Fariba Zoulfaghari
Founder VIP Creations & ExF Community Founding member Podclub Community, Podcast Host Marketing Strategist, Event Curator and Organiser Community Creator
Q1. Your journey from the UK to Dubai has been remarkable. What inspired you to leave your roots in the UK and establish yourself in the UAE?
The UK is where I grew up, went to university, started dabbling in events and living between a quiet country village in Surrey and the thriving city of London I came to love the diversity of life. In my late 20s I wanted to discover my Middle Eastern heritage and after a year living in Tehran, which is my city of birth, I came to realise the magic of this region which I had mainly experienced during my summer holidays. I decided to move to Dubai during the big economic crash of 2008 and quite honestly I found a deep connection with this city, the visionary leader who created a thriving metropolis in just a few decades and the possibilities for creating opportunities into reality was clear as day for me. Dubai became the city I would call home and it continues to be. Since moving to Dubai, I lived in Cairo and Moscow and each have their own charm and vibe, but Dubai has my heart and calls me back every time. My experiences here in Dubai have enriched my life to the point where I truly found my independence, my voice and my true identity. When you find a place that speaks to your soul you call it home.
Fariba Zoulfaghari
Founder VIP Creations & ExF Community Founding member Podclub Community, Podcast Host Marketing Strategist, Event Curator and Organiser Community Creator
Q1. Your journey from the UK to Dubai has been remarkable. What inspired you to leave your roots in the UK and establish yourself in the UAE?
The UK is where I grew up, went to university, started dabbling in events and living between a quiet country village in Surrey and the thriving city of London I came to love the diversity of life.
In my late 20s I wanted to discover my Middle Eastern heritage and after a year living in Tehran, which is my city of birth, I came to realise the magic of this region which I had mainly experienced during my summer holidays. I decided to move to Dubai during the big economic crash of 2008 and quite honestly I found a deep connection with this city, the visionary leader who created a thriving metropolis in just a few decades and the possibilities for creating opportunities into reality was clear as day for me. Dubai became the city I would call home and it continues to be. Since moving to Dubai, I lived in Cairo and Moscow and each have their own charm and vibe, but Dubai has my heart and calls me back every time. My experiences here in Dubai have enriched my life to the point where I truly found my independence, my voice and my true identity. When you find a place that speaks to your soul you call it home.
Q2.As the leader of the Dubai Chapter of FUN DXB until 2021, how has the movement of sharing failure stories influenced your approach to entrepreneurship and community building?
As any entrepreneur, founder, business owner knows there is an element of risk involved with starting a new venture so to face failures, rejections, downfalls is really something we have to accept and see as part of the journey. Personally, failure was something I didn’t feelcomfortable discussing with anyone and it was an internal conversation filled with much self-criticism that expanded the seeds of self-doubt. At times these thoughts were fleeting and unfounded thanks to what we now term imposter syndrome, however at times the question that comes to mind as a course corrector is; what’s my intention with this? I stumbled across the Dubai chapter of FUN DXB after I moved back to Dubai from Moscow following a successful venture leading non-profit organisation of the British Expat community in Moscow and a failed
marriage where I didn’t know what my next steps would be. I attended a talk on failures and I started to see the speakers sharing their failures without any shame, guilt or regret and my curiosity was ignited. I wanted to be part of this community to breakthrough my own shame attached to failures. The events were held sporadically and with less than 30 people attending and that sparked my interest to help organise regular events with larger groups. Before I knew it I was a co-partner, organiser and on stage as the host of the events that within 2 years were attracting close to 250 people and all non-profit. My love for creating communities was present from my university days but this was the first time I realised the impact the sessions were having on a mental and emotional level to the attendees, the speakers and myself included. FUNDXB was the 3 rd community I had co-created after the Young Professionals Group in London, the British Expat Community in Moscow and now FUNDXB. I
certainly had the passion to create communities which together with my events experience all formed a beautiful melting pot of amazing people coming together to share, motivate and inspire.
Q3.With over 20 years of marketing experience, spanning multiple industries and regions, what have been some of your most significant challenges and achievements?
I was raised by a serial entrepreneur father and my mother comes from a family of entrepreneurs so it wasn’t something I had to get to know or understand, it’s all I knew. Despite this I did spend a few years employed with different organisations mainly start-ups or Government and quickly realised that even being the Marketing Manager of the Commercial Section for the British Embassy in the UAE, I wanted a bigger reach so I decided to fully embrace entrepreneurship. The fear of failure was not apparent to me at the start of my journey, however once I started to create success with my events management and marketing agency, and I started to expand the services and create a more strategic role for myself the fear of ‘what if this all fails’ did start to cross my mind but as the saying goes; you won’t know until you try so I continue to try expanding and experimenting with new avenues and markets. Your mindset is the key to everything and this is couldn’t be more true when dealing with difficult demanding clients, sneaky competitors playing copycat, untrustworthy team members, clients who don’t pay and these are just a handful of the challenges I have faced which have kept me steadfast in the belief that entrepreneurship is not for everyone but if you choose this path develop a strong mindset that is built on your self-belief and certainty to live an purpose-led life; my purpose is to bring people together to create greater and that is the core reason I continue despite the challenges faced.
Q4.Your work with global embassies and MNCs is impressive. Can you share how these experiences have shaped your perspective on marketing and event curation in the MENA region?
