Dubai/Toronto/Dubai

A 10-year round trip and the journey goes on!

In 2011, and after several years of contemplation, I took a leap of faith and decided my kids and I should move to Canada.

Growing up in Dubai, as an expat kid, I was blessed on so many levels. I went to the best school, had the greatest friends, got to hang out with the coolest people and after I got back from university, I established myself as a strong leader in the job market.

My former husband and I were a power couple, his business flourished, I was one of the very few leading women in my field and my children had the best life any kid could ever ask for.

In a nutshell, I had it all.

Back then, the one thing that did not add up was the feeling that I could never make Dubai “home”!

In Dubai, I would always be an expat, my kids would be expats too, and I longed to have the warmth and stability of a place to call home for the longest time ever.

When I made the decision to move to Toronto, it took every ounce of courage in my bones to do it. I had to convince my parents, who still live in Dubai to this day, that I am doing the right thing.

My friends thought I lost my mind, they used to call me the Queen of Dubai, and they did not understand why I would leave all this behind and move to Canada, where I won’t have the beach, the sun, my family or the conveniences of our life here in the UAE.

But I did it, regardless of what everyone said…

The dominant thought in my mind was that I wanted to build roots and help my kids build their roots too, in a place they can actually call home.

Having said that, I have to admit that my time between 2011 and 2021 in Canada was brutal, I did not want to change career paths and I had to start at the very bottom in my field of expertise to establish that I am competent enough to compete in an area that was mainly dominated by Canadian professionals.

In my interviews, I used to get asked more about Dubai than I would about my experience. The title of a VP scared people off and made them repeat the same broken record of how overqualified I am for jobs, but this never stopped me from bulldozing through until I established myself in the Canadian market.

Throughout this journey, I was also blessed with amazing people who supported me and cheered for me along the way, folks who would never let me give up. And every time I was ready to throw the towel and pack and leave back to Dubai, they would stop me and tell me, NO, you belong here! This is home!

I am ever so grateful to each and every one of you, for your love and support.

In 2021, in a post-covid world, and after a brutal Canadian lockdown, there was so much for me to reconsider. My aging parents and my 2 siblings in Dubai were the centre of my attention. I could not shake off the feeling that my parents will not live forever and I needed to spend as much time as I can with them.

This was the moment when I realized that after 10-years of being a full time mom and a full time career woman in Canada something was still missing, I needed to be back home, back in Dubai where everything was familiar.

I have two homes, I belong to two places…

And that was a major aha moment for me!

Dubai, which was everything, my childhood, my memories, my family and my safety; and Canada, my adoptive home which gave me and my kids a new perspective on what to prioritize in life. I loved both with the same passion but I needed to be back where I felt most comfortable.

I packed and left in August of 2021 to come back to a place that moved on without me, and where, again, I had to start from almost zero to re-establish my career in a new setting. However, at least in the Emirates I have the warmth of my family to support the new chapter of my journey and the new adventures in my career.

You might wonder why I am sharing this here?

Truth is, when the idea of Canada formed in my head as the place that will be “my home”, I did not budget for all the hardships that I would face during my career journey in Canada as a Brown woman of Arab origins.

I did not prepare myself for the hurdles that will be created in my path due to passive-aggressive Canadian racism or the tokenization I faced as an Arab and a Muslim.

I did not know that as I sought to be a productive member of my new adoptive homeland I had to work, pay-free, for months to gain “Canadian Experience”. I had no idea that I will be told to “mellow down” because of the passion I brought into the job made others look less productive. I really had no idea how risk-averse the Canadian work culture was until I was told “to not go against the grain and to enjoy my corner office that many others would kill to have”.

My personal and career experience in Canada made me realize how very innovative we are in the UAE and the Middle East generally. The hunger we have to make things happen is nothing less than miraculous, it’s in our DNA. We are problem solvers in every aspect of our lives.

This is why sharing all this on LinkedIn is so important as I am being bombarded with questions on daily basis about life in Canada and how it weighs in comparison to life here in the UAE.

When I, as an immigrant, took a leap of faith to move my life to Canada, I moved knowing that I have a lot to offer, and I just needed to adjust and be embraced by my new adoptive culture to allow me to make Canada my home. Nevertheless, when I decided to move back to Dubai, I could not help but celebrate as the feeling of going back home grew and flourished, in the literal meaning of the term.

Oh, Canada, my home and adoptive land, you will always melt my heart and fascinate my soul!

And you, ?? ????? , my beautiful United Arab Emirates, you are my tribe, my culture, my refuge and the future that I have yet to build.