrong?". He said "I don't know if without you, I would ever be able to reach till this point. Thank you so much for your help. You really don't know how much you have helped me". What else I could say except a smile? Those tears completely showed me how much that guy was suffering and how much a simple smile and help comforted his life.

Usually, you can find such people at different spots. It is a trend in this country among youth now that "everybody is rich. Who cares?" Well actually, to let you know.. try talking to the people standing at the Petrol Stations some day... Or maybe with those who wash your cars at different malls. Trust me! A conversation of just 2 minutes will make them feel better. You never know how much hasanaats is it worth.

Bottom line: start with basics. Try giving a couple of water bottles. If you can speak hindi/urdu, it's a plus point. Talk to these people. Allah created everyone equal. Some are fortunate with money, others work hard every day under the sun.

Good luck! If you like the post, share it. It can bring a change in someone's behavior towards less fortunate. Also, comment and share your experience 

Some people that have direct influence on me.

Finally, I'm back after a couple of days. This post is going to be a long one! At first, I thought there are only a couple of people who I have personally met and they influence me by their actions, but now, I have listed down all of them! I love to be with each one of the listed personalities. You all have taught me something in life:

1. Felice D' Antonio (Ex-President AIESEC Qatar, CEO of Lovin'Com, Qatar)

So, I know this guy from like a year now. Though met him for the first time at TYC's YOU-Training, giving out a session on Leadership. You would never judge how much of an influence his actions can have on you for the first time you meet. Italian, he is, comes from a background with loads of international experiences. In his leadership, I believe, AIESEC Qatar took a step-forward and became popular in this country.

You can find Felice in any networking event, or maybe, a stand-up comedy show. I believe in his actions and his plans. The best part about him is that you would not find a bossy attitude in him. Always friendly, he is. You meet him once, and wherever he sees you again, will surely come and say hi. This is what influenced me about him. I learnt from him that no matter whatever I become, I must always remember, meet and greet with people who were there when I was nothing, but just an ordinary teenager.

I believe Felice is going to be great for his new organisation called "Lovin'Com". You can find Felice's Twitter here (@Felice_dantonio). Follow him. A true leader, he is.

2. Marsya Karmila (Creativity from head to toe)

It took me 1 hour to find your picture Marsya! Not good! -_-

Okay I know she is an amazing friend of mine, but apart from being a good friend, she is an inspiration to me, a true artist, with creativity at its best. When she brainstorms (probably rolls over her bed, lol) she touches the height of best results. She has always been a great help.

She was adorably kind when we met at the first workshops offered by Bedaya Center and The Youth Company. I remember when she said "I don't mind being personal assistant", lol.

Marsya comes from a Malaysian background. If people ask me that I motivate others so much, and make their problems as easy as I can, who does the same to me? I would say Marsya. She has solutions that you could never think of. She has designs in her mind of her own way. Whenever I see Youth Arabia's social media having her creations, I know which ones are from Marsya.

For her future career, I don't know what she is willing to do, but whatever it is my dear friend, I wish you all the very best. And yes! I already like "Palette" and love it. Keep it up!!

3. Elaine Gold (The lady of grace and power)

Yup! That's true! Probably not a direct, but an indirect influence does Elaine has on me. I really don't know how much this lady has experience on entrepreneurship and business consultancy, but I always see her taking a big part in community's development.

For the first time, I met her in Bedaya Center. It was my first day of work in Bedaya, I remember, when I went in and started calling her "Ms. Elaine", or perhaps sometimes, "Mrs. Gold". How she influences me is through her actions. I never knew she is amazing in Personal Branding until I searched her over Google and got to know about her website. Her mind is without a doubt, a HUGE library of business. Whenever I meet her, she always remembers me. I would like to thank her for every single impact she had on my life in letting me know what am I truly capable of doing. Who ever works under her leadership, I can assure him/her that (s)he will find a constant development in him/herself as a person. She will motivate you, reward you, help you, guide you and will appreciate your hardwork whenever needed.

Find Elaine's blog here or follow Elaine Gold on Twitter (@ElaineGold)





4. Mohamed Farid (Chairman, The Youth Company)

Now I know all of you were waiting for me to write something about him. Well, to be honest, my motivation towards Blogging, being socially active, volunteering or even starting up stuff by my own has been brought by this guy.

Where I met him first? Emmm, will if I haven't forgot, it was the promotional day for Queen Medical Center at Vilaggio where I was volunteering. My first impression was "Vin Diesel", lol. But yup, by time, I never knew we will get too close and work together. His leadership is less democratic and more of a dictatorship, but I believe in his action and whatever steps he take, influence me as I see an ideal in him.

All the major steps in my life, when I take since after RTW, I speak and discuss with him (though these days he has got in too much stuff that we barely sit together), yet, I believe whenever we talk, we discuss all our pending gossips. I still don't forget when people started resembling me with Moe Farid too much during and after Run The World. Sometimes, he is the one who keeps me motivated to fight with problems in life. Indeed, I learnt from him how to make one's life easier by looking at problems in an easy way. Not a pessimist, neither an optimist, but a realistic personality he is. A complex of friend, brother, leader, boss and a peer, he is to me.

