DUBAI // Aida Al Busaidy has always been good at communicating and multi-tasking.
The 32-year-old is a co-founder of the E7 Daughters of the Emirates project, an initiative launched by the Promise of a Generation community network that works to develop the potential of young Emirati women to make a positive impact on the community.
She also heads Dubai Tourism’s stakeholder communications and campaigns, all the while raising two sons.
But the Dubai-born journalism graduate still finds time to pursue her love of writing.
“I chose this major because I was always interested in the English language, writing and journalism in the bigger sense,” said the Arkansas State University graduate.
“It’s more of a form of expression. Every girl kept a diary once upon a time, or a blog, and I always found that I am just a natural communicator in general.”
Her career path has followed the communications industry, from co-hosting the TV show Her Say on Dubai One to writing a weekly women's column with Emirates24/7.
She is also in charge of Dubai Tourism’s advocacy programme and contributes to an online magazine.
“I love reading and writing. It’s my passion and I always pursue it. My role has evolved in every communications team and today you’ll find everybody needs to have a core of being a writer because it helps develop everything else.”
It was passion that flourished at young age.
“I have been an avid writer since I was a kid. For as long as I can remember I have always been that person who loved reading and writing.”
Ms Al Busaidy says it was an interest that ran in her family.
“My brother wrote a self-help motivational book and him and I have always been in tune with reading and writing because we come from a generation where we didn’t have much.
“There wasn’t a lot that was happening and we were exposed to a lot of outdoor activities so our imagination was bigger.”
As children, the pair would visit libraries and the British Council to dive into different books.
“We would borrow their books, that’s how we got interested in it.”
In her current position working in a Government job she said attitudes towards such employment were changing. “I have seen a huge transformation from how people used to be. There isn’t that perception of people wanting to work in Government jobs because Government entities have changed their mentalities.
“They’re going into smart government and people are looking at wanting a really good career to learn and enhance their skills.”
She tries to apply that mentality to her professional life.
“The first question I ask when I interview people for a job is ‘how do you feel about working 9-to-5 hours?’ and they don’t expect to work until 2pm,” she said.
“So it’s a positive and I don’t think that mentality [of working short hours] exists anymore.”
Ms Al Busaidy credited her success to her family’s support.
“Because everybody else in our family went for generic types of jobs, the fact that I went into journalism was very different so I got a lot of support from family members, especially my parents.
“They look back and think it is really good that they let us choose what we wanted because that’s what makes us happy.”
cmalek@thenational.ae