Who Run the World

There is a lot of fake news circulating around the different COVID 19 vaccines. We invited Dr. Rania Ayat Hawayek onto the podcast so she can set the record straight. Which vaccine should you take? What's the difference between Sinopharm, Pfizer and Moderna? What should you do between your two vaccine doses? Will we need to take the vaccine once a year?  Can pregnant women get vaccinated? How...

Turning 30 means you’re about a 1/3rd of your life in and so it is no wonder that most people commemorate this milestone by taking note of what life has taught them so far.  On the occasion of Rhea’s 30th birthday, her co-host Marilyn wrote her a card with her wittiest advice on how to best live out your thirties. Have a listen.  If you have any advice to give Rhea for her 30s, write to us on sayh...

Since the Beirut explosion, I Stand For Women went from social media to social action. Behind this NGO is businesswoman Caroline Fattal, who with her team of volunteers has helped one hundred and nine women business owners in Lebanon. Caroline started the Marion Fund , named in honor of her aunt who passed away on that fateful day in August. So far, the Marion Fund was able to raise 195,000$ with...

This episode is for anybody who is Lebanese, has a Lebanese parent, significant other, friend, or is just around Lebanese people a lot, as we break down five different ways  Lebanese people express their love. Whether it's through excessive feeding, endless teasing, or unnecessary self-sacrifices, we sure have interesting ways of showing people we care. Marilyn and Rhea share their experience...

Rhea and Marilyn kicked off 2021 by binge watching the Netflix original series Bridgerton. In this episode Rhea shows off her knowledge on all things Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy included), and we both express our undying (and unrequited) love for Bridgerton’s breakout star: the Duke. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow us on Instagram @whorunthwroldpod We’d also love to hear from you, who’s you...

Chloe Kattar is a historian, and is currently pursuing a PhD in history at Cambridge University, where she is writing her thesis that analyzes the intellectual history of the Lebanese civil war. Since the start of the Lebanese revolution on October 17th 2019, Chloe’s Instagram page @leb.historian has gained quite the following. Through her posts, she brings a new perspective to the Lebanese politi...

As for many, Christmas 2020 looks a bit different for us - we won’t be traveling to see our families, or going back to Lebanon where we normally spend the holidays. So we thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane and revisit gifts of time’s past. We asked our audience to share with us stories of the best and/or worst gifts they’ve ever received. This week, we took a listen to...

This week we are re-sharing one of our favorite episodes we recorded this year on the 5 love languages - A great listen for this holiday season! With every passing week of social distancing our need for human connection grows, whether we are introverts or extroverts. In this episode, we share how we are getting and giving our dose of connection and care using the five languages of love . We are al...

Guilda Khoury’s concept store Mellow was one of the very first shops to open in Beirut’s design district Mar Mikhael seven years ago. After the August 4th Beirut explosion, which completely shattered Guilda’s store, Mellow was yet again the first to reopen in a ravaged Mar Mikhael. Guilda’s story is one of great bravery, perseverance and hope. She shares with us her emotional journey, telling us w...

Blu Fiefer is a Lebanese-Mexican singer, songwriter, producer, director and pole dancer. We asked Blu to come on as a guest off the heels of her latest release Sint el Ew , which made the rounds on social media, having truly put its finger on the collective Lebanese angst in words that felt real to so many. We discussed everything from her creative process, to her dual identity and how arabic fina...

As holders of Lebanese licenses, we quickly realized that the process of getting a UAE driver license was quite the ordeal. In this episode, we break down our road to driving (pun intended) by comparing and contrasting notes on the different tests we had to take and the colorful instructors we were paired with. It’s been quite the eventful month, so suffice it to say hilarity ensued on the podcast...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the Myers-Briggs personality test, its history, whether it is any more accurate than a horoscope reading and how it can help us improve our communication and collaboration with loved ones and colleagues alike.  It might come as no surprise that Marilyn is a Commander personality type and Rhea a Campaigner personality type. You’ll have to listen to the epis...

