Out and About STYLE Magazine

Issue 8 Volume 1
September 2019

Quote
of
M onth
the
Everyone has talent.
What’s rare is the
courage to follow it to
the dark places where
it leads.
~ Erica Jong

www.outandaboutstylemag.com
marsha@outandaboutstylemag.com
Contributing Editor
Jelena Borojevic
editor@outandaboutstylemag.com
sales@outandaboutstylemag.com
www.outandaboutstylemag.com

Editor’s
Welcome back to another
inspiring edition of
Out and About STYLE
Magazine. This month has
been another journey into
discovering amazing new
talent, being inspired by
people from around the
world, and collecting the
best fashion and health tips
available!
In this issue we get a little
lovey-dovey with matching
his and her styles, reinstate
the importance of skincare
and dental hygiene,
consider the importance
of understanding diabetes,
work on improving our
diet and fitness, meet an
extraordinary woman who
is working to further the
importance of education
in the UAE, and an up and
coming rapper who wants
to use his talent to benefit
a new generation, explore
the current state of culture
and receive a beautiful
travel diary of Italy.
We start this issue with
the fashion story of Galyna
Fedyuk, a classy lady from
the Ukraine who has a
passion for classic pieces,
easy style combinations,
and the power to use
fashion to bring out her
own uniqueness and that of
her clients.
We then give you seven
great ideas for swapping
clothes and accessories
with your partner! Denim
jackets, hats and sunglasses
are just a few of the
many things that you can
borrow from your spouse’s
wardrobe to complete your
own style with a bit more
edge.
Of course, at Out and
About STYLE Magazine, we
never forget the importance
of great skincare! Health is
the most beautiful addition
to any style, which is why
we asked an esthetician
to recommend the perfect
routine for healthy and
moisturised skin. We also
have a special feature on
DIY facial serums that you
can use to perfect the
health and glow of your skin
for a fraction of the price of
expensive products. We
then complete this section
with DIY advice on how to
get the perfect brightening
smile every day!

We can never talk enough about the
importance of education to help us further
our potential and our understanding of the
world! Leisa Grace Wilson shares with us her
journey of developing Moftah Education - a
brand that has grown to include magazines,
websites, and conferences to help people
in the UAE and beyond to further their
education, meet new people, and develop
new skills.
Our Talent Pool features up and coming
rapper Minel Michael Fific, who describes
how he managed to pursue his passion even
though he has had to deal with a very difficult
upbringing. Even more importantly, he is
ready to use his talent and success to inspire
and encourage other people to follow their
dreams.
And you know we always prioritise the health
of our readers and their families! This is why
we have made an effort to talk more openly
about pre-diabetes and how it could influence
your life. We discuss the possible risks, how
to spot them, and how to avoid making the
condition worse with wholesome advice and
educated tips.
Thinking about trying a gluten-free diet? We
have a great section about the gluten-free
lifestyle, how it can benefit you, and how to
properly live it. We each have unique bodies,
and we should certainly have diets that make
us feel and function to the best of our abilities,
but there are a few mutual diet tips which we
can all benefit from!
Speaking of diets, we also give you some
great tips on how you can help your body eat
the right foods so that hunger will no longer
be an issue that you will have to deal with
when you are trying to live the healthiest life
possible!
We finish off this section with a calming cup
of tea! Indeed, we discuss the health and
fitness benefits of tea and how including this
beverage into your daily life can help you to
stay hydrated, focused, and much more!
Yummy Mommy is back with Jennifer
Stelco, who shares her diet and fitness tips
for strength, endurance, concentration and
family balance. We are particularly inspired
by her post-pregnancy tips to help new moms
get back into their ideal form and keep them
strong for their new bundle of joy!
We get a little wanderlust in our travel section
as Kendria R. Johnson helps us to get lost in
the beauty and culture of Italy through her
own experience. There are some truly golden
tips here for travellers to Italy! Then, we get a
little wild with Juhu Reznickova’s description
of a hitchhiker’s lifestyle. Phew! It’s not for
everyone, but it is quite an adventure to read
about!
Our Culture section rounds up this issue with
a serious look at personal reinvention and
the millennial woman by Yvonne Chiedza
Mtengwa, as well as a look at contemporary
culture through the eyes of Jerome Douglas.
We are all trying to find our place in this world
and do the best we can to help others, so I am
always grateful when such important stories
are told in Out and About STYLE Magazine!
We hope that this issue will bring you joy,
knowledge, and inspiration to live the best
life that you can possibly live and share this
positive energy with the people you love!
Stay true to yourself and stay kind!
Please feel free to send us your feedback and
even ideas for topics that we could cover in
the future!

SECTION 1
FASHION
• Fashion Feature
• Galyna Fedyuk
• 7 Fashion Items You Can Swap with Your Spouse!
SECTION 2 BEAUTY
• Makeup Madness with Katrina - Skincare for the Low!
• DIY Teeth Whitening Hacks That Actually Work!
• 5 DIY Facial Serums That Can Give Your Skin a New Life!
SECTION 3
BEHIND THE BRAND
• Behind the Brand with Leisa Grace Wilson - Moftah Education
SECTION 4
TALENT POOL
• Minel
SECTION 5 LIFESTYLE
• Pre-Diabetes - Knowing Your Chances Reduces Your Risk
FOOD
• What You Need to Know About Gluten-Free Eating (and Recipes)
• 15 Foods to Fool Hunger and How They Do It
FITNESS
• Can Tea Help to Improve Fitness? Here’s the Answer
• Yummy Mommy - Jennifer Stelco
SECTION 6 TRAVEL
• How to Get Lost in Italy
• A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Travelling the World.
SECTION 7 FOR THE CULTURE
• Of Personal Reinvention and the Millennial Woman
• Sporting with Contemporary Culture

Fashion
Galyna Fedyuk

My name is Galyna. I am
37 years old and originally
from Ukraine. I moved to
Dubai almost 11 years ago
to work in fashion. For the
first three years, I worked in
retail for Tom Ford and then
for a Valentino boutique at
a Dubai Mall. Apart from
my love for fashion, I enjoy
studying psychology and
energy as well as spending
time with my friends and
family.

I believe style is a depiction of a person or a brand,
something that makes you stand out from the crowd in your
unique way - your signature. My style includes classic pieces,
mostly because I love the more classy look. As a woman, it
was natural for me to be interested in fashion and always
wanting to look good. And yet, I could never live without
jeans. When they are styled with a simple T-shirt and white
trainers, they become my favourite go-to combination.
Growing up, I always raided my mother’s wardrobe to find
amazing things to wear and to an extent, I have stolen aspects
of her style. My top five items that I always have on hand
are a white T-shirt, jeans, classy black sunglasses, pumps,
and trainers. I also love to invest in beautiful jewellery and
vintage pieces. Instagram is my favourite place to showcase
my style for the day and to find inspiration for future looks.
Given the opportunity to style a woman in my favourite look,
she would be wearing classic heel pumps with a little black
dress, black sunglasses, an elegant watch, a classy clutch,
and Chanel accessories to complete the look.
My favourite beauty tip that I live by is
THIS OR THAT?
Lace or leather
Cold shoulder or one shoulder
Solid colours or prints?
Flared or skinny jeans?
Dresses or trousers
Polka dots or stripes?
Flats or heels?
Metallic or pastel
Hoops or studs
Defined eyebrows or mascara
Lipstick or foundation
LEATHER
ONE SHOULDER
SOLID COLOURS
SKINNY JEANS?
DRESSES
POLKA DOTS
HEELS
METALLIC
STUDS
DEFINED EYEBROWS
FOUNDATION

S
H
O
P

7 Fashion
Items You Can
with Your
Wearing your husband’s clothes
seems like an unspoken taboo
but don’t we all love to do that?
Especially when nothing looks
more appealing than pulling
over his comfy tee, giving you
all the more reason to embrace
the warmth of your man, not to
mention the manly-scent when
he’s not around, totally guilt-free!
If besties can share a wardrobe
for a night out, why not swap a
closet with your spouse? Not that
he’s going to complain. There will
probably be many hidden gems
you are both unaware of. Make
use of these seven clothing items
we’ve put together in this post!

and
Seriously. Whether the two
of you are off to a cricket or
basketball match, you can
both whip out baseball caps or
bobble hats to wear on such
sporty occasions. If he happens
to own only one, no harm in
sharing it for half the time each.
To be honest, there are no rules
when it comes to wearing caps.
We personally find that these
look very sexy on a woman.
Plus, they serve as the perfect
accessory for a bad hair day or
for changing up your look!

He looks hot in denim? Remember, two can play this game! We
believe style shouldn’t be concerned with the sex of a person:
nowadays, fashion is mostly unisex anyway. As long as it looks good
on you, wear it with confidence.
A denim jacket is certainly great to up your game. Your man won’t
question it as long as his wife’s looking swell! Denim jackets are
versatile and can be worn at any time, any day with anything. Wear
it with a plain, long black body-con dress or pull it off with a plain
white T-shirt and denim jeans. Or, you can both go matchy-matchy
as the picture shows.

The difference between sunglasses
for men and women? Female
sunglasses have much curvier frames.
But, seriously. Nobody’s going to
come that close and be able to tell
if the frames are fit for a woman.
Even sunglasses need to stop body
shaming. Whether you’re a woman
with curves or without - chin up and
wear your husband’s sunnies. If he
doesn’t pick holes in that, why would
you, girl?
If the glasses fit nicely and don’t
look awkward, wear them and thank
us later. Just so you know, gradientcoloured
frames and aviator
sunglasses are even better. Twinning
them on the beach with your spouse
may set you apart from the rest in a
cute, smart way. Sun protection can
be a couple’s thing, yeah?

Thank the Lord that Converse shoes are unisex
and that your hubby is gentleman enough to
lend you his pair (which he would, else the
purpose of this post will be pointless.) Pray
and hope you both have the same or similar
shoe size. If they fit you (happy squealing),
pair them with your favourite jeans, pants,
or trousers. Also, they look bomb with long,
flowy dresses and pleated skirts.
Do your thing, and nobody will know it’s your
husband’s. Be sure not to get them dirty,
since you know what a clean freak he can
sometimes be.

Sweaters, Mufflers,
and Socks
Okay, we know we cheated
a bit there ,but we’d like to
clarify a few things. We’re
pretty sure you both own a
wardrobe brimming full of
sweaters, socks, and mufflers
that collect dust at the back.
What do you do? Get those
out, style and use them.
Sweaters and mufflers aren’t
the only wonderful options
to protect yourself from the
cold. You could still catch a
cold with them on. Socks, on
the other hand, are “musthaves”
and nothing can go
wrong with sharing a pair or
two - since socks are pretty
much concealed inside
shoes.
If you’re all about oversized
sweaters, raiding your man’s
wardrobe is the way to go,
trust us! Pair them with
pants! If you come upon a
few turtlenecks, they look
excellent with long skirts or
loose casual maxis.

A white or striped T-shirt would do too, but a
button-down is on its own level. Effortless and
chic as well as versatile! Plus, we’re certain there
will be loads in your hubby’s wardrobe.
or
Button-Down Shirt
You could style one with a nice pair of jeans, go
white-on-white with contrasting or nude shoes, or
tuck it into a skirt with a belt if it’s too loose.
Also, high-waisted trousers can prove to be
extremely spiffy to elegantly style the white
button-down. This makes for one beautiful office
look as well.

Surprise, surprise! Now, you can
swap watches because the latest
designs are unisex. Even if yours
is not, don’t fret. Look for your
partner’s leather strap watch, which
makes for a perfect.... fashionable
piece. Strap watches are dapperlooking
and totally spruce up your
wrist. I mean, there should be no
restraints on swapping time, right?
If there’s no leather strap, don’t
let that stop you from stealing his
chain wristwatch. We’d say both
would go, depending on how you
dress them up or dress them down
- for a more feminine touch, laden
your fingers with rings and steel
bracelets.
OUR
MESSAGE
There’s no wall between a husband and a wife! Swapping and scrambling about
with fashion items will both deepen your friendship and work as a space-saving
factor. Specifically, when you are travelling and have limited luggage space. You
can always trust each other for certain “essentials.” No hard feelings!

M A K E U P
M A D N E S S
WITH
Hey, girl! This month has gone by so fast, and we are now wrapping up this Hot Girl
Summer and preparing to move on to Fly Girl Fall. Last month, I received so many
messages from so many of you on Instagram about mapping out a diverse skincare
routine in a cost-efficient way. So, this month we are focusing on my 12-step nighttime
skincare routine and my quick morning skincare routine.