Having worked with B2B and B2G it quickly became clear to me that my ideas required a visionary to launch experiential events that create an emotional memory in the hearts and minds of anyone who attends the event albeit a product or campaign launch or fostering relations with clients and prospects or trade fairs and exhibitions. My intention with any event I curate, organise and execute is always to ensure the experience delivers a positive impact for the guest that encapsulates the brand messaging. The goal with every event is to clearly set apart the brand against its competitors with memorable activations, impact-driven storytelling, strong yet subtle messaging and that has taken the last 2 decades for me to perfect. With new technologies available in the last few years I have activated drone shows, holograms, AI generated activations and the MENA region is a pioneer in this realm especially with events as Dubai is the Hub for cross-sectoral events for the region.
Q5.The Podclub community events and your podcast platform are making waves. What inspired you to dive into podcasting, and how do you see it evolving in the Middle East?
Back in 2017 I was intrigued by the 10min stories being shared on stage at my community events called FUNDXB which tapped into the failures entrepreneurs faced and frankly I wanted to know more about some of the guest speakers so I invited them to have a conversation with me in a video podcast to satisfy my own curious mind. Unfortunately the editor left Dubai and never gave me the SD cards so the footage is somewhere in Egypt! Moving forward to 2023 I was expanding the services within my marketing agency and wanted to experiment with podcasting to determine if I wanted to include it in my portfolio for clients. I launched FAB DXB following on from my earlier podcasts focusing on founders sharing failure stories under the acronym Failures and Beyond. Here, I discovered my passion for creating long form content and since I have recorded 18 episodes and the podcast has pivoted to focus more on founders and their breakthrough innovations, namely Founders and Breakthroughs. Throughout the process I came across many content creators in the arena of podcasting, and after a conversation with a dear friend and a media pioneer in the UAE, we found ourselves as founding members of the Podclub Community. Ivan is co-founder of Poddster Studio which is where I film my podcast so the natural progression has
led us to creating a community of over 500 podcasters in a city where this forum is thriving and we see it every time I organise our community events with inspiring podcasters sharing their methods and strategies to creating successful channels. Podcasting has just started and with Dubai being the city of innovation, its no surprise that this form of creativity is booming with the most number of podcasting studio setup more than anywhere in the world. Podcasting is taking over the media channels and its here to stay so as a business I would suggest to get on the train to create your podcast channel.
Q6.You’ve curated campaigns for diverse fields like healthcare, fintech, education, and beauty. What’s your secret to crafting strategies that resonate across such varied industries?
I am a generalist and not a specialist which has proven to work in my favour. The fact that I can curate events and create marketing strategies or a brand across diverse industries enables me to apply my experiences, vision and concepts to a cross-sector of companies and brand. I believe in experiences and as a consumer, I have noticed many gaps even in the most elaborate activations and strategies and I use these observations as inspiration to create marketing strategies for my clients that take their brand to the next level in terms of value, impact and people which in fact is the acronym for my company VIP Creations.
Q7.Your passion for connecting people and fostering a sense of community is evident. What does the concept of community mean to you, and how do you integrate it into your projects?
In my view community is all about belonging, having a support network and that’s crucial in today’s world where we have technology to connect us yet we feel so disconnected. Cultivating a sense of belonging and creating a network of people to be a support system that brings together ideas, shares best practices and unifies is something I have proudly built over the years with different demographics across 4 countries and 2 continents. I always integrate dynamic ice-creakers in my community events to encourage people to talk with one another, it’s one of my favourite aspects of my community events. My desired outcome from an event is not only for the audience to be inspired to take action but also for anyone who came along, unfamiliar with the group to leave knowing a few new people by name and hopefully building an acquaintance.
Q8.What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs who want to make a meaningful impact in a culturally diverse and competitive region like the UAE?
My only advice to anyone who wants to start a new business, venture in any field anywhere is to know your why and trust your intuition as your north star. It might be counter-productive to not focus on the logic and go with instinct and intuition however I have found that when I ignore my intuitive guidance the result speaks volumes that logic is not the best indicator of success. Also, I would strongly recommend to read the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek, it set me on a mission to discover my
why and then to follow the process of Ikigai, a Japanese concept to discover your purpose. These two books have led me to a definitive realisation as a marketing strategist, that my intention and purpose is to bring people together to create greater and storytelling through content and events is my medium of achieving that.
Q9.Your Success Mantra?
That’s simple and I love that you ask this question because I ask my podcast guests the same. I read years ago a quote that says; you are a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously and that stuck with me. It took away the stigma that we should work towards perfection and to fully accept where I am and who I am in this current moment as complete. It really grounds me and prevents the overwhelming sensation of never being enough or having done enough, it’s powerful to have a grounding declaration to remind ourselves that everything is always working out for us and to just remember that this too shall pass so not to be attached to the highs or the lows.
Q10.What keeps you stress-free?
I don’t think we can be stress free but I certainly have a few rituals and practices that I utilise to manage my thoughts and emotions during any situation that can be deemed stressful. I discovered the power of sound therapy in 2016 and using crystal bowls is a great source of cleansing for me, I found attending sound meditations is a great grounding technique for me. Exercise is crucial to my well-being not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. For the last 2 years I made a commitment to my own personal transformation and have a combined routine of strength training, spinning, walking and Pilates for better physical health. I set time every Sunday to walk for 10km whilst I review the past week’s accomplishments and my intentions for the coming week as a way to stay on-top of everything using certain NLP techniques to reframe and reset my thoughts, I call it my reflect and plan time and its simply me-time that I cherish.