In this episode, we are joined by our second ever male guest: Dr. Melhem Abou Alwan. Melhim tells us what it is like being a doctor in the middle of the pandemic, how his hospital coped under pressure and why he volunteered to be the only doctor in his team to examine COVID patients in the early days of the pandemic. Melhim’s story, like so many frontliner’s stories, is a stark reminder of the sev...

Did you know that people with deep and meaningful friendships live longer? Friendships are one the most undervalued but most important relationships. In this episode, we look inwards to explore and express the importance of keeping our tribe close.  Rhea takes over hosting duties to interview Marilyn and her childhood best friend Tara Tyan. Through the story of their twenty-two year old relationsh...

Economist Léa Hakim joins us from Beirut to talk about how creating jobs will not only help the financial crisis in Lebanon, but also allow people to live with dignity. Léa has dedicated a huge chunk of her life to giving back to her community through a number of initiatives that span across the economic and educational sectors. She truly inspired us with her positive energy and can-do attitude. T...

Rhea and Marilyn decide to take off on a girl’s weekend in the desert. And what do two podcast hosts do when they are away for a “self care” weekend? Naturally, record an episode on self care. We discuss how we tap into our community for comfort, and the activities that help us find balance. One of us chooses to watch the Real Housewives and the other likes to eat in bed. We’ll let you guess which...

We are joined by Dr. Gael Abou Ghannam in a special episode about the female body in all its states. Dr. Gael, whose specialty is gynecology, is known for her Instagram page where she unabashedly talks about the female body, female health and of course all things period. She brings her wisdom to our podcast and enlightens us about everything from period pain to taking the pill, we share stories of...

For the first time in a very long time, Marilyn is going to be taking a plane to travel back to Lebanon for a few days. Suffice it to say: she’s a bit nervous. To make her feel better, Rhea sat her down to compare notes on what they love and miss about airports. We talk about what foods we eat (everyone knows calories do not count while traveling), what unnecessary purchases we make, and we have t...

We started off this episode giving each other updates on our careers, and we quickly turned the focus onto feeling your power. We’ve all been in those moments where we’ve needed to be reminded of our own power, or where we’ve needed that little push of encouragement. In this episode Marilyn and Rhea share with each other the different objects, rituals and people who remind them of their own power,...

In the second part of our conversation with Coach Ayoub, we hand him the reins of our episode. This is definitely an episode of firsts, not only our first male guest, our first 2 part episode, but also the first episode where the topic was hidden from us and we couldn’t come prepared. Join us on an exercise of being in the present. If you can, listen to this episode with a friend or partner, and d...

We’ve been gone for a while. To be honest, there was a lot happening in the world, and more specifically in our hometown of Beirut. We spent the last month coping with the aftermath of the Beirut blast. In this episode we talk about what the last month and a half has been like, how we each coped with our PTSD and broken hearts. After many conversations, we decided to finally reboot this season of...

In this episode, we sit down with Coach Ayoub to break down last week’s challenge. Rhea fesses up on whether she managed to ask her friends for help for her upcoming move to her new apartment. Marilyn on the other side tells Coach Ayoub about how she’s defining herself as a leader. She chooses to carry a purple lightsaber (you’ll have to listen to understand that metaphor). We had so much to talk...

On August 4 2020 at 6:07 PM Beirut was rocked with an explosion that shattered the entire city. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this is the 3rd biggest explosion in a city in recorded history. Countless lives were lost, hundreds of homes were brought to the ground, and 300,000 people were displaced. Our city, no longer recognizable. As expats, the first day was spent calling friends and family, pray...

When we were on lockdown, one of our rituals was getting drive-through shawarma in Dubai. We lovingly call this tradition: Meshwarma . So we invited our new friend Arva Ahmed to give us her top shawarma recommendations in the city. Arva is the founder of Frying Pan Adventures, a Dubai based Food tour company and Dubai’s resident expert foodie. You can hear more about her food obsessions on her pod...

After four months of being on lockdown together, living together, podcasting together, singing together, playing games, cooking, crying and laughing together Rhea is moving out of Marilyn’s place. So we decided to sit together and share what are the things we will and won’t miss about each other. Suffice it to say: it got a bit emotional. Follow us on @whoruntheworldpod on Instagram and check our...