Did you know that if you continuously
stay on point with your 12-step
nighttime skincare routine and make
time to see your esthetician for a
facial every month, you will be able to
minimise your morning routine to just
3-4 steps daily? Let me explain.
As an esthetician, I recommend a (1)
double cleanse that lasts 60 seconds
for each cleansing cycle using facial
cleansing sponges. This allows you to
relax and take your time to remove the
makeup from your skin properly. (2)
Next, you want to use an alcohol-free,
oil-free, silicone and gluten-free toner
to revitalise and resurface the skin.
(3) Afterwards, you steam to loosen
sebum, which is trapped beneath
your skin’s surface. Sebum creates
a breeding ground for bacteria and
causes acne and blackheads. Facial
steaming hydrates the skin by helping
to increase oil production by naturally
moisturising the face. It also helps your
skin to absorb skincare products better.
(4) Always follow up with toner; again,
to correct and balance the pH of your
skin. (5) You want to remove dead skin
cells and free radicals with a chemical
exfoliant based on your skin type. (6)
Follow up with toner yet again. (7) Next
up are all of your serums. I like to use
a Niacinade serum for brightening. (8)
My next serum is filled with peptides or
(9) Antioxidants and retinol. Feel free to
switch up serums as needed. (10) Your
skin always needs hydration, so use a
hyaluronic serum. (11) This next step
is strictly for the use of a moisturiser
to restore the skin’s protective barrier.
Look for moisturisers with ceramides to
help replace those stripped away with
dry skin, as well as humectants such as
hyaluronic acid and glycerin. Finally,
(12) is for eye cream because we want
to defeat those puffy eyes and dark
circles while we slumber, people!
See! That wasn’t hard now, was it? If
you complete these steps each night,
you will definitely see a significunt
improvement in your skin health. You
will wake up every morning with a
natural glow for sure. Your morning
routine will be so much simpler because
you took the time to pamper your
skin the night before. Your morning
routine should consist of (1) Rinsing
your face with cool to lukewarm water
for 60 seconds straight, (2) Toning, (3)
Moisturising (I like to use something
with hyaluronic acid and/or Papaya for
enzymes), and (4) SPF! Never forget to
use an SPF, especially if you are using
an AHA chemical exfoliant during your
nighttime skincare routine. Your skin is
very much susceptible to sunburn, so
protect it with SPF daily.
Please remember that in doing all of this
you must still keep up with your monthly
facials. Also, please see an esthetician,
like me, for any extractions so you
won’t be left with unwanted blemishes
or hyperpigmentation by attempting to
remove any blackheads or whiteheads
on your own. If you attempt to pop a
whitehead, you can increase the risk of
spreading the bacteria on your face.
Monthly facials are beneficial for this
specific reason. Your esthetician can
assist you with modifying your at-home
skincare routine if you are continuously
experiencing breakouts.

Now onto the moment you’ve all
been waiting for! Sixteen beautiful,
cost-efficient, high-quality products
you need in your skincare routine for
the low! You can thank me later.
Amino Acids + Hyaluronic
Acid (Hydration)
AHA (Chemical
Exfoliation)
BHA
Niacinamide
(Brightening)
Peptides
Primer with SPF
(sunblock)
Enzymes
(Papaya)
Toner
Eye Cream
Antioxidants
+ Retinol
Moisturiser
Facial
Cleansing
Sponges
Exfoliating
Toner
Travel Skincare
Gel Peeling
Mask
Salicylic Acid
(oily skin exfoliation)

If you want to know how to apply all of these products
correctly or if you just want to know more about skincare
routines hit me up on Instagram (@thekrlstyle). Maybe
your questions will be covered in my next article
submission.
Katrina is the Creative
Director at The
Beauty Studio, Middle
East. In this article,
she shares how to
achieve flawless
looking skin without
breaking the bank.

Model: Kiara Kardinal
Photo and retouch: Andrea Marton
Makeup: Anett Hriczo and Liv Rideg
Hair: Liv Rideg
Location: Studio Madison, Budapest, Hungary

Model: Rea Milla, Avantage Models
Photo and retouch: Andrea Marton
Makeup: Liv Rideg
Location: Studio Lightroom, Budapest, Hungary

Model: Kiara Kardinal
Photo and retouch: Andrea Marton
Makeup: Anett Hriczo and Liv Rideg
Hair: Liv Rideg
Location: Studio Madison, Budapest, Hungary

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DIY Teeth Whitening
That Actually Work!
No one appreciates bad teeth.
It’s not just about you but your entire
personality. Moreover, it’s a dead giveaway
of your health and hygiene. Teeth are affected
by a lot of things: smoking, eating and drinking,
etc., but if you don’t brush them frequently, the
stains become long-term and unappealing.
From the dreaded dentist’s appointment to
various products and procedures, all have their
benefits but come with high costs and sometimes
pain, too.
However, if you are not blessed
with naturally white teeth, have abused
them to a yellow appeal and wish to whiten
them with something quick and easy, we’ve put
together a few DIY teeth whitening hacks that
actually work. These hacks serve as good runnerups
for professional whitening treatments and
will brighten your smile with continued usage.
Because as Dr Seuss says, “Teeth are always in
fashion.” We agree with that 100%.

Before trying out these hacks, make sure you take proper
care of your teeth and include daily brushing in order for
these methods to work. Don’t try all the hacks at the same
time, try one, and if it suits you, stick to it.
If your teeth are in poor health or too sensitive, consult a
doctor before trying out these natural treatments.
We’re not talking about the blackened ashes found in barbecue
pits. Activated charcoal is one of the easiest and cheapest ways
to naturally whiten your teeth. It is an antioxidant that not only
removes surface stains left by tea, coffee, and food consumption
but scrubs away toxins as well.
Dip a clean, wet toothbrush into a charcoal powder container and
brush your teeth as you usually do. Don’t let the sight of your
now blackened teeth alarm you because the blackness helps
to neutralise their yellow appearance and rinses away to reveal
brighter, whiter teeth.
The grainy texture of activated charcoal can corrode your tooth
enamel. Make sure your toothbrush is wet enough or make a paste
with charcoal, use gentle motions while brushing and limit this to
only once a week. A black toothpaste is even better and less harsh.
Apart from coconut oil being a miracle worker for our
hair and body, it’s great for naturally whitening teeth,
too. Ever heard of oil-pulling? No? Basically, it involves
taking a spoonful of coconut oil in your clean mouth and
swishing it for five minutes or even 20! But only if you can
swish around it for that long!
Oil-pulling improves gum health, removes bad breath
and eliminates harmful bacteria as well. In other words,
it is ideal for promoting oral hygiene. Though, if you feel
like oil-swishing is not for you use coconut oil with your
toothbrush and brush your teeth to get whiter teeth.
This procedure isn’t a threat to your tooth enamel.
Instead, it prolongs its health. So, try this whenever you
feel the need.

The more calcium intake, the whiter and stronger your
teeth will be. Tooth enamel is made up of calcium, and you
must eat more dairy products to keep it in good health.
However, if you have cut dairy from your diet due to going
vegan or any other health-related reasons, try milk powder
to whiten teeth.
Yes, you heard us! Combine your toothpaste with a little bit
of milk powder (not a whitener) and brush your teeth with
it to spruce up your pearly whites. Do this twice a week!
Turmeric has antioxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory
properties. Plus, it has scientifically proven health benefits to its
name. Apart from that, it works wonders for teeth whitening as well.
Use a little bit of water and turmeric powder to make a paste. Use
that paste to brush your teeth for two minutes. Rinse the turmeric;
it will leave a stain, so do another brush with just your toothpaste.
It will effectively whiten and lighten the coffee/tea stains. Due to its
anti-inflammatory qualities, it’s great for natural dental care as well.
Do this three times a week to enhance the whiteness of your teeth.
Baking soda is a common ingredient used for various
cleaning purposes. However, we find baking soda and
lemon a tad too harsh for teeth whitening. To tone down
the sensitivity of this formula, mix baking soda and lemon
with your usual toothpaste. Use your toothbrush to form
a smooth, slightly runny paste to break down the grains
in baking soda.
Once the paste is formed, gently brush your teeth, and
this mixture will zap surface stains. Limit this to only once
a week.

Foods that require a lot
of chewing act as teeth
whiteners because they
naturally clean surface
stains by increasing saliva
production, which serves
as a natural teeth cleaning
agent. These foods are
called fibrous foods such
as apple, celery, cabbage,
carrots, etc. Apart from
cleaning, they also rid the
mouth of bacteria and bad
breath as well.

Furthermore, eat fruits rich in citric acid (oranges, pineapples), and malic acid
(strawberries) that have proven to be one of the easiest ways to achieve that white,
flashing smile. Strawberries can also be mashed up, and you can rub the paste on
your teeth for five minutes to give your teeth a good cleanse and reveal whiter teeth.
Now, onto the teeth offenders.
There’s no gain without pain!
And the pain comes when you
have to forbid yourself from
things you love! A few of those
things would be coffee, tea,
wine, and fizzy drinks that have
a tremendous effect on your
teeth especially if you drink
them frequently or a bit too
excessively! If you want teeth,
that are blinding, you need to
keep a lid on these beverages.
Instead, consume lots of water,
lemonade, citrus fruit drinks,
and milk! This will improve
your gums, general health, and
rid your body of toxins.

5 DIY
Facial Serums
That Can Give
It’s easy to scroll through Instagram and assume that to
achieve better, healthier skin, you need to change your
lifestyle and most probably spend every last bit of your
hard-earned money. We agree with the lifestyle part - but
emptying your pockets? Not so much. Even without the
arsenal of expensive products at your service, achieving
good skin shouldn’t be a big challenge.
All it takes is a skim through our 5 best DIY facial serums,
faith in yourself, and a regimen because regimen is the
only way to achieve fresh, new skin. Also, the DIY facial
serums included target all skin problems.

A facial serum in a traditional sense is a water-soluble
product that goes on before a moisturiser. Serums are
created to target a specific cause: hydration, pigmentation,
anti-ageing, free radical damage, etc. Serums are made
up of smaller molecules by using active high-concentrated
ingredients, hence super-potent yet fast-absorbing.
Then, there are oil-based serums as well, which are applied
after a moisturiser. They seal the layering of products
applied before a moisturiser and at the same time keep
the moisturiser from drying out.
Well, you are not the only one wondering what a facial
serum is and verging on the brink of confusion as to how
it differs from a moisturiser, face oil, and an essence.
A facial serum may be packed full of moisturising
ingredients; however do not confuse it for a moisturiser
because it doesn’t contain the typical sealants: mineral oils
or petroleum. Neither the consistency nor the thickness is
in any way a match with a moisturiser.
Plus, they’re not as runny as essences which are also
applied after cleansing and before moisturising. Though
yes, both products are very similar in terms of the functions
they serve. The only difference is their texture.
Facial serums and facial oils, as expected, are quite similar.
However, facial oils are somewhat thicker than serums and
much more focused on treating the skin on a cellular level
due to the plant-based oils included in them.
Facial serums penetrate the skin on a deeper level, and
because they’re water-soluble, they last longer and do
your skin a huge favour in a short amount of time.

If you’re pregnant, breastfeeding
or undergoing serious health
concerns, we advise you to consult
a physician before trying out any
of these recipes. This is because
certain ingredients in these DIY
serums may not be suitable for
you.
Or as in the case of essential oils,
which are sometimes the main
ingredient, can be super-potent
and you must understand the
risks and benefits of what you are
putting on your face.
1
FACIAL SERUM FOR DRY,
DEHYDRATED SKIN
If you are an owner of dry, dehydrated skin and get
pesky, little breakouts now and then (welcome to the
real world) this organic facial serum for dry, dehydrated
skin will give you a nice hydration kick as well as help
keep those uncertain breakouts in check.
It is a blend of three botanical oils and three essentials
oils chock-full of skin-nourishing ingredients like Vitamins
A, E, and C, and fatty acids.
INGREDIENTS
• Organic Apricot Seed Oil
• Organic Avocado Oil
• Funnel
• An amber bottle
• Organic Jojoba Oil
• Organic Orange Essential Oil
• Organic Rose Geranium Essential Oil
• Organic Cedarwood Atlas Essential Oil
METHOD
No matter the bottle size, just place three equal thirds
of each oil. The base oil includes jojoba oil - next,
apricot kernel oil and avocado oil as the last base oils.
Once the carrier oils are done, it’s time for essential oils.
If you are using a 50 ml bottle, only 20 drops of essential
oil into those carrier oils is needed. Add six drops of
essential oil each. Pop the lid on and slightly turn the
bottle to combine it. Avoid shaking; you don’t want to
create air bubbles.
A dark or amber bottle is required because it keeps
the serum lasting for longer and stops bacteria from
collecting and light from getting to it. This serum
has a shelf life of six months. In case of any allergies
to any of these ingredients, you can make your own
modifications.

