Forward_Moves

The word mentor arrives with a very specific image.  Teacher and student. Expert and apprentice.  The knowledge moves in one direction — from the one who has it to the one who doesn't yet. It is a reassuring image. It implies order. It implies that wisdom has a clear address and can be reliably delivered. The problem is that it bears almost no resemblance to how creative knowledge actually tr...

There is a distinction at the heart of this episode that is easy to miss. The difference between making something here and making it from here.  Making something here is a logistical fact: the geography is incidental, the work could have come from anywhere. Making it from here is entirely something else.  It means the work carries the region inside it: the specific freedom of a city with no inheri...

The algorithm rewards the new, the rapid, the instantly shareable.  Brands need to go viral. Artists need to build audiences in months. Restaurants need to trend or they're written off. The entire vocabulary of ambition is built around the idea that if it's not happening fast, it's not happening at all. And yet, across three seasons of Forward_Moves, the people who built the things...

On creativity as resistance — and why making something from where you come from is never entirely innocent There is a word Raja was initially hesitant to use in this episode.  The word is resistance.  Not the confrontational kind — not the kind that announces itself. The quieter kind: the insistence on being seen, on telling your own story rather than having it told for you, the daily decision to...

Every single person featured across three seasons of Forward_Moves lives between two places. Some between two countries. Some between a homeland they can access and one they cannot. Some between the person they were expected to be and the person they turned out to be. What Raja expected to find in the archive was pain around that in-between state: a longing for resolution, for belonging to one pla...

What does it actually mean to honour a tradition? In this recap episode, Raja Haddad revisits 6 conversations from the archive to explore a single, essential distinction: the difference between preserving the ashes and keeping the fire alive.  The title comes from Mohamed Maktabi, heir to a Persian carpet legacy stretching back to his grandfather in Beirut, who described Iwan Maktabi as a forward-...

What does it actually look like when someone changes course?  In this recap episode, Raja Haddad revisits 5 conversations from the archive and finds a common thread running through all of them that reframes how we think about pivotal moments. The insight at the heart of this episode: we tend to tell success stories backwards. We start at the destination and trace a line back to the beginning, maki...

What if the identity question isn't something to resolve before you start creating , but the creative material itself? In this first episode of the Forward Moves recap series , Raja revisits 38 episodes across 3 seasons and surfaces the thread that runs through nearly every conversation: identity. The guests who've done the most original, durable work aren't the ones who figured the...

History has always been a point of view. Bady Dalloul has built his entire practice around proving it.  In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down in Paris with Bady Dalloul—French-Syrian multimedia artist whose work spans drawing, collage, objects, and installation—to trace a practice built on imaginary nations, miniature archives, and the deliberate blurring of fact and fiction...

Some artists define an era. Salma Mousfi lived through several—and made music in every one of them, redefining each of them.. In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down in Paris with Salma Mousfi—the Lebanese singer whose voice became inseparable from Ziad Rahbani’s legacy through the cult classic album Monodose— to trace a life that refuses to hold still. From rehearsing in bomb...

What can a Dubai-based food obsessive and a regional fragrance founder teach corporate leaders? In this special recap of two Forward Moves conversations, host Raja Haddad weaves together key moments from food writer and curator Hani AlMalki (Bedouin Foodie) and Dastaangoi co‑founder Amad Mian. Through six themes—identity, memory, integrity, craft, technology, and curiosity—the episode explores how...

Some people post food photos. Hani AlMalki asks why it matters. In this episode of Forward_Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Hani AlMalki — the Dubai-based food writer, curator, and culinary entrepreneur known as Bedouin Foodie. Born in Jeddah to a Syrian father and Palestinian mother, exposed early to Michelin-starred dining through family ties with JeanPaul Guerlain, Hani developed a palate...

Some brands sell candles. Dastaangoi ignites memories. In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Amad Mian—co-founder of Dastaangoi, the Dubai-based luxury home fragrance brand turning cultural heritage into scent. What started as free Zoom storytelling events during lockdown has become something far more personal: a fragrance house where jasmine is your grandmother's...