Follow him on twitter (@MoeFarid) or check out his blog (www.moefarid.com)

Part 2 of this post coming soon. Stay tuned to know who 

GUITAR: A Cherry on the Top in my life

This is true! No matter what, every single leader that I have personally met has a degree of calmness. Most of the people and/or circumstances in a leader's life easily reach the highest level of this calmness, that makes a leader hyper. Now when I talk about "hyperness" in leadership's point of view, it can be positive or negative. A true leader is the one who knows how to deal with "negative hyperness", because at the end of the day, the "positive hyperness" always benefits.

Now what I do to keep myself calm and running is something that I have not seen in every leader. Actually, to be honest, I haven't seen in any leader yet. When you're in a growing phase, you barely get time for yourself to stay calm and this is exactly where "Time Management" comes in. Anyways, what this post says is that how I started Guitar and how it has a changing and a necessary effect in my life.

Just like an ordinary Pakistani pop songs lover, JAL is my inspiration for music, or to be more specific, it is "Gohar Mumtaz". Yes, that's true. Jaw dropped again? I know right! I started playing guitar when I was 14, actually in grade 9th. Everyone in my school had never ever seen a 9th grader playing guitar. I tried performing a lot of times, but my school seemed to be pushing me away. But in any case, I think that wasn't the right time to perform at all.

Grade 9th till Grade 12th, my craziness about guitars didn't stop and there came a moment when actually, a guy with a pocket money of QAR 50 per month was able to have 3 branded guitars in home! Yes, I am being completely transparent about my finances here! :)

All these years, I did countless Jaming sessions, made countless songs, performed countless times and played with countless number of people. Some of them include Abdullah Javed, Farhad Qadeer, Hassan Iqbal, Faisal Rauf, AZM the band, Falcons and many more. How about checking out one of me and my best friend's improvisation here

(FYI - I just named all of my high school friends! lol, yeah I pretty much miss these guys).

End of the story - What I do to keep myself away from the "negative hyperness" and stress, is playing music. I improvise as much as I can because I feel myself best at it. This is the only reason I have countless creations of my own.

First step to Leadership

What is leadership? What is motivation? What keeps a person going throughout his life to achieve his goals? On the top, what is a goal? I was a complete new person in this "leadership" and "career" oriented world when I went to the first youth conference.

Of-course, when it comes to "youth conference" and during 20010, what else could it be except "ROTA's Empower"? I experienced unlimited talent, motivation and enthusiasm in youth. Everyone was literally going crazy with ideas, dialogue and their talent. Performances, workshops, debates ... wow wow wow!! I was amazed just like a baby entering a huge ball room filled with candies!

Though I never got my certificate from that conference, I really experienced a gradual positive change in me. I started bothering myself and attending various workshops, that include, essay writing, reports writing, event management, public speaking, leadership, sales, marketing, photography, communications and many many more!! Countless opportunities started coming in my life and I ended up going for The Youth Company's workshops.



TYC's workshops were amazing! Out of the world fantastic! I don't have words to describe them at all! How can a 23 years old girl like Evgenia has an experience of travelling to 20+ countries and organizing 30+ events on a huge scale! I left with nothing but "WOW". Every single person in the workshop turned out to be a big hit! That was the day, when I actually started going out, socializing, volunteering in different events. Though alone, but never gave up. I literally spent more than 200 - 300 QAR a month on transportation. Yes, very less, but what if I tell you this transportation just includes "KARWA BUSES" and not taxis or limousines? And I am talking about the time when one travelling ticket used to be only QAR 3. Jaw dropped much?



Conferences like ROTA, Annual Youth Conference and voluntary opportunities like Qatar Red Crescent, Qatar Volunteers, Qatar Charity, The Youth Company, Bloomsburry Qatar Foundation, Human Rights Student Organization, Top Shabab, Reach Out To Asia (Ramadan Projects), different conferences and promotional activities. 2010 - 2011 was my "going crazy" year.

How did it start?

Well, here I am, blogging for the first time, about my leadership and entreprenuerial experiences. It all started when I was 12 years old and was a crazy computer maniac. When I say computer here, it means software, hardware, graphic, web-designing, anti-virus dealing, server running. Just to clear everything, here I am talking about the year of 2005 - 2006.

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, though I got to know about the word itself during 2011 or something while working for Bedaya Center. But why am I saying "always" is because I always wanted to start things by my own. Creativity, passion, enthusiasm, motivation, craziness and uniqueness were my biggest values then (2005/06).

So, after I finished my Graphic and Web Designing Course at Family Computers Center, I came out with my own website and a "business plan" with different group of websites. You can check mine here at http://aboodonline.co.nr . Yeap, I know that's cheap stuff but don't forget that I did it when I was 12/13. Here's a screenshot:

Well, since then, my ball about "entrepreneurship" started to roll. The message that I want to deliver through this post is that no matter what your age is, never let anyone stop the crazy ideas you have in your mind. You will see when you grow up, how much people appreciate it. :)

But wait, where did leadership go? Aren't we talking about leadership in the whole blog? Well yes we are! Stay tuned for the next post!