2
FACIAL SERUM FOR
UNEVEN, DULL SKIN
Sometimes, dull skin is our permanent makeover. It stays
with us no matter how hard we try to get rid of it. To be
honest, it’s not about trying hard; it’s about embracing
it in a smart way. And a quick to tone down the dullness
begins with our second facial serum recipe.
The recipe uses non-comedogenic oils. This means that
the serum is unlikely to clog your pores. Also, apart
from banishing unevenness, it helps renew dull skin for
brighter skin texture and minimises pigmentation, dark
spots and acne scars as well.
INGREDIENTS
• Argan Oil 10 ml
• Carrot Seed Oil 10ml
• Vitamin E Oil 1/2 teaspoon
• Rose Essential Oil 5 drops
• Sandalwood Essential Oil 5 drops
• Lemon Essential Oil 4 drops
• Frankincense Essential Oil 4 drops
• Dark glass bottle with a dropper
METHOD
Using a sieve, add carrot seed oil, argan oil and vitamin
E oil to the glass bottle. Now, take off the sieve and
gently and precisely, add drops of rose, lemon,
frankincense, and sandalwood essential oil. Close the
lid and turn the bottle side to side to mix all the oils.
Avoid shaking and thus forming air bubbles.
Apply this serum on the targeted areas whenever you
like. Make sure your face is clean before you do so.
Don’t apply sunscreen after this serum before heading
out in the sun.
A patch test is always recommended to check your skin
reaction before facial use.
3
FACIAL SERUM TO
FIGHT AGEING SKIN
You cannot turn back the clock. Well, technically you can,
but it won’t take you back to how you were when you
were young (pun intended). Although, you can start now
to prevent future wrinkles, age spots and sun damage
from appearing on your skin. Yes, there’s a way to age
beautifully, and this facial serum is the perfect opportunity.
INGREDIENTS
• Rosehip seed Oil 1/2 ounce
• Lavender Essential Oil 2 drops
• Geranium Essential Oil 2 drops
• Cypress Essential Oil 1 drop
• Rosemary Essential Oil
• Dark bottle with dropper
• Funnel
METHOD
Add rosehip seed oil to the bottle and follow with the rest of
the ingredients. Turn side to side for amalgamation before
use. Rosehip seed oil is one of the best carrier oils for antiageing
purposes but if it does not suit you, simply replace
it with any other carrier oil.
Cleanse and tone your skin before layering the serum over
specific areas, such as fine lines and wrinkles. It has antiinflammatory
and anti-bacterial properties along with the
ability to improve skin elasticity which makes this serum
such a great choice for older women. Even for those who
wish to prevent fine lines early.

4
FACIAL SERUM FOR OILY SKIN
AND ENLARGED PORES
We know, the appearance of enlarged pores coupled
with oily skin, does not help the case either. It can be
extremely grating, especially if you have pores the size
of saucers.
Even though a primer that truly fills them in is appealing,
it still isn’t a permanent solution. Moreover, it can clog
them even further. This facial serum recipe has the ability
to keep oiliness at bay and reduces the look of enlarged
pores at the same time.
INGREDIENTS
• 2 ounce or larger amber glass bottle
• Grapeseed Oil 1 oz.
• Jojoba Oil 1 oz.
• Cypress Essential Oil 10 drops
• Peppermint Essential Oil 5 drops
• Rosemary Essential Oil 5 drops
METHOD
Add all the carrier oils and essential oils, following the
sequence of the ingredient list. Roll the bottle gently
in your hand to combine the mixture. Wash your face
and use a toner and after with gentle, upward strokes.
Massage the serum to concentrated oily areas such as
your forehead, cheeks, and chin - store bottle in a cool,
dry place.
5
THE PERFECT ALL-ROUNDER
FACIAL SERUM
Need a facial serum that suits all skin types? Well, we’ve
got just the little booster for you. Easy to apply and forget
worrying over skin types. Oily, normal, sensitive, acne-prone
or combination - you can use this facial serum regardless.
INGREDIENTS
• Jojoba Oil 1 Tablespoon (Base oil)
• Argan Oil 1/2 Tablespoon (Premium oil)
• Lavender Essential Oil 2 - 4 drops (Essential Oil)
• Amber or blue-coloured liquid bottle 1 oz.
METHOD
Pour jojoba oil and argan oil into the amber bottle with the help
of a funnel. Add drops of lavender essential oils then close the lid
and roll it for 30 seconds. Once mixed, apply on clean, toned skin.
Allow 10-15 minutes for the facial serum to fully absorb.
It’s a great facial recipe for all skin types, but there’s no limitation
to explore your options and use your favourite oils.
IMPORTANT
MESSAGE
Please educate yourself on the uses, benefits and side
effects of these oils. Once you get the hang of them,
you can make your blends.

ORDER NOW

LEISA GRACE WILSON
COMPANY NAME: MOFTAH EDUCATION

1. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
My Name is Leisa Grace Wilson, and I am
a woman of God, wife, mother, educator,
entrepreneur and all-around hot mess
sometimes. I say I am a hot mess because
I am always doing several things at the
same time, spinning several plates and
sometimes I might lose control, and some
may fall, but I am a multi-passionate
person, so I like to have my hands full. I
am just a regular girl who decided to take
Philippians 4: 13 and apply it to my life.
Yes, I am certainly a regular Jamaican girl
living an extraordinary life.
2. MOFTAH EDUCATION, HOW DID IT
COME ABOUT?
Moftah Education was born out of a
love for education and educators. I am a
teacher by profession. I started my career
in education more than 20 years ago,
teaching English, Spanish and English
Literature. After working in Jamaica and
the United Kingdom as a teacher and
school leader, I moved with my husband
to the United Arab Emirates. When I
came here in 2010, I realised that there
was no magazine, platform or events
which united the entire education space
in the UAE and indeed the region. We
then decided to start something, at first
it was only supposed to have been a
website and possibly a couple of meetups
every now and again but very soon the
idea expanded and Teach Middle East
Magazine was born. Today Teach Middle
East Magazine is the largest and most
widely read education publication in the
Middle East for educators.
3. WHAT BRANDS AND EVENTS FALL
UNDER THE MOFTAH PUBLISHING NAME?
The Moftah brand has now grown to
include, The flagship Teach Middle East
Magazine, Edtech Middle East, The
Middle East Maths Teachers Conference,
The Middle East School Leadership
Conference, schoolfinder.ae and the soon
to be launched Dubai Education Week.
4. WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF SUCCESS?
I believe success is doing the things that
bring you the most joy every day. I cannot
put a monetary value on success because
I genuinely believe that having a lot of
money is not a true mark of success.
Success is ongoing; it is a process, not
a destination. If I am better than I was
yesterday, then I am successful. If I wake
up every morning in my right mind then I
am successful, If I have my family around
me and they love me, then I am successful.
You get the picture. I strongly believe that
if we live our lives always striving for the
next thing to make us feel successful, then
we might never experience success.
5. WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?
I am passionate about life. Let me explain,
over the years and especially in 2018, I lost
a lot. I lost my mother, she was my whole
life, and I also lost one of my best friends,
Ricky. I watched others lose people, and
I have also heard of young people who I
know just going to sleep and not waking up.
These experiences have given me a great
hunger and a drive to live my life to the
fullest. I am passionate about not allowing
fear or the opinions of others to stop me
from doing the things that I am passionate
about. I am also a strong believer in the
power of educators to change the future
of this world. Think of it this way; there
is no other group of people in the world
who have more collective influence and
authority over the minds and hearts of the
young people; than educators. Educators
are powerful, it is a shame that they
often seem not to get the respect and
remuneration that they deserve.
6. WHAT’S THE SECRET TO BEING A
FEARLESS LEADER?
To be a fearless leader, you need to have
two things:
1. An unshakable belief in yourself
2. Empathy
Believing in yourself may sound like a cliche,
but it is of the utmost importance. The fact

is when you step out to follow your dreams, there
will be many people who will tell you that it won’t
work. They are not all bad people, sometimes
it is the people closest to you, but you have to
remember that these people are only speaking
out of their own fears and insecurities. Your belief
in yourself is what will give you the resolve to
keep going, especially when times get tough.
Empathy is needed, especially when dealing with
others. You should not only be able to listen with
your ears, but also with your heart. To be a fearless
leader, you have to look beneath the surface and
try to assess people’s motives. Sometimes what
appears bad might not be and vice versa.
7. WHO AND/OR WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?
They say you should always have a why. My “why”
are my kids. I am the mother of six-year-old twin
boys, and they are the reason I work so hard. My
husband (and business partner) also keeps me
motivated. He is always there to support and
encourage me. Sometimes I think he believes in
me more than I believe in myself. The educators I
serve also motivate me. I have met some amazing
teachers and if they can keep going in the face of
difficulties then so can I.
8. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES OF
OWNING YOUR OWN BRAND?
The lack of sleep. Owning your own brand is
like having another member added to your
immediate family, and like a baby, you have to
take care of it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There is no clocking out and going home.
Another challenge is access to funding and also
finding quality people to work with. The region is
not as business-friendly as we would like it to be,
this is changing, but it will take time. As a result,
running a business in this part of the world can be
very expensive.
When you own your own brand, you also have to
remember that you are your brand’s ambassador.
Your actions may affect how people perceive
your brand. Don’t forget people do business
with people.

9. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH FAILURE?
When I fail or have a big set back, I allow myself
a day or two to mull over it, to wallow, to cry
and to feel down, but then when that time
is up. I get up, and I look at what happened
objectively, I search for the lessons and then
I do my best to move on and grow from the
experience. It is not easy, and I often find myself
mulling long after, but I always remind myself
that everything happens for a reason, and as I
move on the meaning will become clear.
10. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR
20-YEAR-OLD SELF?
Where do I begin? I have so much I would tell
my 20- year-old self. The first thing I would tell
her is to relax; it will all work out. I would tell
her to buy real estate and lots of it. Don’t waste
money on silly things, just travel and buy real
estate because your 40-year-old self will thank
you for the experiences and capital appreciation.
I would also tell her that she is not the saviour
and that she should allow some people to fail.
Do not try to bail everyone out when they make
bad life choices, allow them to learn from their
own mistakes as you will have to learn from yours.
I will also tell her that she will meet a tall, dark
African guy from Zambia, who is going to marry
her and make her the mother of two gorgeous
twin boys. On a serious note, I would really want
her to know that the opinions of others do not
define her and that she is worthy of any space
she stands in.
11. HOW DO YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR MENTAL
HEALTH WHILE BEING A BUSY BOSS?
As a busy mum and entrepreneur, it is very hard
to find time to take care of yourself, especially
your mental health. I try to keep a regular exercise
routine which helps me to feel great. I also listen
to music, and most of all, I pray. I take time to
pray and meditate on God’s Word daily.
12. IN TERMS OF THE STRATEGIC GROWTH OF
YOUR BUSINESS, WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF
IN THE NEXT TEN YEARS?
It is my hope that in the next ten years the Moftah
brand would have extended to Africa, and further
into Asia. We have our eyes on some projects in
Africa in the near future. The aim is to have a
global education brand in the next ten years.

13. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO
SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO GIVE UP THEIR
9-5 TO START A BUSINESS?
I would advise them to be patient and
strategic. The aim is not to have an idea
and then give up your 9-5 job and struggle.
Hustle on the side for as long as it takes
and build your business up to the point
where it can replace your 9-5 income and
then some. When that happens, you will
be able to walk away from your 9-5 with
no regret.
14. NAME ONE THING YOU DO OR WILL
DO DIFFERENTLY FOR YOUR CHILDREN TO
WHAT YOUR PARENTS DID FOR YOU.
When I was growing up, my mother was
really insistent on me going to university
and getting the best education that I could
get. I am very grateful to her for helping
me to get the education I have, but I do
not think I will insist that my boys go to
university. Instead, I will work with them on
creating their own path to success, and if
that involves going to university, then I will
be there for them as much as I can be. I am
also going to teach my boys about money
and investing from a very early age, in
fact, I have already started, and they are
only six.