Some radio stations broadcast content. Radio Alhara creates neighborhoods. In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Yousef Anastas and Saeed Abu Jaber—two of the five founders behind Radio Alhara, the Palestinian online radio station that turned quarantine isolation into global connection. What started in March 2020 as friends dropping audio files into a shared drive has b...

Every chapter needs space to breathe — and this one earned it.  In this paused episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad steps back from the past 2 episodes to reflect on four truths from his exchanges with Ricardo Karam and Natalya Urmanova.  This isn’t a recap.  It’s a reckoning.  Raja explores the tension many leaders quietly live with: the gap between who you are and who you’ve become in the...

 In this episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Dubai-based portrait photographer Natalya Urmanova inside her exhibition Whimsical World for a deeply personal conversation about fear, reinvention, and the art of seeing beyond the surface.  Raised around her father’s darkroom and shaped by 15 years in luxury fashion, Natalya shares how she walked away from the corporate world wit...

 � In this powerful episode of Forward Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with renowned Lebanese media personality, entrepreneur, and TAKREEM Foundation founder Ricardo Karam for an unfiltered conversation about dignity, identity, and the power of human connection.   🇱 �  Taped in Beirut, Ricardo reflects on decades of interviewing world leaders, artists, and everyday people — not as a collector of...

In this in-between-episodes reflection, host Raja Haddad unpacks the first conversations of Chapter Three with Basil Yassin and Anthony Maalouf. Instead of recapping, Raja dives into four reflections: heritage as creative fuel, innovation as adaptation, human connection as the real metric, and the power of owning your story before someone else writes it for you. This episode is a breath, a reset,...

What does it mean to preserve culture through cuisine? In this candid conversation, host Raja Haddad sits down with Basil Yassin — the culinary creator behind Yava and Tonton Bakes, two of Dubai’s most talked-about dining concepts.  From Musakhan Pretzel to caramel-dipped mini croissant pops, Basil blends Palestinian heritage, creative experimentation and bold entrepreneurship to build food experi...

Chapter 3 is finally here, and with it the deep personal conversations with thought leaders of the creative community in the Middle East continue to share lived experiences and life hacks to move forward. In this episode host Raja Haddad sits with architect Anthony Maalouf —the mind behind iconic Lebanese spaces like Dar Zefta and Salon Beyrouth —for a heartfelt conversation about design, heritage...

The journey toward the 3rd chapter of Forward_Moves has been a thoughtful one, in true fashion of any movement… forward. In this transition episode , Raja Haddad distills the key themes from the past 25 episodes, sharing his insights on: Identity as action, transmission, and habitat Creativity as storytelling, and balancing the flow with the chase The common misunderstandings of resilience Tune in...

What role does art and creativity play in advocacy and forging an identity? How to valance passion and entrepreneurship , and how important are communities in transmitting stories within cultures? 🙌🏽 🎙️ The season 2 final episode wraps up the diverse themes shared by the 12 wonderful guests over the past 3 months, with Lina Nahhas and Raja Haddad picking up cards and reflecting on these differen...

What do chocolate, culture, and choosing your own path have in common? One Emirati chef.  In this episode of Forward_Moves, host Raja Haddad sits down with Chef Bader Najeeb, pastry chef, chocolatier, and founder of Burnt Orange, for a deliciously honest conversation about baking, identity, and doing what truly moves you. From making fondant in his childhood kitchen to opening one of Dubai’s most...

What does it mean to build beauty with purpose? In this episode of Forward_Moves, host Raja Haddad is joined by Zain Masud, a London-trained art world professional turned landscape designer, who is reshaping how we experience space, memory, and nature in the Middle East. 🎙️ In this episode, we explore: - Zain’s journey from the global art scene to land-based design in the Arab world - Why she view...

Can a room tell a story? In this episode of Forward_Moves , hosts Lina Nahhas and Raja Haddad sit down with Meshary Al Nassar—renowned Interior Architect & Cultural Storyteller—to explore how space, memory, and identity intertwine. From rearranging furniture at age 12 to leading his own interior design studio, Meshary opens up about his career and personal journey. 📍 Highlights include:  – De...