My final guest of this season is the one-and-only Youssra, who tells me about her life’s journey from key decisions that led to her breakout success to her ground-breaking acting career that took on societal taboos. With over 80 movies, countless serials and theatre performances, her career has spanned seismic shifts in society, culture and politics, and she has witnessed, interpreted and contributed to all of them.   Youssra is also a role model to younger actors and people in the industry...

I’m joined this week by Ramy Adeeb, founder and Managing Partner of 1984 Ventures, a firm that specialises in providing seed funding to start-ups. Ramy’s is a quintessential What I Did Next story, he moved to Canada for high school, went on to have early jobs at Microsoft and then as an investor in Silicon Valley, before launching his own start-up, Snip.It, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2013. He tells me how important risk taking has been for his career, and how his life’s journey led him to...

In case you missed my conversation with fitness entrepreneur Amina Naguib, here’s a quick clip from our conversation. You can listen to the full episode in your podcast app, and we’ll have a bonus episode out for our members soon! This episode was brought to you by: EFG Holding, a trailblazing financial institution with a universal bank in Egypt and the leading investment bank franchise in frontier and emerging markets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m joined this week by Amina Naguib, fitness entrepreneur and founder of B-URN. Amina always wanted to explore the human body and health—she studied sports science in Washington and then physiotherapy in Amsterdam before returning to Egypt. With B-URN, she has created a community of people looking to improve their health and wellbeing. Amina and I talk about how she’s been connecting the dots of her life, particularly a major pivot in 2020 that was also a pivotal moment for me. She’s a...

Mohammed Hefzy is the award-winning film producer behind mega hits such as Clash, Sheikh Jackson, Microphone, Paranormal, and Perfect Strangers, to name but a few of the films that make up his incredible catalogue of work. Hefzy began his career as a screen writer but made the transition to producing quite quickly, realising he wanted more control of the film-making process as a whole. This led to the formation of his company, The Film Clinic, where he not only develops his own movies but...

I’m joined this week by Sir Magdi Yacoub, ground-breaking cardiologist and founder of the Chain of Hope charity. Professor Yacoub has almost single-handedly revolutionsed cardiology from his early days as a junior doctor in London in the 60’s, to retirement from his beloved NHS in 2001. As someone who has been on my Top 10 list of dream guests since the show began three years ago, Professor Yacoub was a joy to interview and his breadth of his knowledge is incredible. Today, Professor Yacoub...

I’m joined this week by curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of Art d’Egypte. From humble beginnings in 2017, their annual event has become a celebration of art, installations and global partnerships. Nadine is also an art curator with a passion for one of Egypt’s most celebrated artists, Mohamed Nagy, and manages their art estate along with his family. Nadine tells me how her childhood experiences led to her building a tremendously successful art platform and why her life’s mission is the...

Welcome to a new season of What I Did Next! I’m joined by fashion entrepreneur Imran Amed, one of the leading voices in fashion and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Today, BOF employs 75 people with a presence in London, New York, Paris and Shanghai. It also boasts a community of 800,000 email subscribers and 100,000 paying members across 120 countries. What I Did Next was a media sponsor at the first edition of Egypt Fashion Week, where I met & interviewed Imran in front of a live...

I’m excited to be bringing you a new season of the show starting September 6, with new episodes every second Monday. I’ve had incredible guests over the past five seasons, leaders in their fields from a wide range of industries such as business, art, design, fashion, medicine, and entertainment. These conversations keep reminding me that each person’s journey is unique to them, and I’m always floored by how honest and authentic my guests are. I’m also excited to introduce a new platform this...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with renaissance man Samih Sawiris. Samih and his brothers, Naguib and Nassef continue to be icons in the business world in Egypt and the Middle East. Samih is the founder of Orascom Development Holding which operates 33 hotels with over 7,000 rooms and controls approximately 100 million sqm of land. Samih is above all, a sort of renaissance man,...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with reconstructive surgeon Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, who told me about her shift to entrepreneurship with Proximie, to revolutionise the world of surgery.  Dr. Nadine saw the horrors war inflicts on people and communities during her formative years living in Lebanon after the civil war, and how difficult it is for individuals to re-build their...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with businessman, art collector, activist and academic Sultan Sooud Al Qaseemi. Sultan’s story starts out as a proud son of Sharjah in the UAE before he came to the attention of a wide audience around the world for his activism during the 2011 revolutions in the Arab World. His heritage, nationality and deep sense of what it means to be Arab...