Name: Minel Michael Fific
Stage name: Minel

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
I was born in Bosnia in 1991. I lived there for about
two weeks before my father was killed in the war.
Soon after, my family fled to New York. I was the only
white kid in my neighbourhood at the time, which
meant that I assimilated with the culture that was
around me. For example, hip hop was a huge part of
my time growing up in New York.
There were many discrepancies about me. People
used to tell me, “You’re always acting black.” I never
really understood what that meant, because I don’t
see colour as a race. I feel like everyone is born equal
into this world. I used to say that ‘every mother has
birth pains,’ therefore everyone has a hard time
arriving into this world. But I always believed that
everyone is put in the same position, regardless of
whether you’re born into money or into poverty.
There will always be a way to reach your dreams,
regardless of how much money you start out with.
You see people who are rich and end up broke, and
people who are completely broke and end up rich.
So, I feel like everyone has an opportunity.
In New York, I used to go to the hustlers and rappers
to try and get some exposure. I grew up in a time
when people would freestyle on street corners, that
was my era. Even now, if you watch the Biggie and
the Jay-Z movies, you’ll notice that they’re still doing
the same thing to this day. I was always intrigued by
that, and I always wanted to be one of those guys
that girls would be impressed with.
I listened to a lot of hip hop and a lot of rap at the
time, whenever I could. And I’ve also been a very
outspoken person, so I definitely have an opinion
when it comes to other people’s raps. If I hear
someone rapping and they’re not good, I’ll openly
tell them – that’s the New York mentality coming out.
Everyone has to be an alpha in New York; no one is
subtle out there. But I guess that’s what makes us
strong.
I remember this one time I was listening to a
group that had a rapper as the lead singer. I wasn’t
impressed with what he was doing, so I thought, “I
have to write my own rhymes.” And I did. And when
I did, I was like a seven-year-old trying to get in and
have my music heard, but no one would let me in.
They used to have those RCA speakers back in the
day where you had to flip the tape to get to the other
side and, there would be a time of silence as they
did this. I saw my window of opportunity here and
just jumped right in and started rapping. Before I
knew it, people were like, “Oh kid, you got it.” When
you grow up in poverty, you don’t believe you have
something even when people tell you that you do.
You don’t believe it.
To give you a little more of a backstory about my
time in New York, I was walking home one night and
found myself in the middle of a shootout. – Typical
New York stuff. I had one of those hoodies that have
big pockets, and one of the bullets just went through
the pocket and left a hole. It went by so fast I never
even knew it happened until I got home because
there was so much adrenalin rushing through me. My
mum saw it first when she was washing my clothes
and freaked out. So, we ended up moving to Virginia
after that incident.
I had a similar style of growing up in Virginia. High
school lunches and corner rap. I rapped all the time;
I did it all, freestyle - everything. I was also in and
out of incarceration; it was a rough period. But it
wasn’t until about eight months ago when I made it
to Dubai and met producer Yazeed through a friend.
I think that where I am now is all God-given, everyone
I met was by sheer coincidence. I met Yazeed at a
basketball game (he doesn’t even play), I met my
Stefan (my videographer) through a friend who I
barely knew, and I met my investor through a good
deed that I did with some guy in another country. I
met my manager Albert through a conversation with
another guy at Virgin Radio, by refusing to move.
Everything that happened to me has a story behind
it. Everything was somehow aligned.
Yazeed and I met eight months ago and instantly
said, “Let’s just do a song for the hell of it.” So, we
made a song called “Big Waves.” People really loved
it, and whoever hears that song likes it. But if you
ask us, we think it’s horrible. It’s funny because we
don’t play the song anymore, but everyone wants
to hear it. We’re trying to bury it, but everyone else
is trying to resurrect it. I wrote another song called
“Mess* with Me” that everyone went crazy over.
It’s an unreleased song, but then all my songs are
unreleased. I kept writing music, and Yazeed kept
saying, “Well, how are we going to make money out
of this?” which came with a whole other concept.
Soon after, my partner and I saw the Nicki Minaj
Megatron Challenge and Yazeed and I entered. Out
of thousands, maybe even millions of applicants, we
came to the finals, and it was our first time releasing
our music on an Instagram post.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT
BEING A MUSICIAN? WHAT DO YOU
HATE THE MOST?
To be honest, what I hate the most
is similar to what you do with your
magazine. When you’re writing an article,
you critique yourself so much because it
has to be up to your standards, or even
above and beyond. The same goes for
me and my music. I’m not one of those
people that think, “Oh this is okay. We’re
going to use this for today.” I don’t do
that. I could sit on one line for two or
three hours, just because I know that
it has to sound good. But what I love
about this is that music is my career. It’s
a passion that I commit to. The biggest
thing I tell Yazeed is that I want to stand
on a stage and see the cell phones light
up. I want to light up an arena and see
people who are moved by my music.
That’s the main goal for Yazeed and I,
and it’s not that far off.
As far as things I hate go, I really hate
the times of constant mental distress.
Making a song is only the initial
part, but there is so much that goes
into building it, getting it out there,
and exposing it to the world. So, I
sometimes hate the process, but when
you finish a song, and you look back
you then really appreciate it.
In terms of the industry and what’s
happening right now. What do you
see as your biggest challenge in
getting to where you want to be?
To be honest, I don’t think there’s a
challenge other than exposure, being
seen by people. I’ve had thousands of
people come to the studio and listen to
my songs, and out of all the songs we
never really get any bad comments on
them. Never. I think we may have gotten
one or two bad comments, but those
were from people who don’t like us.
My mom once said to me, “If someone
doesn’t like you, you’re doing the right
thing.” So, we embrace all of it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO
TAKE TO GET THAT EXPOSURE?
Someone taking a chance on me.
Someone saying, “You know what?
I believe in your music. I’ll give you
a chance without going through the
norm.” For example, if you look at
Eminem’s story, Dr Dre heard about him
through a rap battle and decided to put
him in the studio. In about five seconds
he made, “Hey, my name is who, my
name is what, my name is Slim Shady.” It
seems funny that it happened that way,
but Dr Dre just took that chance, and
I feel that today things aren’t so much
about chance. Everything is more about
analytics and systems; no one actually
takes an opportunity nowadays to say,
“You know what, I’m gonna take a leap
of faith on this person.” I feel that the
person who takes a leap of faith for me,
Yazeed and the team is going to think,
“Wow, this paid off!”
WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE BIGGER THAN
IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?
I will honestly say, I don’t care about
fame. I really don’t. So, I could be as big
as Jay-Z, I could be as big as Lil Wayne,
as big as Eminem, I could be as big as
any of them. But at the end of the day,
it’s more about my team and my family
winning through music, opening up
through music, making opportunities
for people in this world who are so
talented but will never get the right
moment to shine. If you look at Jay-Z,
Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, all those guys use
their music money to open businesses
and become financially rich. Jay-Z is not
worth $1 billion because of his mixtapes
or because of his music. These things
didn’t just open doors for him to invest
money in a certain company or certain
paintings which made millions. For me,
I want to be as big as God allows me
to be.
For me, it’s not really about trying to
touch someone else’s label. I told my

little brother this the other day that
I want to be the first mogul from my
country because Bosnia is a war-torn,
poverty-bound country. No one has
ever seen a millionaire come out of
the country to call them their own. So,
for me, if I reach that status I’ve won.
So, you’ve reached the status you
want to be, what would you do for
your country? What would you do for
the people in your country? You’ve got
it all, everything you’ve wanted. What
would you be doing? What would you
be looking at setting up?
In my country, there are so many
talented people when it comes to
sports, but they don’t have top of
the line sports equipment. They have
a ball, and they’re out there in the
morning in the freezing cold practising
football or basketball up and down
the streets. I think the situation is the
same in Ukraine for Stefan. There are
probably so many talented people,
but they don’t have what the States
have – basketball camps, football
camps, they don’t have that stuff.
If you look at any Bosnian child, they
have to go to school for 20 years, while
the average kid in the States only has
to go to school for 17 years. And after
those 20 years, they have four more
years of university education. So, for
me, becoming a mogul would shine
a light on the country, for people to
be like, “Wow, he came from here.
What else is there?” For example, if
you look at Meek Mill, he’s opened
so many doors for Philadelphia. The
most important thing is to open doors
because people will look at certain
countries and stereotype them and
their people. People will look at
someone like Albert Einstein, crazy
hair, silly moustache, yet arguably one
of the smartest people the world has
seen, but if no one actually took the
time to discover his skills he would
have been just a silly old white guy.
I want people to look at people
like me and think, all he has is one
microphone, all he has is one football,
but he’s out there every day because
that’s all he has time to do.
WHAT’S YOUR BACKUP PLAN, NOT
JUST YOUR BACKUP BUT IT COULD BE
WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD WANT TO DO?
OR EVEN IF YOU’RE MAKING MUSIC,
WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU WANT TO DO
FOR YOURSELF?
I asked a friend this question about
two weeks ago. I asked her what
she wanted to be in life, and she
has a high prestige job here in a big
company in the UAE. She makes a
higher wage than most of our other
friends, but she’s not always happy
when she goes to work. We ask her
all the time what she wants to do,
and she always says, “I don’t know.”
It took me 27 years to actually figure
out that I’m talented in music and
that I have to be doing something
related to music. So, even if it’s not
me personally reaching the level of
stardom, it will still be something to
do in music. I can’t really tell you a
backup plan, because all the other
backup plans that I’ve done have just
been jobs that pay the bills.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU’VE DONE
TO PAY THE BILLS?
I’ve been in management, operations manager,
a coach in little league basketball, a manager
at a coffee shop. I personally trained a few
people in restaurant management, really basic
stuff. Nothing really extravagant.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE
EVER BEEN GIVEN?
I say this to Stefan all the time. When I was
younger, I was walking down a hallway, and
I saw this picture of a basketball hoop and a
basketball laying on the ground, and it said,
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
That’s probably the best advice, and that
course correlates with I guess everyone here.
For example, if you watch the movie
Transformers, there is a scene where Megan
Fox is too scared to get into a car, and Sam
Witwicky tells her, “Fifty years from now, when
you’re looking back at your life, don’t you want
to be able to say you had the guts to get in the
car?” That really resonated with me, because
I know that so many people have dreams, but
they don’t have the heart to do it. Do it. Why
are you so scared? Just do it, you don’t know
what it will be like. If you don’t go skydiving,
you won’t know how it feels. If you don’t pick
up that microphone, you won’t know how it
sounds. If you don’t try this thing in music, how
do we know if it sounds good? For me, that’s
the best advice I think I’ve ever seen in life.
Just do it.
DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF?
Yes.
WHY IS THIS?
Because if you don’t believe in yourself, then
nobody else can believe in you.
There is belief, and then there’s being really
hard on yourself.
You have to be hard on yourself to believe in
yourself. For example, I read somewhere that
Steve Jobs sent something like 12,000 business
proposals to investors, only 1,200 called back,
only 12 sat down with him for a meeting, and
only two invested. Now imagine how other
people feel because they missed out on what
Apple has become. But do you know how hard
Steve Jobs worked? If you read his stuff, you will
know that he put himself under constant stress,
but he believed in himself, he kept going.
Although the numbers might not all be exact,
it’s the concept of that story that I admire. For
me, the situation that I am in right now in music
is just to keep going. For example, earlier in
the month, we had four days off. But I didn’t
want four days off I only wanted two and then
to get back to work. In the end, I didn’t even
have two days off; I just went straight back to
the studio the same night.
This is the same advice for you and for your
magazine. There is someone somewhere in
the world doing the exact same thing as you.
Stefan sent me something on Instagram the
other day, and it said, “In the Bible, sleep
equals poverty to a man.” For me, it’s the
same. I have to be hard on myself every single
day. I have to push myself to do what I have
to do.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR BIGGEST
ACCOMPLISHMENT SO FAR?
Our very first music post ever was seen by
Nicki Minaj. She wrote on her page that my
bar that I rapped is now her favourite rap bar
of all time. For our first music post ever, this
is an incredible achievement. For the Queen
of Rap to say that my bar was her favourite
of all time, and to say that I was one of the
best contestants she’s ever seen, is a major
accomplishment that no one can take away
from me, Stefan, Yazeed, or the team – no one
can take that away from us. So, that’s another
sign of God right there.

HOW DO YOU BUILD ON FROM THAT?
I think the number one thing that we are trying
to do right now is media. We’re trying to get on
a show. We’re trying to be the first team with
unreleased music to rock out the show because
the music is so strong. We want people to say,
“How did this guy get into this club without
having one song released?”
For example, if you look at someone like Nipsy
Hustle, he was selling his CD for $1,000 and
people bought it just to see what it was about.
He made a million dollars of pure profit off of
himself. Other labels would have looked at
him and said he was crazy for selling a CD at
$1,000, but he did it. For me, if I get a huge
club with an unreleased song, people are still
going to wonder how I’m doing it. We’re trying
our own individual approach. I can’t follow the
same route that everyone else has taken. I have
to stay away from it. So, will it work? I don’t
know, but if it does-
If you don’t try, you never know.
Exactly.
WHAT DOES TALENT MEAN TO YOU? WHAT’S
YOUR IDEA OF TALENT?
Talent to me means that even if you don’t like
me, you have to respect me. Talent for me is
one of those things that you are just born with.
Everyone has some kind of talent, but it’s what
you do with it that counts. If you were born
talented as a journalist, what would you do is
to work on that. You have a full-time job and
a seven-year-old, that’s talent, my hat goes off
to you.
Let’s look at your magazine, not just the fact
you write the magazine, but the fact that you
have just been able to juggle those three things
(a full-time job, entrepreneurship and being a
mom). So, for me, talent is the ultimate measure
of making a person respect you. Even if they
don’t like you, they have to respect the talent.
WHERE DO WE FIND YOU?
You will most likely be able to find me on everything
as Minelgc (Minel God’s child) or just Minel, once
we have all the accounts set up.
minelgc
minelgc
Minel
coming soon
coming soon
coming soon

With a modern lifestyle
come big health issues
like pre-diabetes - a prediagnosis
of diabetes
that millions of people
suffer from.
Reasons including lack
of physical activity,
bad diet and highstress
levels could lead
to pre-diabetes.
This pre-diagnosis is
more likely than not a
warning sign of a bigger
problem surfacing – the dreaded
chronic diabetes. It occurs when you
have a higher than normal level of blood
sugar, although not high enough to officially be
diabetes.
Pre-Diabetes
Knowing your
chances
AM I AT RISK?
What are the signs and
symptoms you might be
at risk of developing
diabetes?
Note –
You might not notice
any of these in the prediabetes
stage even if
you have a higher than
normal blood glucose,
but then, you may still
notice them.
• Sudden weight loss even
with high food consumption
• Hungrier than normal
• Frequent urination
• Feeling more tired than normal
• Being thirsty more often
WHY KNOWING YOUR RISK MATTERS?
Knowing your risk of diabetes is important
because it makes you aware of your chances to
develop Type 2 diabetes.
It also puts you in the position to reflect on your
current lifestyle and apply changes to lower
your risk.
With an idea of your risk through a prediagnosis,
you will also be able to prevent it
from developing into Type 2 diabetes.
Addressing overweight issues and eating only
whole foods can get your blood sugar level
back to normal. It will also help to manage
and keep a healthy weight and start a healthy
exercise routine.
By changing your lifestyle here and there, you
can lower your diabetes risk as well as prevent
associated conditions like vision loss, heart
disease, kidney failure and nerve damage.
RISK FACTORS AND COMMON CAUSES
Your body begins having trouble processing
and using insulin, and that’s when pre-diabetes
develop.
Insulin transports glucose into each cell through
the bloodstream. With pre-diabetes, your
body isn’t making enough or not using insulin
correctly; a condition called insulin resistance.
If your body has insufficient insulin supply or is
resistant to it (insulin), it accumulates too much
glucose in your blood, leading to a higher blood
glucose level that may result in pre-diabetes.
The same risk factors occur with pre-diabetes
and Type 2 diabetes. Here are some of them
that you need to know.
GESTATIONAL DIABETES
Did you develop diabetes while pregnant? If
yes, your risk of developing Type 2, later on, is
more likely.

POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME
(PCOS)
This condition is related to insulin
resistance. What’s happening is that
you may be at a higher risk due to
the many cysts, of which some may
be due to insulin resistance, forming
in your ovaries.
LACK OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
This issue is common among those
who are obese or overweight.
People who are not mindful of
their current excess weight can be
at high risk of diabetes, especially
if they do not tend to move much
due to a constant feeling of
sluggishness.
Apart from feeling sluggish, people
with pre-diabetes may also have
lack any kind of physical activity.
This problem is common among
those who are overweight. And
if you’re less active, you can be at
higher risk of pre-diabetes.
AGE
You’re likely to be at a higher risk of
developing pre-diabetes if you’re
older, say above 45 years old.
FAMILY HISTORY
You’re more likely to develop prediabetes
if you have a close family
member who has or has had it
because it has a hereditary factor,
too.
HEALTH CONDITIONS
People with high bad cholesterol
levels or hypertension also have an
increased risk of diabetes.
OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT
Do you have at least a 25 body mass
index? Your chances of developing
Type 2 diabetes are higher , especially
if you have excess visceral fat in your
abdomen. The fat cells in that area
will make you more insulin resistant if
you are already at risk of developing
Type 2 diabetes.
There are some groups who have
higher tendencies to develop
this condition, and a few of them
include Hispanic Americans, African
Americans, Asian Americans and
Native Americans.
HYPOTHYROIDISM
If you have this condition, your body
isn’t circulating enough thyroid
hormones or its thyroid gland is
not functioning well; thus, you can
develop Type 2 diabetes if you also
have pre-diabetes.
TIPS TO AVOID DEVELOPING
DIABETES
Making simple lifestyle changes
is your best bet to prevent the
condition. To begin, here are some
things you can do. You can get
started with them and likely notice
a big difference.

MAKE TIME FOR EXERCISE. There is no
excuse, no matter how busy you are. If you
have pre-diabetes, you can still prevent it from
becoming diabetes by incorporating moderate
physical activity into your life.
Even if it’s just 10 or 30 minutes a day, a few
options include swimming, riding a bike or
brisk walking. But if you have an underlying
condition, consult your doctor about a safe
exercise for you.
EAT HEALTHILY. Stick with a healthy diet
plan, and add foods like whole grains, fruits
and vegetables to your diet. You can also
think about adding lean protein sources, like
chicken or fish.
REDUCE YOUR CALORIE INTAKE. Try
having small servings instead of splurging in
calories in one sitting. You must also drink
water instead of sugary drinks.
ARE YOU OVERWEIGHT? Strive and work
hard to lose weight. You can prevent or delay
it by simply losing seven percent of your
weight.
Weight loss does more than make you looking
fab. It also reduces your risk of developing
many other conditions like a heart attack, high
blood pressure and high cholesterol.
PRE-DIABETES IS PREVENTABLE
When diagnosed earlier, it is not likely to
develop into Type 2 diabetes or make you
susceptible to more issues like obesity and
heart attack. If you want to prevent prediabetes,
you can start making simple lifestyle
changes like adding exercise, planning your
diet and reducing your calorie intake. Live a
healthy lifestyle and prevent pre-diabetes!

What You Need to Know About
(and Recipes)
Healthy eating is a significant part of life because
it may keep us away from diseases, prolong our
lifespan and give us more zest.
One diet that’s been around for years and has been
helping others achieve great health is the glutenfree
diet.
Chances are you’re also interested in glutenfree
eating. That may be a good move if you
cannot tolerate gluten, which leaves you feeling
uncomfortable. Why might you be into
gluten-free eating?
DIGESTIVE RELIEF
This diet can help because it may relieve digestive
issues, including constipation, bloating, diarrhoea,
fatigue and gas.
WEIGHT LOSS
And the more good news is that a gluten-free diet
may also help you lose weight. The reason is
that it could help eliminate junk foods and unwanted
calories from your diet. Instead, they’re replaced by
lean protein, vegetables and fruit.
In this diet, however, you should avoid processed
gluten-free stuff like pastries, cakes and snacks,
because these can quickly add calories to your diet.
ENERGY BOOST
And if you’re always feeling bogged down by the
things that life throws at you, help might just be
around the corner with gluten-free recipes that we’ll
discuss later. With a gluten-free diet, you’ll feel less
tired and experience fewer brain fog episodes.
So, how do you get started with gluten-free
eating? Coming up are some easy gluten-free
recipes that you should try at home.
Other benefits
• It may also be for you if you’re suffering from
celiac disease in which your body is harming itself
by mistake.
• It can also help you deal with inflammation,
which is a process that helps to treat and heal
infection, but when it goes out of hand, it can
become chronic and can lead to various problems.

GLUTEN-FREE
Here is the link: Rice Bread
Check it out on this link
for the recipe.

Use this video for a quick
and easy recipe.
Check out this dairy-free and
gluten-free lasagna here.
Here is the link for Rolls

Check out this link for the recipe.
Watch this video for ways to make
this honey butter chicken.
TIPS FOR A GLUTEN-FREE DIET
Check the label when shopping for food to determine
if there is any gluten in the list of ingredients.
Talk to your family and friends and tell them about
your special diet. This way, they won’t be surprised
if you order gluten-free food when you eat out.
You should plan ahead to avoid running out of
options (and gluten-free food in your fridge!). The
same goes if you’re going overseas or travelling
soon. You might want to check some places to shop
or eat gluten-free food.
Get a gluten-free cookbook for inspiration on more
gluten-free recipes. They can make your new diet
more exciting and interesting.
Bring food when going outside. If you want to save
up, you might want to make recipes ahead of time
like gluten-free pasta and bread. It will also save you
from the stress of finding gluten-free food choices.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Trying a new diet like gluten-free eating can be
exciting (and rewarding if done right). For this reason,
it’s best that you complete thorough research, plan
ahead, and watch the foods you’re eating closely.
DISCLAIMER
This article is not to replace a GP’s advice but only a reference. You must consult your doctor prior to starting a gluten-free diet just
like any other diet for that matter. After all, it’s your safety that should come first. Also, there is no one diet fits all rule anywhere. Thus,
you should pay your doctor a visit and consult him about a gluten-free diet, and only at his green light should you start the diet plan.

15 Foods to
and How They
Do It
When it comes to dieting, the words
“moderation” and “portion control”
are the ones that come into our
minds and can commonly be found
in articles, guides and tutorials to
lose weight or stay healthy.
But there’s more to them than
limiting our food intake. They can
also speed up weight loss and give
us better results in our efforts to
stay healthy.
However, for those who are new to
this whole fitness and dieting thing,
following these two principles may
be difficult. In fact, beginners often
fail to cut back on their food intake
due to the feeling of hunger. But
there’s actually a secret.
There are certain foods that can
make you feel fuller for longer, but
have none of the extra calories that
we want to avoid in the first place!
So the next time you’re reaching
for that bag of chips or cake, you
might want to snack on these foods
instead.
Foods that Can Fool Hunger

1. Eggs
Starting your day with a scrambled or sunnyside-up
egg will keep you satiated until lunch.
The reason why? Eggs are packed with about six
grams of protein in every serving. They also have
amino acids and antioxidants that will keep your
body energised longer.
2. Avocados
Avocados have healthy mono-saturated fat that
keeps you feeling full for longer while keeping
your blood vessels and heart in tip-top shape.
They are also rich in fibre and protein. Keep in
mind though that avocado packs many calories.
So, you’d be better off to just snack on half of the
fruit.
3. Lentils and Legumes
Legumes were considered as a dietary no-no back
in the day since they were high in fat and calories.
But like avocadoes, they provide the good kind.
A mixture of lentils and legumes provides a good
amount of protein, carbs and healthy fats that
stabilise and maintain your blood sugar.
4. Oatmeal
Oatmeal is another breakfast staple for many, and
for good reasons! Oatmeal is packed with protein
and soluble and insoluble fibre to keep you fuller
for longer. This is because fibre takes a lot longer
for your body to break down, keeping your blood
sugar stable. However, stick to the plain ones and
just add your own toppings such as fruit, nuts, etc.

5. Soups
Slurping the soup before a meal is actually a
good choice, especially for those looking to lose
weight.
This is because soups have high water content
and if they’re full of veggies, then they’re high
in fibre as well. However, make sure to stick to
broth-based ones, as creamy soups tend to be
high in calories and fat.
6. Vegetables
Of course, along with fruits, veggies provide the
backbone of every diet. In fact, adding vegetables
like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower,
cabbage, kale, and the like into your diet will
benefit you in the end. These greens have loads
of fibre and nutrients that can keep diseases like
cancer away.
Moreover, they are low in calories so, there’s
basically no limit on their serving. They can be
used in numerous dishes or can be served as a
side dish. Bonus, you can also throw them in a
blender and make a smoothie!
7. Greek Yoghurt
Greek yoghurt is a powerhouse filled with calcium
and protein while being low in calories and sugar.
In fact, a typical ounce serving has 15-20 grams of
protein, which is roughly the same amount found
in lean meats.
Yoghurt also provides the right amount of flavour
for it to be hearty. I say go for the plain ones and
go crazy on them by adding toppings such as
fruits, nuts or dark chocolate.
8. Fruits
Fruits are an excellent choice to add fibre and
other nutrients to your meal. They are packed
with pectin which can especially help you with
your diet as it takes longer for your body to digest
and keeps you satiated longer.
Fruits with high pectin and fibre content include
apples, raspberries, pears, bananas, blackberries
and the like.

13. Whey Protein Powder
Whey protein is linked to satiety and fewer calorie
intake since it is packed with protein. Use the
powder to add protein to your smoothies.
Whey protein can also be found in milk, cottage
cheese and yoghurt.
14. Dark Chocolate
Some of us can’t live without chocolate. It’s a
good thing there’s a healthy option too.
Dark chocolate is known to increase feelings of
satiety and help curb cravings. It is also chock-full
of magnesium and regulates blood pressure as
well as provides protection to the brain and heart.
15. Water
Last but not least is water! Again, the feeling
of dehydration can be mistaken for hunger. So,
before reaching that snack, try to drink a glass of
water and wait for ten minutes to know if you’re
really hungry or not.
With all the food listed, you are now set to create
and consume your healthy meals. Of course,
adding these foods can help you with your diet
and weight loss.
However, aside from this, you should also
remember always to practise portion control and
eat in moderation. These foods that fool hunger
are definitely good for you, but you are unlikely to
lose weight if you overeat and do not implement
a plan in mind.
Nevertheless, tweaking your diet here and
there, scheduling eating times, and consuming
only healthy stuff will all help you achieve your
#fitnessgoals.

CAN TEA
HELP TO
IMPROVE
FITNESS?

Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world after
water. In fact, the world’s consumption is predicted to grow
15% over the period between 2016 to 2021.
There is no doubt why. This super drink is not only refreshing
during stressful days and warming through chilly nights but
also has daily fitness improving qualities.
For centuries, tea has also been a great source of comfort
and medication. With a chock full of benefits, it is also a
favourite among health and fitness buffs. But can it really
improve fitness? Is it really good for you?
TOP 10 AMAZING FITNESS BENEFITS OF TEA
The underappreciated beverage has turned out to be a great
sports performance drink. Here’s why. Beyond health, tea is
also sports and performance-enhancing – but the natural
way. Athletes who want to play better sip tea instead of any
other beverage like coffee or soda. Let’s discuss more in the
following.
1. HYDRATION
Keep your cells hydrated! It is
one of the things to remember
if you want to improve your
workouts. Or else, dehydration
knocks at the door and
impedes performance. It also
leads to problems like fatigue
and cramps.
So if you don’t want to end
up on the bench in sports,
you should keep your cells
hydrated with tea, which has
the same hydrating properties
as water. It can help improve
performance, not to mention
it has a refreshing flavour but
without sugar.

