Hello, and welcome once again to another episode of the Esquire Q&A Podcast.

Now as regular listeners will know, this is the show where we sit down with men and women who exhibit both style and substance. Today is no different, as for the first time we are sitting down with someone who specializes in all things social media.

Benjamin Ampen is the managing director for Twitter’s Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan offices. Our conversation today obviously covers all things social media, but we also discuss what it’s like working at a social media giant like Twitter, how to get a job there as well as what the other bigwigs of social media need to look out for.

Oh, and we also chat a little bit about his penchant for martial arts, and driving very fast on two wheels. Enjoy the show…

Now, today is a very special episode because we are – GASP – breaking our regular podcasting schedule?

Why would we do that I hear you ask? Because it is currently the Dubai Watch Week, aka the region’s biggest watch shindig that brings thousands of people to the city to marvel at all things watch related. Watch Week is currently going on at Dubai’s International Financial City, and we’ve been there pretty much every second of every day, rubbing shoulders with watch royalty, checking out the newest launches and – yes – talking to some very interesting men about some very interesting watches.

And that’s what brings me to today’s podcast. Today we talked to none other than David Tedeschi, the regional director for – among other things – Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Middle East and Africa.

We sat down to discuss what makes Hublot tick, as well as some very, very interesting new materials in watchmaking.

Enjoy the show.

When Caroline Leon broke her back four years ago she never thought she’d be able to walk again let alone attempt to become the first person to climb the 15 highest peaks in the Middle East.

At the time, her injuries were so severe she wanted to give up. But after being confined to a wheelchair for six months as well as undergoing 14 surgeries and 23 blood transfusions, she slowly regained her ability to walk and came up with a plan to get not only her strength back but also her confidence. She has now climbed 10 of the 15 peaks and is almost at the end of her journey. The only problem? Navigating her travel to the currently hard-to-get-to countries of Iraq and Yemen.

She joined us in the Esquire studio to share her journey since the accident.

Hello, and welcome back to the Esquire Q&A Podcast. Now as many of you will know, this is the show where we sit down with men and women who exhibit both style and substance.

Previously, we’ve talked to award-winning chefs, broadcasters, watchmakers, entrepreneurs, actors, singers and artists. And this week is no different.

Today we’re sitting down with a man who is no stranger to an audio studio. Jafaar is a Jordan-based singer/songwriter who wants to bridge the musical cultures of the east and the west. Ultimately, he wants to modernize Arab music with international beats, and hopefully increase interest in that flavour of tune.

Fun fact – Jafaar is actually the nephew to Jordan Royalty. So stay tuned to hear us talk a little about that. Enjoy.

It’s not often that you hear of someone successfully lifting 500 kilos in a world record deadlift. 

The Beast, Eddie Hall shattered records in 2017 and also took home the title of the World’s Strongest Man. The former truck mechanic turned the world’s strongest man turned Hollywood actor speaks to Esquire in his gruelling training regime, working out with Arnold Swazzenagger and the difficulty of travelling when you’re a big man.

Today we are sitting down with an internationally renowned chef with restaurants all over the globe. He’s been working in the culinary world for the last 20-years, but before that was a professional snowboarder of all things.

Since swapping the snow for the kitchen, Akira Back has been named the Best Chef in Las Vegas, participated in more food and drink events than I have time to list right here, and been presented with a Michelin star. Earlier this year he opened up his first restaurant here in Dubai at the new W Hotel on the palm, and today we’re here to talk about what got him started in the culinary world, how he compares Dubai to other food capitals and what’s next on his docket of world domination.

Amir Siddiqui tells it like it is.

He didn’t come to the UAE to help the country get fit or lose weight (although, that is a helpful byproduct), he did so to make money. Since then has earned a reputation as one of Dubai’s most effective – and expensive – trainers.

Siddiqui runs Symmetry Gym, often touted as Dubai’s most expensive. There’s a reason for that; mainly that the private gym only offers one-on-one training sessions with some of the region’s best fitness experts.

The gym also specializes in building fitness systems and most recently put together a 28-day plan that costs a whopping US$9,800 (AED36,000) with no money-back guarantee.

We sat down with Siddiqui in this month’s Esquire Q&A podcast to ask about the merits of this radical new system and the mistakes people make when getting fit.

Welcome to another episode of the Esquire Q&A Podcast. This week we have a genuine superstar on the show, the WWE's Mansoor. 

WWE superstar Mansoor Al-Shehail has quickly become a man of firsts. He was the first Saudi-born wrestler to sign for WWE, he was the first Saudi-born wrestler to wrestle on the company’s NXT show, he made his debut in 2018 on WWE’s first-ever live event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and followed it up a year later by winning of the largest Battle Royal in WWE history at the Super Showdown event in Riyadh.

Making a success of yourself in the immensely competitive and cutthroat world of sports entertainment is difficult enough, but add that list of trailblazing accolades to a 23-year-old’s shoulders and it takes a person of serious character to not only survive but thrive.

Ahead of the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel 2019 event in Riyadh on October 31, Esquire Middle East sat down with Mansoor to hear his story.

Samantha Wood is a British/Greek resident of Dubai, and wears a number of hats. She's a restaurant reviewer, a food writer, PR practitioner and event organizer. Having left the hospitality industry and PR world she set up her business in Dubai in eight years ago; an impartial restaurant review website Foodiva. 

She's in the Esquire Q&A studio this week to talk all things food, from some of the city's best restaurants to the state of fine dining here in the UAE. 

Swiss businessman Maximillian Büsser is the founder, creator and chief creative officer of MB&F (Maximillian Büsser & Friends), a seriously luxurious independent watch brand. 

Büsser’s watch portfolio previously includes CEO of Harry Winston, Inc. Rare Timepieces and senior manager at Jaeger-LeCoultre. In 2005 he left his corporate job and put his Master’s degree in Micro-Technology Engineering to work, starting his own watch company. 

Büsser draws upon his life experiences and those close to him to create highly personal and unusual ‘horological machines’. Helmed by Büsser, MB&F also supports numerous lesser-known independent watchmakers and promotes watchmaking as an art form.

In this week's Esquire Q&A we sit down with Büsser to talk watches, watchmaking and why starting your own company isn't for everyone