We’re currently on a season break and will be back with new episodes in September. In the meantime, I wanted to share my conversation from last year with Amy Mowafi, a dynamo in the region’s media space, and an inspiring role model for the younger generation of empowered Egyptian and Arab women. Amy and her team are the digital publishers of CairoScene, ElFasla, StartUpScene, NFTYScene, NFTY Arabia, SceneNoise, SceneTraveller, SceneEats, CairoZoom & the SceneNOW App. They also house a...

Thank you for joining me on an incredible season 5 of What I Did Next, and for your feedback and comments. This week, I’m joined by our producer Chirag Desai to talk about my own life’s pivots and a few highlights from our season. We’ll be back with new episodes in early September. Until then, you can catch up on our previous episodes, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn for updates. Thanks to our partners EFG Hermes for their support of this season, and to Egypt Fashion Week for...

I’m joined on the show this week by the talented Lebanese/Iraqi chef, Hussein Hadid.  If you’ve been lucky enough to attend his unique kitchen table experience in Beirut, you'll know that Chef Hussein conjures up magic not just for your taste buds, but also by giving a lot of thought to the atmosphere and decor. He actually started out working in finance, quickly discarding that career in favour of a chef's jacket and hat.  Our conversation took many twists and turns, with amazing anecdotes...

I’m joined this week by poet, author and radio host, Salma El-Wardany. Salma is the author of These Impossible Things, a best-selling novel that that breaks down barriers by looking at how a group of muslim girlfriends navigate love, friendship & sex. She also currently hosts The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio London, which reaches over half a million listeners daily.  Salma is of Irish and Egyptian descent, combined with influences from the Pakistani community of Northern England and her...

I'm joined on the show this week by Fares Akkad. Fares is currently Regional Director for Meta and has a long track record with the company formerly known as Facebook. Over the course of his career, Fares has had stints at KPMG, Booz Allen and media giant MBC, as well as going it alone as an entrepreneur.  As a son of a Syrian diplomat, Fares grew up in South America and Europe, before moving to the US for university. We talk about how being exposed to so many different cultures has...

Mounaz and Aya Abdel Raouf are the sisters behind the global luxury brand, Okhtein. They have always had a love for fashion and accessories, and day-dreamed about working in the industry from when they were children.  In 2014, they turned their fantasy into a reality, launching Okhtein. Since then, they’ve had celebrities like Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Cardi B and Gigi Hadid photographed with their accessories. Their brother, Mohamed Abdel Raouf, joined the company as CEO in 2018. Today, Okhtein...

Ramy started out as a stand-up comedian, and is the star of the eponymous hit show, Ramy, which has won Golden Globes and Peabodies, as well as Emmy nominations. He's also the co-creator of Mo with Mo Amer, and can be seen later this year in Poor Things with Emma Stone, William Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo among other big wigs of the industry. I binged watched all 3 seasons of Ramy and am so happy we are finally seeing a show that potrays the Arab immigrant experience as more than a 2D cliché. The...

This season we've partnered with the Egypt Fashion & Design Council, which is launching the first edition of Egypt Fashion Week from May 12 to May 15. I’m joined on this bonus episode by two of the Council’s co-founders, Paul Antaki & Susan Sabet. We talk about the mission behind the EFDC and what they’re hoping to achieve with the first Egypt Fashion Week. You can find out more on their website, and also follow Egypt Fashion Week on Instagram and on TikTok. Learn more about your ad...

Omniya is an architect and a specialist in cultural heritage conservation, working between Cairo and London. She has worked on some landmark projects in the region, and now divides her time between the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation (EHRF) in Cairo and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. Omniya was also one of four co-curators of the Islamic Art Biennale in Jeddah.  Omniya talks about the effort that goes into maintaining our historical sites, including raising funds from...