2. (NOT TOO MUCH) STIMULATION
Athletes and fitness seekers drink tea versus
soda because the latter is loaded with sugar,
additives and caffeine.
Tea has mild stimulating properties, just enough
to keep you going but without causing crashes
– like what sugar does.
Prevent crashes which also come from coffee’s
caffeine, with tea instead. Even if it has caffeine,
it has lower amounts versus what coffee has.
Tea can help you stay stimulated for an early
morning workout or sports practice, and keep
you feeling energised to face the rest of the
day.
As a tip, you can drink green tea after practice
for rehydration. So, you can raise your
awareness levels, especially on days when you
need to get through and overcome pressure.
Get that extra push in performance! Drink tea
with just the right amount of caffeine, which is
one of the most proven performance enhancers
in the world.
3. ENDURANCE
Green tea extract can stimulate lipid use and
improve endurance capacity. In terms of stamina
and endurance, tea can help in improving fatty acid
utilisation as an energy source that encourages
metabolic capacity increase.
And during aerobic activity, green tea, in particular,
can improve your performance due to increased
endurance.
Contributing to this action is the increase in one’s
ability to burn fat as fuel. It turns out that green tea
can also help to increase body composition and
prioritising fat storage over glycogen.

4. HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Working out and being active can
make you feel exhausted and sick
from time to time, especially if you
don’t have a strong immune system.
To prevent this from happening, you
must learn how to improve fitness,
and one of the best ways to do that
is regular tea consumption.
Tea is a potent source of antioxidants,
particularly catechins. They aid in
cancer prevention as well as lower
the risk of cardiovascular disease
and osteoporosis.
In addition, tea helps in lowering bad
cholesterol levels and increasing
dental health. This wonder drink
can also prevent diabetes, improve
focus and energy and manage
weight.
5. MUSCLE STRENGTH
Inflammation due to oxidative stress
is a common concern among fitness
enthusiasts because it can deteriorate
bone and muscle health over time.
Whenever you work out, you add more
stress to your bones and muscles, which
holds back your strength.
Exercise causes stress to the body,
which has to take on more of it as you
push harder.
Over time, your strength builds up due
to that added stress! However, you
should take care of your body, which
accumulates stress and suffers from
inflammation while you’re in progress.
For this reason, learn to add healthy
habits like drinking tea known for its
polyphenols compounds that aid in
productive workouts and improved
body shape.

7. FOCUS
Improve and sharpen your focus with
tea, such as sage tea, which can also
support the nervous and neural system
function as well as improve blood
circulation to the brain. To keep track of
your reps and sets, drink rosemary tea
for improved memory.
6. RECOVERY
Post-workout soreness is a challenge
among athletes, powerlifters, runners
and fitness seekers, so they need
recovery.
If you want to reduce recovery time,
you should drink tea that can do that
for you. Otherwise, you might not
achieve faster gains, which are only
possible with a faster recovery.
Green tea, in smaller doses, can
help reduce chronic fatigue. Both
green and white teas neutralise free
radicals, which exercise can produce,
and enhance the immune system.

8. BONE HEALTH
You don’t just achieve strong bones
by drinking milk but also tea, which
can help to prevent bone loss
related to ageing.
Certain studies have shown that it
could support osteoblastic activities
and bone mineral density. It could
also reduce bone fracture risk and
help in bone formation.
9. WEIGHT LOSS
Reach your workout goals faster by
incorporating tea, which can help you
manage or lose weight in your fitness
regimen! As a result, you’ll lose weight
faster because tea can aid in metabolism
and burn more calories.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Tea can help improve fitness, health and wellness.
Adding it to your fitness routine, workouts and sports
practices can up your performance, improve motivation,
and enhance overall results. It can also calm you down,
improve bone and oral health, and strengthen the
immune system. Start reaping all these benefits by
incorporating tea in your diet today!
10. RELAXATION
Sip your tea and calm down after
a tiring fitness regimen. It can help
you relax, boost brain dopamine
levels, and increase motivation.
Tea boosts dopamine supply in
brain areas that need it the most.
It’s beneficial for your creativity,
performance and mood.
Dopamine aids in transmitting
motivation and reward signals
aside from relaxing the muscles and
aiding them to move smoothly.

Glitter, Sparkles
& Tears of Joy!
We are all about making your celebrations truly shine. This family
business, started right here in Dubai, is passionate about celebrations,
from surprise engagements to weddings, baby showers to birthdays,
adding a personalised touch to your special occasion. Our fully
customised, reusable cake toppers are our signature product and
started it all. Life is a celebration, the more you celebrate your life, the
more there is in life to celebrate - join the Party!
Follow us on Social Media
@_the_party
the party
hello@theparty.ae

Yummy Mommy is a
recurring feature in the
wellness section of Out and
About STYLE Magazine that
serves to shine a spotlight
on the supermoms who
combine raising a family with
their own career and life
goals – and look FABULOUS
while doing it.
Balancing it All
Name: Jennifer Stelco
Age: 32
Marital Status: Married
Number of children:
3 kids ( 3 months, 2 and 3.5)

1. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF
I’m an Australian artist and have been
living in Dubai for nine years. I was once a
full-time painter, churning out a painting
almost every day. Now that I have three
small kids, I paint in the evenings and
during nap time as commissions come
up. I love sports (mainly netball and horse
riding), walking my dogs, gardening,
sketching, going to bed early, eating
breakfast out, and reading. My idea of a
wild night out is a book club with wine or
catching a show at the Dubai opera.
2. HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN FIT?
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO LIVE A
HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE?
I haven’t always been fit. I was briefly fit
in high school when I was in the rowing
team, then stopped all forms of exercise
from the age of 16 and didn’t start up
again until I got involved in the netball
community when I first came to Dubai
in 2010, initially just to meet people. I
then signed up for women’s’ rugby for a
season which came with a lot of fitness
training. One day a netball friend asked
me to join a team of runners in the Wadi
Bih race, and from there I’ve always done
some form of running or working out,
aside from when I’ve been pregnant.
3. DESCRIBE WHAT YOU’RE DOING
TO STAY OR GET IN SHAPE? HOW
OFTEN ARE YOU WORKING OUT
AND FOR WHAT DURATION?
I work out a lot. I walk my dogs for 30
minutes every night after my kids go to
bed. I also try to go for a short run on
weekends, do one postnatal fitness class
a week, and I see a personal trainer twice
a week. I’m only managing a 3 km run
at the moment as I’m only 3.5 months
postnatal, but ultimately I would like to
be able to run 10 km within an hour. It
takes a long time to get back to that
point after having a baby!
4. WHAT IS YOUR DIET LIKE?
My diet is pretty standard; I eat three
or four meals a day. For dinner, I have
been using Hello Chef, which is great,
selecting mostly low carb meals that I
think my kids will eat. I avoid sugar and
carbs whenever possible but not always.
I try to remember to drink loads of water,
and aside from water, only drink sugarless
tea or americanos. Having said that, on
special occasions or after a hard week, I
love a few wines. My major weakness is
Cheetos. The rule that I live by is always
having a huge glass of water before I eat
anything, even if it’s just a light snack.

5. HOW DO YOU STAY MOTIVATED?
I stay motivated by using a fitness tracking
watch and attempting to reach a certain
amount of calories burned every day. Also,
by having a training buddy who shares my
PT sessions.
6. DO YOU HAVE ANY MENTAL TRICKS
THAT YOU USE WHEN YOU JUST DON’T
FEEL LIKE WORKING OUT?
No. If I really just don’t feel like it that much
- I don’t. Skipping a workout every so often
is fine. Sometimes it’s more important to
rest.
7. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR
MOMS WHO SAY THEY DON’T HAVE
TIME FOR EXERCISE?
Get a Fitbit or Apple watch or something
similar and turn it into a game, making sure
you get X amount of points per day or week.
You’ll start looking for exercise where you
didn’t before. Parking further away, taking
the stairs, carrying heavy loads, playing
more actively with the kids, etc.
8. THINGS YOU’VE YOU TRIED AND
HATED—DIETS AND WORKING OUT?
I hate any form of dieting that makes me
hungry, like calorie counting or fasting.
Also, working out alone doesn’t work for
me. I like to be with a friend or in a class;
otherwise I slack off.
9. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE TIPS
TO HELP WOMEN GET INTO SHAPE
POST-PREGNANCY?
• Get a fitness tracking watch.
• Work out with a buddy so that it’s more
fun and seems like a better use of your rare
“me time.” Also, you’re less likely to cancel
if you’re letting a friend down.
• Set achievable goals, like losing 2-3 kg
per month. It doesn’t seem like much at the
time but then six months pass, and you’ve
lost 12 kg, which is amazing. Also, it leaves
room for relaxing and indulging a bit.

-Kendria R. Johnson
Step one: Research all the cities you want to see in
Italy.
Step two: Make an impossible list of ALL the things
you want to do in Italy.
Step three: Arrive in Italy and throw away your list.

ROMA, ITALIA (ROME, ITALY)
I wanted to explore Italy on my own terms. I wanted
to get lost in this country. I wanted my visit to be
intentional but sporadic at the same time. I had 21 days
to make this experience authentic and meaningful, so
when I arrived in Rome, I discarded my list and went
with my gut. I had to discard the preconceived order
of things that I wanted in order to enjoy the journey
instead of being fixated on checking things off on a list.
I prepaid for my hotels in Rome, but I cancelled other
hotels in certain areas and literally booked hotels based
on places I wanted to go. With my new itinerary, I could
trust the travel gods to lead me in the right direction.
My list included Sorrento, Capri, Naples, Positano, and
the entire Amalfi Coast. However, on my second day in
Rome, I knew I could only do one part of Italy, so I chose
the North; Florence, Pisa, Venice, Siena, Milan and Lake
Como.
The best advice I have for virgin travellers to this country
is to listen to local people or, if you have friends who
have been to the country before, take any and all advice
seriously. While purchasing your first train ticket in the
heart of Rome, as soon as you choose the language to
make the purchase, the kiosk recording actually says,
“Beware of pickpockets.” I think that being aware
makes it easier to avoid unpleasant situations. I was very
careful where I placed my bags and even more careful
about what was in my peripheral vision. Another good
piece of advice is to not pay for private transportation
to populated areas when trains and buses can take you
there for a fraction of the price. For instance, taxis are
convenient but not cheap. I paid 48 euros for my ride
from the airport. Trains to and from the airport are 14
euros. I paid 13-18 euros for each trip to central Florence
before I learned how to ride the local transportation
for two euros. Local buses and light rail trains are the
cheapest and day passes are the best value. You can
travel within the country to almost any major city in Italy
for less than 99 euros by train. I can attest that the coach
seats on the train feel exactly the same as first-class and
business seats.
Surprisingly, you can be your own travel agent for Italy.
You just need a good sense of who you are and a general
idea of things you want to do. For example, if you are
a wine connoisseur, a history buff, or a lover of art and
architecture, Italy has everything you could desire. Use
third-party hotel booking websites that provide free
cancellations and NO deposit to book hotel rooms.
Befriend a local merchant. In a few of the older boutique
hotels I stayed in, you have to return your hotel keys
when you leave for the day. While exchanging my keys,
I rambled excessively what I wanted to see while in
Rome. For instance, I knew that the Colosseum in Rome

was the first thing on my agenda. The locals
were quick to advise me to stay clear of scams,
tourist traps, fake leather shops and inflated
local restaurant prices. They told me where the
best cafes are and the less expensive ways to
“taste” local wines without paying for a glass.
There are multiple tour companies that provide
you with any type of tour you desire; walking
tours, skip-the-line tours and exploration to
parts unknown tours. Rome was not built in a
day, but you can definitely see most of it in
a van with air conditioning if you so choose.
If you are a planner, there are many websites
where you can book tours ahead of your trip.
Or if you’re a last-minute Betty like me, you can
walk up to any kiosk and book a tour. If your
list includes the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel,
Pompei, or Naples, there are specific tours or
bulk tours that can get your boxes checked. Be
prepared for long lines, the wait and vagrants
that want to sell you everything! For foodies,
you will love the idea of cooking classes which
are like pop-up shops, so check the web or ask
a local for the best ones in the area.
Nightlife in Italian culture all depends on what
you desire. I passed several nightclubs where
you could hear music from a mile away, but I
prefer drinking wine in cafes and bars after a
night at the theatre. at St. Mark’s Church hosts
La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, and
other favourites playing May through October.
Prices vary and can run up to 100 euros
depending on the seats. I attended a ballet in
the city for 25 euros. The following evening,
I was serenaded by the Three Tenors in the
Auditorium of Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio,
an old church converted into a theatre east
of Florence. I splurged on front row VIP seats
for 55 euros and was actually selected for an
impromptu waltz by one of the lead opera
stars! It was the highlight of my weekend.
To sum up my 21 days of exploring Italy, I got
everything I wanted even if it was not on ‘the
list.’ I enjoyed the impromptu experiences the
most. I ate the best food Italy has to offer, rode
trains through Bologna, Padova, San Giovanni
and collected more sunsets from my hotel
balcony in Florence. I cancelled my hotel in
Milan because the Italians said that, “Milan is
for shopping, not for a visit.” My last lesson
to share is to come to Italy with a plan but be
prepared to deviate from that plan. I was glad
I discarded my list because just like my friend

