Arab Community Archives - Jalya

MANAL KADRI

Emily Gruz — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:23:02 +0000

As the founder of KBT, I specialize in complete accounting services, tax preparation and book-keeping for the city of Edmonton & surrounding areas. My goal is to save you the most on taxes and keep you in control of your business. – Manal

When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

I started my business in 2014; with a family member being an accountant. That inspired me to pursue of one day opening up my company.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I believe I have reached my goals. I’m always striving to challenge myself and exceed my own expectations and goals.

What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

A positive note when dealing with the Arab community is being able to utilise the connections and relationship that I’ve built over the years to construct my business.

What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

I would have continued my education to pursue my CPA designation, however because I put my heart into my work. I feel like I am able to exceed my client’s expectation.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

On the contrary having a home business has encouraged me to open my own office which has helped me create a better work life balance.

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LILA AMERY-SLEIMAN

Emily Gruz — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 17:27:11 +0000

My name is Lila Amery-Sleiman and I am a certified residential interior designer in the City of Edmonton, specializing in home staging, remodelling, renovations and new home builds. I have been an interior designer for 6 years now. – Lila

When did you start your business? Was there something/someone that inspired you? I started my business 6 years ago as I was feeling like I needed a change. I was previously a mortgage broker and realized that was not the career path I wanted to continue with. I’ve always had a passion and love for design, which encouraged me to take a step towards it. During this time, my husband and I had decided to build a new home so I knew this would benefit us. I decided to enrol in an interior design course. After completing the course, I started my business in interior design. I gained a lot of experience building our own homes, helping out family and friends with their homes, and that motivated me to take on clients such as local home builders.

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Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve? After over 6 years in this industry, I believe there is always room to grow. During this time, I believe that my short term goals have been reached. I’ve gained a lot of experience, but I do hope I can achieve my long term goals like starting up a home design studio! What are the ups & downs when dealing with the Arab community? The Arab community is a great one. I always feel very supported and encouraged to keep going and do better. I also find this community to be very supportive towards women in business!

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What would you change if you had to do it all over again? The one thing I would have changed if I could do it over again, would be to have studied design earlier in life. However, I’m a strong believer in things happening when they’re meant to happen for us. What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them? Covid was and still is a challenge for many businesses unfortunately. For me, the biggest challenge I encountered was the shutdowns of stores, and the delays in shipments and deliveries on product. What usually took 5-7 days to arrive took 3-4 months. Another challenge was the kids being home from school. That was difficult for me and so many parents, but again everything happens when it’s meant to and for a reason. In the end, I’m grateful and blessed to be self employed, with a flexible schedule that allowed me to be home with them and kept them safe and healthy.

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NOAHA FAYAD

Emily Gruz — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 18:41:32 +0000

Although I have been a hairstylist for 11 years now, I recently started my business here in Edmonton a year ago. The community has been so humbling and supportive, Alhamdulillah. My goal is to educate woman about not just beautifying the hair but also to maintain the health and integrity of the hair & scalp. Pretty much like a scalp facial. Clean your scalp & moisturize your hair. – Noaha

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When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

What inspired me to pursue my career in Edmonton was really my dad. I don’t want his knowledge and what he taught me to be forgotten. I want to keep teaching woman how to properly wash comb and style their hair. His passion for hair inspired me. Every time a woman would sit on his chair back home in our small town of Peace River, she would leave feeling and looking amazing. You see, we walk around carrying our hair with us every where we go. It doesn’t matter if you’re hijabi or non hijabi, thick hair or very thin hair; it is my obligation as a hairstylist to show and teach woman how to properly groom and take care of the health of their scalp and hair.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

My ultimate goal is for every single woman that sits in my salon to get the full salon treatment meaning a proper wash, a proper hair cut and a proper blow out. Our scalp is an extension of our face and its something we should not be neglecting. It’s the little things that make all the difference, the old school rules. 😉

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EMAN ELMASSAH

Emily Gruz — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 21:51:47 +0000

One of the best things in life is seeing a smile on a person’s face and knowing that you put it there! I feel so honoured to be a small part of the homes of those who support and purchase my handcrafted art! It’s the best feeling in the world!

