It’s important to surround yourself with not only successful, but also inspiring people. It’s always good to add more value to the quality of your life. This kind of change can help reduce stress and increase happiness. We’re lucky to live in a time where we have access to everything and get to know about everyone and learn about them with only a click.
So, without further ado, here are 10 successful individuals from our region, specifically from Iraq you need to know about to give you dose of inspiration every single day!
Diana Al Sindy
Meet this beautiful young lady who left Baghdad to join NASA! The California-based genius moved from Baghdad to San Diego decades ago, and received her bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California San Diego. She then moved to Los Angeles and landed her first job as a propulsion engineer working on rockets and rocket engines.
She also uses her platform to share her journey with us as a female Iraqi immigrant in the field of science. Hoping to encourage and inspire youth to be interested and more involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Taha Al-Hiti
Taha is a very talented artist and architect, and one of the leading Arabic calligraphers in the world. He’s the co-founder and director of the London-based and award-winning Squadra Architect; a firm that specializes in modern designs, infused with traditional elements of arabesque, ornamentation, and calligraphy. Taha’s journey began in Baghdad, where he graduated from the University of Baghdad with a Bachelor’s in Architectural Engineering. Later he decided to further his studies in Vienna, Austria.
Taha and his team were actually assigned to design and renovate the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad, which was under construction at the time. As well as the calligraphic works; Taha has always had a passion for calligraphy and visual arts that dominated so much of his life.
Athier Mousawi
He’s a British-Iraqi visual artist and educator. Over the past few years, his work has been centered around posing unanswerable questions against undefined answers, and forming a visual narrative between the two.
The subject of much of his work has been mainly on Iraq and his diasporic relationship to his homeland. As well as the concept of nostalgia and referencing how we usually idolize when remembering our past, present, and even future.
Mr. Erbil
In Northern Kurdistan, Iraq, a group of 30 young and handsome men founded Mr. Erbil. They created their own fashion movement on social media with the desire to do social good in their homeland by giving it an injection of style with a new clothing brand.
Mr Erbil turned the Iraqi’s attention to be more active in advocating for women’s rights and equality in the Middle East. Each week they feature different female activists, businesswomen and designers, as well as hosting speaking events for them in Erbil.
Dia Azzawi
He’s one of the Arab World’s most renowned artists, who’s widely acknowledged as a pioneer of modern Arab art. Born in Baghdad, his work is quite diverse, exploring themes on the social-political upheaval in the region that he witnessed, especially during the aftermath of the 2003 America invasion.
Maha Alusi
Maha Alusi was born in the city of a thousand and one nights, Baghdad. She’s an architect and artist currently based in Germany. From the beginning of her career, she was always interested in integrating the concept of time into her designs. And it has become the very foundation of her creations; most notably through her candle designs.
Maha’s candles are very unique. Each having its own story, the flame represents time and the candle represents life, and the dialogue between the two.
Tara Jaffar
Tara is a British-Iraqi artist and founder of Meryna, an independent and non-profit organization which she created due to the growing need for post-war rehabilitation in the Middle East. It focuses on finding ways of integrating the different generations of migrants who are socially excluded as a result of war, displacement, and associated trauma, many of whom struggle in establishing their sense of identity and belonging.
She also organized a series of workshops for adults at the Iraqi Cultural Centre in London under the title “Stories my mother told me”. People were invited to explore and exchange narratives through art, drama, and dialogue.
Yassin Alsalman
He’s an Iraqi-Canadian musician, actor, writer, teacher, and multi-media artist based in Montreal. He earned his Masters degree in Media Studies which ultimately helped in shaping his art form and future achievements. If you listened to any of the music he’s shared of his stage performances, international film festivals or his Tedx appearance back in 2010, you’d instantly recognise his passion and love for both Iraq and hip hop running through his veins!
In recent years he has performed globally, sharing the stage with influential artists like Kanye West. Yassin also delved into acting in both television and cinema including the Dubai-based film City of Life.
Tamara Ghazi
An Iraqi-Canadian doctor in Chiropractic, she specializes in treating a variety of musculoskeletal injuries. Spending her younger years in Abu Dhabi, she became passionate about preventative care due to her involvement in sports from a very young age.
In an effort to provide UAE residents with alternatives to what she calls a “pharmaceutical-driven approach to medicine” she managed to set up a preventive medical centre, the Diversified Integrated Sports Clinic in Dubai. Where she offered everything from chiropractic to physiotherapy, nutrition advice and acupuncture.
Shahad Al-Rawi
Shahad is an award-winning Iraqi writer and novelist who was born in Baghdad. She’s currently completing her PhD in Anthropology in Dubai. Back in 2018, she won the Edinburgh Book Festival’s “First Book” Award with her debut novel “The Baghdad Clock” featuring the everyday struggle of the people in Baghdad. The novel was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and topped the bestseller lists in both Iraq and the UAE.