said, “You have to visit Italy in parts, and you have to
go more than once! Because there is so much to see,
you will get lost.” I was glad I made the trip and can’t
wait to get lost in Italy again sometime in the future.
FLORENCE (FIRENZE)
Firenze, in Italian, is the place where you get the best
of both worlds. You see an immaculate city sprawled
between amazing hilltops, while the rolling countryside
is half an hour away. In one bus ride, you find the best
vineyards, hiking trails, ancient ruins, church cathedrals,
or seascapes this country inhabits. I judge the life of a
city by the heartbeat
of its city centre.
The busier and more
crowded the centre,
the stronger the
heartbeat. Once you
arrive, you will quickly
feel the vibration
beating in Pienza!
TUSCANY VIA
SIENA, SAN
GIMIGNANO, PISA
Tuscany is a must for
any traveller simply
because it represents
what locals call “Old
Italy” while new cities
like Milan are more
modern and upbeat.
If you are a “lazy”
traveller like me, I
enjoy long walks and
bike tours that engage
me in the best view
of the mountains,
green trees and
vineyards. Travelling
with an asthma pump,
antihistamines and
nasal spray is what
kept me stable enough to enjoy trees stoked inside
the mountains. Living in the desert for four years,
you forget what green looks like. The vistas of the
mountains that backdropped the clouds and a pristine
blue sky were worth the risk of an allergy flare-up for
me.
Siena is a small village in Tuscany, and I was drawn
there by befriending a local cook at my hotel. She
described it as an old town with fewer people. She
almost made me think it was a secret village when she
whispered it to me over breakfast. I spent less than
six euros on a bus tour and was glad I listened that
morning. The greenery literally takes your breath away.
Pisa is not as elaborate as Florence or Rome, but if
the Leaning Tower of Pisa is on your list, then, by all
means, get your obligatory picture holding up the
tower. It costs extra to go into the tower but again it’s
up to you and what you want from the experience. I
wasn’t at all interested in getting the picture that 1.3
million tourists get every year. Instead, I opted to get
the best gelato and buy a new bag.
The village of San Gimignano is a Medieval town tucked
quietly in the heart of Tuscany. If you love history and
antiques, this will be a good place to shop. Most of
your tour guides are
multilingual but check
the fine print to make
sure before you book.
VENICE (VENEZIA)
Venezia in Italian
was an optional
excursion before I
arrived in Italy. Due to
preconceived images
in my head, I thought
I already knew what
was there because of
television and movies
I decided to take the
train for a day trip and
confirm what I already
thought I knew. I’m
proud to confirm that
my suspected images
were correct. Venice
is magical! When I
first arrived, I saw
the most beautiful
cathedral right next
to the train station,
the Church of Saint
Maria (La Iglesias
de Santa Maria de
Nazaret.) I went
inside to understand what the lines were for and the
architecture, the paintings, the crisp spiritual statues of
the Arch Angels made me gasps and swoon. Although
it could have been the heat, I still say it was the beauty
of the building that gave me life.
The city on water is epically breathtaking! Transportation
around the city varies, but it is the best way to get a
complete visual of Venice. The gondolas are private
tours, water taxis take you to specific places, while
water buses take large groups to general locations
around the city. Do what fits your budget and tastes. I
landed inside a café by the centre, where I had the best

lasagne of my entire life. Most
times, we are underwhelmed
when reality meets anticipation,
but for this city in the sea, I was
not disappointed.
LAKE COMO
The best scenery I was enamoured
within northern Italy was a city
along a lake, Lake Como. I was
lost in the mountains by the lake.
You would find yourself distracted
in this city, not knowing where
your time went. For example, I
went to Bellagio for a quick lunch
and day trip. The ferry ran every
hour; some ran every half an hour.
I squandered the day before
I realised that I only had two
ferries left to catch before it was
dinner time. I missed one trying
to purchase souvenirs, so I sat by
the water in a hook around the
hill from the ferry stop. I gazed
a long while before realizing that
45 minutes had passed, and my
ferry was about to depart. It’s that
easy to get lost in the cinematic
beauty of the lake. Visiting is a
must for travellers who want a
break from the big, fast city.
MILAN
I was not excited to leave Lake
Como. Maybe it was the sadness
of it being my last three days in
Italy that broke me or maybe it
was just getting lost in downtown
Milan. I spent my last day in Italy
crying in a metro station because
I wasn’t on the right train. The
lost in translation conversation
steered me towards the wrong
stop in the wrong direction, so I
went one hour trying to find my
way back to Central Station. I am
usually very confident and travel
savvy, but it was hot, I was tired,
and I didn’t eat breakfast that
day. I don’t think my neurons
were firing correctly. I cried for
almost fifteen minutes before a
bus driver gave me the “correct”
route to get back to the middle
of the city. The moral of this
encounter is that you have to
pay close attention to details
before you leave your comfort
zone. Research your maps, train
schedules and bus routes options
before checking out of your
hotel. Get all your train tickets
and flight info before you pack
and have to drag your luggage
and hour and a half in the wrong
direction in the middle of a hot
Italian summer.
I love Italy.
Ciao
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kendria R. Johnson is a
teacher, traveller, public
speaker, author, mother and
life coach.
Her mission in life is to
motivate, to inspire, teach,
and to leave this as a legacy.
A recently self-published
author, her memoir, “Fat
Meat Ain’t Greasy,” tells the
story of her strength, struggle
and strives for achievement.
“I want my life to mean
something and to let anyone
who knew me understand
God and the power of His
love through my time here on
Earth.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide
TO TRAVELLING THE WORLD.
BY: JUHU REZNICKOVA

I started my travel adventure about four-and-ahalf
years ago when a friend asked me if I wanted
to go to a hitchhiking championship. Until then, I
had given hitchhiking a try once in Spain, without
success. I have always enjoyed doing weird
and funny things like riding the subway with no
pants on, giving out free hugs or dancing with
random people. Me saying yes to a hitchhiking
championship was a start of something marvellous
in my life. We were supposed to hitchhike from
Prague, The Czech Republic to Athens, Greece
and complete some challenges on the way such
as cooking a local meal or milking a sheep. My
friend and I have hitchhiked from Prague to
Athens and back (4.500km) in five-and-a-half
days, which made us the winners. Since then, I
knew this would become my passion and later
my lifestyle. I took part in nine travel competitions
since then and won four of them such as Swiss
hitchhiking championship, Low-Cost race or
Hungarian championship in hitchhiking. It
created the most amazing memories I could have
ever hoped for. That’s why I decided to go on a
trip around the world. I have been travelling for
eight months now without a break and in total
have visited about 63 countries.
It took me on a journey of hitchhiking planes,
boats, police cars, trains, soldiers, firefighters,
even piloting a plane or a subway. The journey
of hitchhiking through 14 countries with a 2kg
bag in 10 just days, made me a yes woman -
saying yes to any question and doing all sorts
of adventures even when I didn’t feel like it at
first. I ended up dying my hair, attending over
20 foreign weddings, christenings, seeing
awesome festivals all over the world, fishing,
dancing on stage with famous bands or dancing
on top of trucks, cooking at a Michelin star
restaurant, tracking gorillas in Africa, hitchhiking
an armoured transport vehicle, and even a
freaking hot air balloon in Malaysia! I have also
survived a boat catastrophe when the engine
stopped working as well as the boat’s helmet in
the middle of the sea.
I slept in the most amazing places you could
imagine, countless rooftops, police stations, in
prison, on farms, at the houses of locals, in cars,
by the road, in tents. I woke up at gas stations,
near river banks, on boats, planes, or to a llama
looking straight into my face. I have been to
luxury villas as well as the houses of the poorest
people. I have slept at a bakery in Georgia or
different beaches around the world.

I volunteered in various parts of
Africa and helped to establish sex
education as a curriculum subject
in a school in Tanzania. I have
volunteered at an elephant shelter
in Sri Lanka, constructed buildings
in Malaysia, taught English to adults
in Thailand and helped with social
media in Laos. At the moment I am
volunteering at a hostel in Osaka,
Japan, with the most amazing
people from all around the world.
I still have many dreams to fulfil
ahead of me. Such as riding
an ostrich, hitchhiking a NASA
spacecraft or a submarine.
The reason I blog about everything
is to show people the possibilities
they have. To demonstrate that they
themselves can go out there and
live their lives to the fullest. That
they can also be living their dreams.
I try to motivate my followers to
step out of their comfort zones,
show them that travelling does not
necessarily require tons of money
and help them take the first steps in
their hitchhiking stories.
I believe that anything is possible as
long as you just go after it and don’t
give up at the first signs of failure.
Even after failing for the 20th time,
you still keep on trying, and it just
WILL work out the way you want.
About the Author
Juhu Reznickova is a 28-year-old teacher
who earned a Bachelor’s degree in English
Language, Literature and Pedagogy and
a Masters in Pedagogy from Charles
University.
She enjoys travelling, making videos,
taking pics and motivating others. She is
also a big cat lover. Jahu speaks English,
Czech and Spanish.
Follow Jahu’s journey around the world
Instagram: @gingerthunder_kolemsveta
Website: www.gingerthunder.cz
Facebook: Ginger Thunder Travels

OF PERSONAL
REINVENTION
AND THE
MILLENNIAL
WOMAN

Reinvention – aptly described by a quick Google search
as “the action or process through which something is
changed so much that it appears to be entirely new.”
Today’s millennial woman is seemingly always looking
for something to change about herself as prompted by
key learnings from what I like to call “adulting.” Our
microwave generation wants what it wants now, and
all that we want must come sprinkled with all forms of
glitter and the promise of emancipation from whatever’s
plaguing us.
Who doesn’t want the high that comes with experiencing
new things, new beginnings and momentous
celebrations that have us snapping our fingers and
screaming “Yaaas!!!” every which way we turn!? Let’s
face it; the utopian woman is currently basking in the
endless euphoria of being hugely exposed to more
opportunities to redesign our lives than ever before – if
only we believe this to be true for us!
A few years ago, I made the intentional decision to
change my life – completely – because quite frankly, I
was done doing life on the mediocre train. My career,
my social capital (the friendship circle), the endless
ideas milling through my mind waiting on me to make
decisions for when to execute them, the country I was
going to live in – all of it. I wanted a change, and I
wanted it as early as I could get it – legally.
You know how it goes; we want to get rid of stretch
marks after rapid weight loss or post-delivery, and
so we find ourselves in the skincare aisle at the
neighbourhood supermarket, trying to figure out
whether the concentrated cocoa butter or aloe vera will
do.
For someone else, maybe it’s a quest for global
exploration and holidaying at exotic destinations
because these travel blogs and influencer Instagram
pages really have a way of making us wish we could
pack a bag and venture out to places uncharted at
the blink of an eye and the swipe of a credit card.
Nevermind the “10 tips to getting him to fall in love
with you” blogs that populate our feeds the minute
we hit “sign-in” to whichever platform tickles our
fancy. Someone is always feeding us images that
capture the imagination and peddling our ideas
of how we should look, feel, what we should
eat and what’s the coolest fad to absorb in our
current season. But what do we want? What
do we really want, and how do we get it?
We want to love and be loved, to enjoy
doors swinging wide open in every
building we dare enter, to catch
flights and not feelings, to be able
to pursue whatever endeavour
and the why. But we also know that life is one of those
funny things that we don’t always have control over.
Situations get complicated. People can be weird. The
coins don’t stretch longer than the month runs… and
so on. When all is said, and done and the pages have
been turned, we are still to ask ourselves how positive
change can happen for us for the better.
Why is it important to actively pursue reward and
comprehension of our needs so that we can be
better? How much grind will it take before we can truly
experience a fast-evolving yet exciting life characterised
by authentic, transformational experiences that have us
smiling at ourselves because well… life is good.
As a Publicist and Communications Strategist, beyond
helping corporates raise their brand equity, I get to
work with many aspiring female entrepreneurs who
carry numerous ideas but aren’t sure about how getting
started will impact them. Mentoring young women
challenges me to draw from the mistakes I made in
my younger years of thinking that if I dreamed a thing
without particularly fighting for it, it would eventually
come to pass. In our sessions, I provoke them to think
through a host of questions that should help them
understand their motives for wanting to redesign their
lives – or brands.
“How do I reinvent myself?”
“What does a do-over mean for me?”
“Who’s staying behind and who’s joining me on the
transitional road ahead?”
How long will this process take and what are the
outcomes for such drastic changes?”
So many questions. Allow me to share my five
overtly basic tips for getting it together and pursuing
reinvention in your life and/or your hustle.