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MONA SLEIMAN

Emily Gruz — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 18:50:49 +0000

My name is Mona Sleiman and I’m the face behind Holiday Creations. I am based in Edmonton, Alberta. I make and sell clay ornaments, holiday décor tabletop pieces, wreaths and more. – Mona

When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

I started my business a few months ago, March to be exact. It all started for my love of decorating for Ramadan and Eid. Decorating gives such a nice, warm feeling and makes it an extra special time. And since this Ramadan and Eid were going to feel and look different than previous years, due to COVID, I felt as though this was an opportunity for us to decorate and make this Ramadan/Eid as special as can be, not only for ourselves, but for our families as well.

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Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I have not yet reached all of my goals, there is so much more to accomplish. Nevertheless, I’m happy with what I have achieved so far.

What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

Dealing with the Arab community has been a positive experience. We have a large Arab community and word of mouth travels fast. I am extremely grateful for the love and support I have received over the last few months. I was able to connect and build positive relationships with people I have never met before.

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What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

For the most part, COVID-19 has not affected my business. I work from home and purchase most of my supplies locally. However, some of my supplies/product are purchased online and COVID has impacted delivery times significantly.

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NADIA HAMMOUD

Emily Gruz — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 16:29:34 +0000

My name is Nadia and I’m the lead photographer behind @capturethemomentbynadia. I am based out of Edmonton, Alberta and work in the surrounding area as well. I’m a photographer specializing in family and wedding photography. Photography has been my biggest passion in life and I’m so grateful to be living out my dream, every single day.

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When did you start your business? Was there something or someone that inspired you?

I began my photography business 6 years ago, however, at the time I was working as a criminal law legal assistant. One day, my husband and I were walking through the electronic section in Costco and I came across an entry level canon camera with a lens kit. At that moment, I turned to him and said that I wanted to finally pursue my passion in photography and I haven’t looked back. I have always dreamt of being a photographer my entire life and used to set up photo shoots with my sister at midnight, while everyone in our house was asleep and take photos of her for hours. Growing up with my group of friends, I was always the one with the camera, always the one who needed a photo of every moment and now we’re all left with the best memories (thanks to me!). It’s crazy to me that it’s almost been 6 years because at the time, I literally did not know how to turn on my camera, so it makes me proud of how hard I’ve worked and how much I’ve learned over the years. My biggest inspiration comes from the scenery, fashion, and love. If you know me, you know I’m in love with love and to be able to document that in the most precious moments life has to offer is everything. After all, memories are all we are left with. I get really inspired by the location we shoot in and the outfits and wedding gowns my clients show up in. Since becoming a mother this past year it’s really opened my heart to family photography as well. I’ve always shot families, but I never really knew the importance of documenting your children and your family dynamic until I became a mom and my son has really sparked and put that inspiration in me.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I don’t think you ever fully reach your goals if you’re a passionate person. I love to challenge myself and think outside the box and I think your goals change and evolve over time and you’re constantly setting new ones and trying to improve daily. As a photographer your mind is always in creative mode and you’re always planning your next shoot and always trying to be better.

What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

I’m incredibly grateful to our community. I started a business 6 years ago not knowing anything and they’ve made my dreams come true over and over again every day since then. They’ve taken “word of mouth” to new heights and I owe my success to my Arab community and I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me over the years.

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What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

I wouldn’t have changed a thing. not a thing! My journey to get to where I am now has been a long one. I’m self taught so it took me a lot longer to learn the ins and outs and when I first started there wasn’t all the workshops and YouTube videos that are available today. I’m still learning daily, but it’s made my journey so much sweeter to see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve really grown. I’ve worked so incredibly hard and put in countless hours into educating myself (and still do) and have put my heart into creating images my clients love and it is worth every single second of it.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

Covid came at a time when I was about to gear up after being on maternity leave for 7 months and I was so excited to get back into photography mode. I think Covid was a blessing though. It allowed me to really soak up moments with my son and stay at a slow pace for a long time. That being said, it definitely slowed down business, but I am thankful that photographer’s were still able to operate under certain restrictions. I know there were many businesses that had to shut down repeatedly and how much distress that put on business owners so I’m grateful to have been able to keep going, even if it was at a slower pace.

