showcase www.womanthismonth.com For inquiries please contact the brand managers via email: [email protected] or on whatsapp 34 422-227 / 33 282-228 AREEJ MATOOQ Lifestyle Blogger and Recipe Developer patisserie. I now run Fishbone in Bahrain and Eat'sy in Khobar. I am into food and beverage consulting across the Gulf region and have three more projects in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain due to open by the end of 2019. What drew you to the food industry? I would say that was destiny. How would you describe your professional journey this far? It has been fantastic, exciting, memorable, extremely gruelling and highly successful in spite of, or thanks to, failures and mistakes. What have been your greatest professional challenges? To be seen as a chef, not a “female chef”. What has it taken you to break the mould of men being masters of a commercial kitchen? By disregarding this idea! I ignore the idea that only men are seen as masters in the kitchen, as they have never been the only ones ruling commercial kitchens. What do you take most pride in while serving customers your food? The passion, research and the attention I pay to source the ingredients that I use. What are you most proud of? I am proud of having 'conquered' people that I have the joy to now call my friends. What would you say to women wanting to have their own restaurants? Go girl! But be humble. Learn your craft first. Keep your head down while learning and learn only from the best, but ultimately trust your guts and go for it! What would you advise women? I’d tell them to be determined, to be selfcentred, to be aggressive even, never to talk themselves down! What do you believe are the special strengths of a woman? Commitment; we were born to be committed, to be focused and to be self-reliant. How do you overcome challenges? By knowing deep inside that, as women, we are better, we are stronger and we will succeed. And if we don’t, that we have learned a very precious lesson. Please tell us a bit about your professional background and where you are from. I hold a master’s degree in media studies. I fell in love with the art of cooking early on in childhood, and my background in media helped catalyse my social media presence as a healthy lifestyle blogger and recipe developer. As my passion for cooking grew to become a personal calling, I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in London to enhance my cooking skills and immersed myself into French cuisine. I attend cooking classes in every country I visit so to learn more about its unique food cultures and techniques. I am currently studying for a diploma in nutrition from the Future Fit Academy in the UK for a more in-depth understanding of health and nutrition. I host cooking classes and demos for children and adults, sharing posts of my creative recipes that include healthy alternatives to the foods we all love, as well as posting my kids’ healthy lunch boxes daily on Instagram. In my mission to spread awareness of a healthy lifestyle, I have participated in events like Food Is Culture, Bahrain Summer Festival 2018, and Youth City 2030 in 2019. What are you most proud of? Seeing other women being inspired to lead healthy lifestyles and noticing the change in their lives, seeing many of my recipes trending, my advice being followed and receiving ‘thank you’ messages makes me fly every day. How do you overcome challenges at work? By being well organised, planning well my day, week, month and beyond. As they say, failing to plan is planning to fail. What makes women different? Nowadays, a woman assumes many roles in life - that of wife, mother and employee. Despite this, she thrives and achieves success in whatever she involves herself with. What would you advise women? I would advise women to take care of their health by maintaining a balanced, healthy lifestyle. This will reflect positively on their overall wellbeing, which will help them in nurturing their families well. How do you support other women? As a healthy lifestyle blogger, through my social media accounts I help women, specially mothers, in maintaining a healthy lifestyle for them and their families by creating easy, healthy recipes, and suggesting healthy alternative ingredients for popular dishes. October 2019 17
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