1. Changing oneself requires a great deal of introspection
and acceptance of the things that you aren’t particularly chuffed
about.
You can’t change what you don’t confront. Losing that weight won’t
happen for you until you accept that you no longer fit in those size
six jeans you wore all through your 20s. If you’re going at your 8-5
with minimal enthusiasm, perhaps it may be a good time to think
about whether you really enjoy your job, and if not, asking yourself
the reasons for staying. Is the money worth the misery? Could it be
an outlook thing or a departmental transfer that may get you back
on track to actually liking where you are spending 8-10 hours a day?
You get where I’m going with this.
2. Your life’s reinvention will involve sacrifice. No boxer ever
won a fight without hours and hours of training. Any CEO will tell
you about the tens of thousands of hours it took them to reach the
top. This is before they get into how, after reaching the top, they
realise that it’s quite lonely up there and carries a great deal of
responsibility. Eeek! Getting out of debt will require you to cut the
brunches and get off the online stores. Change requires sacrifice;
sacrifice breeds victory! Are you willing to suffer for a little while to
reach your finish line?

3. Own your mess; rewrite your narrative. I struggled to get
myself together because I blamed everything and everyone for the
stuff I wasn’t happy about. If it wasn’t the economy it was the political
situation in my country which affected the economy, which resulted in
my being out here as a Zimbabwean living far away from my family and
missing birthdays and so on. Yeah…eventually, excuses should run out.
That’s what being a grown-up means. It means owning the mess we
find ourselves in and rewriting our story through the actions we take
to get out from under our excuses and self-pity. Own your mess and
consider the points I made in my first point. Accept and introspect.
4. Of social capital and choosing your connections wisely. There
are a bunch of people milling around and doing life with no plan. Don’t
be found among them. Social audits are critical for ascertaining who
in your life are dead weight, mooches, motivators and cultivators of
your gifts. As the adage goes, if you catch yourself the smartest one
in a group – #EVERY.SINGLE.TIME – it may be time cut and replace.
Nurture relationships that allow your brightest light to shine while you
too make a difference in the lives of the people you are connected to.
If it is to do with your business, be clear about who you will take on
as clients and what business is good to walk away from. Yes, we need
people, but we can’t serve everyone effectively all the time. There is
also such a thing as bad business, and it usually has sketchy people
behind it.

5. Lights, camera, action! My profession has me
enjoying the arduous task of putting together plans for
the brands we present, listing our set of objectives before
formulating our strategy. Basically, the “what” and the
“how” are quintessential elements for any campaign to
be a success. As I mentor women, I ask them what they
are doing or what they want to do, and how they intend
on getting the things they’ve listed done. Then we create
an action plan. Without execution, a goal can be likened
to a wish.
For your life to change, put together a plan of the things
you desire to see manifest then draft your action plan
which can be as basic as: “To save $500 dollars a month
for the next 3 months, I will eat out once a week and make
home-cooked meals; I will go out only once a month, and
I will have my hair braided as opposed to buying a new
wig.” Sounds basic I know, but those are literally the most
rudimentary strategies I’ve employed for getting out of
debt, authoring books, building on my skillset so I could
pursue better growth opportunities, getting into better
shape – and so on.
Reinvention – “the action or process through which
something is changed so much that it appears to be
entirely new.” It won’t come without the decision to
pursue it, or subsequent actions that will constitute your
do-over. What bit do you need to be reflecting upon,
revisiting and realigning for a better and more wellbalanced
you?
Yvonne Chiedza Mtengwa is an international speaker,
Amazon best-selling author and the Co-founder of
Quintessential F, a testimonial-based blog and movement that
seeks to inspire and empower women to find their authentic
selves through spiritual growth and affirmation. Passionate
about the issues that affect young women, she has in recent
years taken to chronicling her experiences when mentoring
women, also hosting inspired meet-up collaborative events
for women under the #QFCoffeebreaks and Quintessential F
Power Brunch banners across Southern Africa.
Yvonne recently launched the Reinvented series of events,
inspired by her desire to connect and empower readers
of her book “Reinvented: Challenging insecurity to live
authentically through faith,” and is actively developing her
Reinvented Today brand which seeks to empower women
to transition into their next level best across all areas of their
lives.
Yvonne is also the Founder and Managing Consultant
for Narratives Inc., a boutique Brand Development &
Communications Consultancy offering a host of social media
and conventional media related services for women-owned
and led initiatives, SMEs and brands across multiple sectors.
Narratives Inc.’s formation was inspired by Yvonne’s vast
experience as a Marketing & Communications strategist,
with a professional career spanning 15 years across the
U.S.A., Southern Africa, UAE and greater GCC markets. She
hopes to one day run a media firm that services Africa’s fastevolving
entrepreneurial scene.
A lover of all things travel, lifestyle and immersive experiences,
in her spare time, Yvonne enjoys spending some quality time
with her husband and two children. Yvonne currently resides
in Abu Dhabi.

SPORTING
WITH
CONTEMPORARY
CULTURE

The public drama of contemporary life and organised sports
are hallmarks for a mysteriously grinding routine. These
two entities of modern life and culture are saturated with
unfathomable emotion, relentless mental shrewdness, and
tied in with an enormous level of physical exertion. Sports are
played and watched with eagle-eyed precision all over the
world with unwavering partisanship and passion. The obvious
charm for sports in the modern era is laced with enormous
avenues for revenue, personal gains and patriotism.
Additionally, the advent of technology has also made
sporting competitions more alluring in the public domain
with unprompted moments of pure action and instinctual
performances; sports are always entrenched in long chains
of storylines and mouth-dropping statistics. Sports are at
every turn and connected in structures of power, both on
personal and collective levels. Athletes, such as footballers
or swimmers have this capricious ability to coerce their
bodies to intertwine with their spirit to produce out of this
world performances; and owners of teams use their resolve
of financial clout to overpower their opponents; armies of
fans use their vociferous vocal chords and lusty pride to drive
their favourite individual athlete or dauntless team to victory
with a swarm of cheers. For any intellectual concerned with
how modern life works, sports offers a splendidly unusual
platform for the embodiment of pop culture and institutional
forces which blankets how sports has changed our lives as a
modern society.
Sports, such as athletics and football (soccer)
have both brought the world together and
picked it apart; we see super athletes compete
for the coveted awards of being considered the
G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Times). Sure enough,
sports has a dark side to it, with the pressures
of maintaining high levels of performance and
more often than not sweeping expectations,
athletes and fans alike engage in the dark arts of
uncouth and uncivilised behaviours. Advanced
drug testing has the capability to sieve out the
most microscopic and hard to trace performance
enhancers more than at any other time in the
history of mankind; of course, fans and insatiably
hypnotic gamblers may put their future on the
proverbial line to reign in the major odds on
betting extravaganzas. Hence, why are sports
different in the postmodern world from the
generations that existed before us? How can
such a set of routines be so divisive, entertaining
and unifying in the same instance? Have sports
evolved for the betterment of society, or is it the
gateway to the modern era’s greatest curse?
Ever since the Athens Olympics in 1896, the
world has immersed itself in its attention to
sports. It has transcended the world’s affairs
even in times of political and social upheavals,
most notably the World Wars and countless
global recessions and depressions. Beyond all
the problems that have been thrown up over
the existing periods, the global audience was
always satisfied with the routines that “human
gods” were able to perform under sometimes
strenuous circumstances. Take for instance
Donald Bradman averaging an unimaginable
99.94 runs per innings in test cricket on playing
surfaces reminiscent of landmines which in of
itself robbed the greatest batsman of all times.
Likewise, people were given a break from
the hardships and turmoil, when tuned in to
boxing greats like Muhammad Ali and George
Foreman. They used their immaculate technical
fighting skills to create one of the greatest
boxing renditions of all times; “The rumble in
the jungle” in Zaire which was later renamed the
Democratic Republic of Congo. These sporting
greats did what others couldn’t and dared to
reach heights mere mortals wouldn’t. Sports
then was the opium of the people, releasing
chemicals like serotonin in the bloodstream of
the pre-modern society as a series of events to
take minds and hearts out of the mayhem which

was all around them.
Fast-forward a couple of decades down, and
we will see how sports took another turn in
the morality and social consciousness of the
society. Sports as always were still seen as the
heights of entertainment, but there was a real
sense that these series of events should not
only be about patronage and pride; they should
be the launching pad for the new world order
which was capitalism. Just like the days of the
Roman Empire where the currency of a gladiator
was in his very right to keep oxygen whistling
through his lungs, so were sports in the late
1970s transforming the culture of the world
from athletes being more patriotic to athletes
being more economically sustainable. Hence,
sports became one of the main driving forces
for the concept of corporate life and capitalism.
Athletes became brand ambassadors, crossed
over into movies, music and art. Athletes like
Michael Jordan, Bruce Jenner, Michel Platini,
and Larry Bird among others became cult heroes
and celebrities for their mercurial talents, and
the envy of the common man because of their
serial wealth.
Consequently, like any faculty of life, you
can think of, once there is an influx of money,
there will be unparalleled levels of corruption
and deceit. Athletes, in many cases, used
cunningness to prolong their ability to perform
at a high level long after their expiry dates and
shelf life. Take, for instance, Marion Jones, Lance
Armstrong, and Diego Maradona among others
who had prodigious talent, but felt the need
to explore other ways to stay competitive and
relevant as long as the stimulants could not be
detected. Similarly, fans and gamblers took it
upon themselves to create wealth through risky
and sometimes unceremonious deeds. These
individuals, along with gambling outlets, placed
families in dire straps as some people put their
houses on the line in an attempt to gain another.
The story of the greedy dog that lost his own
bone to steal from his own image is water under
the bridge. This very act is a testimony to the
dark side to life that sports exposed. So has
sports been a blessing or a curse to modern pop
culture?
Today, the money that is being offered to athletes
is astronomical and to be quite fair in judgment
borderline ludicrous! Floyd Mayweather for a
15-minute fight made more money against a
Japanese opponent than half the budget to pay teachers in
Jamaica. It was borderline obscene that a basketball player
such as Stephan Curry signed a 200 million-plus max contract
for five years just to shoot balls beyond the arc. For football
players such as Mesut Ozil to be raking in approximately 350
thousand pounds per week just to make cute passes with a
football. All this is happening while people are dying with
preexisting conditions that these sums of money paid out to
athletes could easily have been the catalyst for some of the
worlds most needed health expeditions.
Similarly, in all of the pontifications of the world’s loudest
voices in sports and accompanying sectors, sports for what
it is worth has lost its zest to marketing and promotions.
Agents are in constant battles to find the next big player;
fewer resources and attention are placed on quality and
more efficacies are placed on stars flooding the world’s
consciousness. The broad view is that athletes are more alert
to setting a firm foundation for their future and family rather
than focusing on the true value and purpose of entertainment.
Gone are the days when a team lost a match, and there was
a fire in the belly of the losing team to make right what went
wrong in defeat. Nowadays, the losing teams more times

than we can think of are making more financial gains from
losing than winning; illuminating the dark arts that prevail in
the glossy eyes of sports.
Even though sports have changed our cultural consciousness
across the test of time, it is important to note that the
underground sightings of misgivings and misdemeanours
have waltzed their way into the dilapidation of the morals
that were once the deep roots holding our global society
together. The public and private deviance that are associated
with sports have catapulted us out of the realm of morality
among other aspects of our social life, such as music and
art. These aspects of our lives have sent us as far back into
the reality of how backwards we are as modern people
even if we are wealthier than any other time in the human
life index. Sports have evolved tremendously throughout
the generations, but, it is quite evident that it has also been
complicit in the erosion of the social fabric of postmodern
life. It has opened the eyes to the animal nature of human
beings to sort quick fixes, short cuts and backstabs.
To sum up, with every ten steps forward, know that we are
moving backwards morally as a society. When there is an
absence of money, there is an everlasting note that there is a
platform for morality and positive purpose. Gone are the days
when sporting activities were done for solely the love, the
patronage and the pride for one’s craft, self, family, country
and the world. In the era of advancements in technology
and gargantuan salaries for a variety of sports stars, these
historically practised routines are locked into capitalist points
of view littered with the magical ambience of marketing and
promotions. Anybody can sell a dream, but not everybody
has the capacity to make a dream a reality. Sports has tapped
into every emotion humanly possible, but with vastly little to
no inquest, modern culture sports the ideas that the current
pop culture has disintegrated morally but has exploded
financially. Therefore if pop culture has evolved; around
which alluring set of circumstances has it revolved?
JEROME
DOUGLAS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerome Douglas is a 26-year old trained
teacher, poet and writer from the beautiful
island of Jamaica. His personal philosophy is
“If it is for me to be, then it is up to me.” He
attended the Catholic College of Mandeville
in Jamaica. Additionally, he is a community
builder and humanitarian who volunteers his
time to help with the academic and social
well-being of people in his Central Jamaica
community and surrounding areas.

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