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MAHA SHAWAR

Emily Gruz — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 17:25:58 +0000

My name is Maha from @madebymahayeg. I love exercising my creativity and I love making things so I put them together by making personalized gifts. I make a variety of items for any occasion using vinyl and paper on shadow boxes, wood, marble, and glass (so far!) -Maha

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When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

I only started out about a month ago. I realized I wanted to make more things than I needed or that I could keep! I decided to start posting items to sell and came up with @madebymahayeg. It’s a nice change of pace from pharmacy where I normally work.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I feel like it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many new techniques I want to try and new materials I would love to work with as well as different occasions I could create personalized items for.

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What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

I thankfully have only experienced the upside of working with the Arab community. I have had great interactions with every person who has placed orders with me and I am so excited to be doing something within my community to help celebrate important occasions.

What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

So far, I have no regrets! I know it’s early in my business but I am really enjoying every step of the way.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

Thankfully I am able to make my items from home and don’t feel like Covid-19 has affected my work. In a way, it is my happy place away from the chaos of Covid.

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NURMEEN YASSIN

Emily Gruz — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 22:42:39 +0000

I am the founder of Vice Hijabs, a small business that specializes in the sale of hijabs and accessories. At Vice Hijabs we strive to sell luxury products, at an affordable price. – Nurmeen

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When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

I launched Vice Hijabs in February of this year. What inspired me to launch my own brand would be the amazing Arab women in our community. I see these boss women launching and succeeding all over Edmonton. I see ladies take an idea they had and bring it to life and it is truly inspiring for someone who is just starting out like myself.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I do think I have reached a lot of my main goals this year, but as I complete each and every one, I keep adding to this list so I’m not sure if I’ll ever stop having goals that I want to achieve. I would like to be able to ship my products all over the world and I hope one day I will be able to say that I am doing just that.

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What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

The biggest up with the Arab community I have experienced is the amount of support I have received from people who I have no had a prior connection with. It’s the best feeling when people who you have not previously interacted with support you endlessly. I have yet to see a downside to the Arab community, I have received no backlash or criticism from anyone.

What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

Personally, I would not change how I launched or go about my business. My main priority for my brand is customer service. I aspire to have only 5/5 reviews from all my customers, whether it is about my products, my prices or how I communicate with my customers.

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What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge Covid-19 has brought to my business is that I’m selling a physical product that my customers are not able to see and touch in real life. Every customer has to have some sort of trust in my business and products before purchasing. They have to be able to trust my words when I say how soft a hijab is or how it does not slip off the head whereas before covid, I could host pop-ups and have people see the luxury quality for themselves.

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AHMED METWALLY

Emily Gruz — Fri, 28 May 2021 18:12:50 +0000

iPharmacy is a growing pharmacy chain born in Edmonton in 2009. Our main goal is to offer mindful health support based on the changing needs of our community. We focus on caring customer service to develop strong relationships with our clients. – Ahmed

When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

The first iPharmacy opened in October 2009 in Millwoods. After opening new branches, the name changed to Millwoods iPharmacy to differentiate it from Chinatown, Downtown, and Highway 16’s iPharmacy. The first branch is besides the Jubilee Family Clinic on 5716 19a Ave NW, Edmonton, right in front of Meyokumin Elementary School, in the Millwoods area. The inspiration when I arrived in Canada was my dad. He was back home before he died and I also had a tendency to help him and provide better care for him but being so far away, all I could do was call him over the phone and give him medical advice. So I tried (and keep trying) to help every senior here in Edmonton. I envisioned I was helping my dad overseas and hopefully somebody would paid back by helping my dad, which actually happened.

Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

If you feel you’ve reached all your goals, you’re probably heading to the graveyard to die. If you stop growing and if you lose your purpose you’ll perish. I have many milestones and continue to hit new ones. I always have new goals, some of them on a personal level, some of them on the business level, on the financial level, with my family, and so on.

What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

The ups are many, we are a very loyal, consistent community. I feel fulfilled for dealing with my community because it’s where I come from, so I feel I serve a purpose on the personal level rather than on a business level. One down is when people want me to go the extra mile, they don’t assess the balance between business feasibility of a request from a personal request. However, sometimes those requests we put them under a personal favor to help the community so even if the request is not profitable we do it anyway to help and contribute to the community.

What would you change if you had to do it all over again?

You are what you are because you did what you did, so I’m really satisfied with what I’m doing right now, and where I am right now; I am satisfied with what I’ve done until now. I don’t have any regrets, it is a learning process; a process all the time. I bear in mind there’s no perfection but only progress and I never carry regrets in my life. Any burden or adversity I consider it as a stone to step on for my progress.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

The first challenge was to help the community with alcohol solutions, hand sanitizer, and masks. We did a great job on this, we asked our compounding team to do hand sanitizer, which allowed us to provide other communities and all our patients with it. We gave more than 10’000 masks for free and donated 180 lt of hand sanitizer. The second challenge was the revenue decrease. We tried our best to minimize it but we were hit by almost 30% of loss in revenue because of the restrictions as well as cancellations of other insurances for patients. We tried to mitigate that by decreasing hours, and approaching government support funding. One more thing was some of our staff got hit by the virus. They tested positive so they had to go to self-isolation and quarantine. We support them financially and emotionally. We try our best to enhance our technology, we incorporated the virtual care system, we improved our delivery system, and facilitated online options for booking an appointment – specially for vaccination–. We see technology in a good way to help us and provide us resources to deal with the challenges we have to face. However, that came with a big financial cost that hitted our bottom line and hopefully we will see an improvement next year.

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MINAL NELLY YAGHI

Emily Gruz — Fri, 21 May 2021 21:24:06 +0000

A little about what I do; I am a Reiki Practitioner.

Reiki is a Japanese form of alternative medicine called “energy” healing. It’s a hands on healing, or hovering above, in which the practitioner allows the flow of “universal energy” to transfer through the palms of the practitioner to the patient. This in turn allows or encourages emotional and or physical healing to take place. – Nelly

When did you start your business? Was there something/someone who inspired you?

I started my Reiki business around 5 months ago. I had an opportunity to experience Reiki first handedly. It was then that I decided that this would be something I would love to introduce to loved ones and family members around me.

At the time, experiencing Reiki at first hand was a very euphoric experience for me and something I truly wanted to share as I had never physically felt anything quite like it before.

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Would you say you reached all of your goals since you started or do you have more to achieve?

I am a firm believer that you really never attain every single one of your goals because we are constantly evolving and every chapter of your life introduces new opportunities and goals to strive for.

What are the ups and downs when dealing with the Arab community?

Reiki is a very interesting concept, that being said it’s not something I find any one type of community to be completely familiar with. Reiki has only been around for 100 years. What I find the most challenging is the concept of Reiki as you are using an intangible object to help in the healing of someone. That can be very confusing for some.

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Is there anything you would change if you had to do it all over again?

I think for me the concept of regret or change is not something I tend to dip into much. I truly am a firm believer that every single event in your life leads you to exactly where you need to be.

Those challenges become opportunities that in turn allow you to not only learn but grow so that you are able to walk into the next chapter of your life much more prepared and hopefully a little more enlightened.

What challenges has Covid-19 brought to you and your business and how did you overcome them?

Covid-19 is something that I really did not struggle with. I have always been a home body and I definitely enjoy reading and meditation.

Covid has allowed me to really work on myself and has gifted me ample time with my twin boys Aiden & Noah, and of course my family. There’s always good in every trying situation, and I definitely chose to look at it with that perspective.

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