Well Rooted

A Palestinian horror film. A mentorship project built to break down Hollywood's gates. And a filmmaker who's done playing by anyone else's rules. Haneen sits down with Rola Selbak to talk The Visitor, Safina Filmmaker Project, and what it really takes to make it as a Palestinian in the industry.

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A solo recap episode covering the biggest SWANA moments of summer 2026: record Arab and Muslim participation in the FIFA World Cup, visa restrictions and discrimination faced by Iranian and African teams, the controversial Egypt vs. Argentina match, and a wave of pro-Palestine, anti-AIPAC political wins spearheaded by Zohran Mamdani including: Abdul El-Sayed, and Aisha Wahhab. Plus: a look back at three Well Rooted guests - comedian Paul Elia, Ya Albi Oil founder Yasmeen Abouremeleh, and Potion Studio founder Aziza Elwani - and the visa-related tour postponements facing Saint Levant.

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In this episode of Well Rooted, Aziza El Wanni - founder of luxury hair care brand The Potion Studio - breaks down the full arc of building a culturally-rooted beauty company from the ground up: identifying a real gap in the hair care market, the early kitchen-table formulation stage, funding and manufacturing challenges, and the behind-the-scenes story of how The Potion Studio landed on shelves at Nordstrom as a culturally-specific brand.

Aziza also opens up about her dual heritage - Palestinian and Curaçaoan - and how inherited beauty rituals, hair oiling traditions, and undocumented generational knowledge shaped both her personal identity and The Potion Studio's actual formulations. We talk about what other brands get wrong about haircare, how growing up between two diasporic identities shaped her as an entrepreneur, and how her own relationship with her hair has evolved over time.

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This week on Well Rooted, we're revisiting our episode featuring Ebraheem Al Samadi - the breakout star of Dubai Bling and founder of Forever Rose and Forever Rose Café - for a conversation that's as candid as it is captivating. Ebraheem takes us from his Florida roots to the glittering world he's built in the UAE, sharing the story behind the empire with humor, heart, and zero filter.

We talk entrepreneurship from the ground up, the mindset that fueled his rise, and the confidence he brings to using his platform for the causes he cares about. He also pulls back the curtain on life on a hit Netflix show, gets real about relationships and the cost of fame, and reflects on what it actually takes to stay grounded while reaching higher. Bold, honest, and full of laughs this is one episode you definitely need to relive.

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Yasmeen co-founded Ya Albi with her mother to put Palestinian olive oil back in the hands of people who understand what it means. What she built is one of the most visually striking food brands in the diaspora: hot pink tins, Y2K aesthetics, custom bottles for a Huda Beauty event - proof that Palestinian products don't have to look like grief to be taken seriously.

We get into the truth about the global olive oil supply, the decade in fashion that shaped the brand's entire identity, and the resistance she's faced as a founder, including being pulled from a Los Angeles shelf for no reason other than being Palestinian.

This is a conversation about land, lineage, and building something beautiful in the middle of an erasure.

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Award-winning author, publicist, and activist Jenan Matari joins Well Rooted to discuss her upcoming Palestinian children's book, Everything Grows in Jiddo's Garden, and the deeper mission behind it: raising children with a strong connection to their roots and and their land.

In this episode, Jenan opens up about reclaiming and preserving Palestinian identity through storytelling, and what it means to parent within a diaspora that often challenges indigenous connection to land. We talk about the sacred relationship between indigenous people and their land, and how protecting that bond becomes its own form of resistance and reclamation.

We also go beyond the book to explore Jenan's entrepreneurial path - from founding MISSMUSLIM, one of the first lifestyle platforms built for Muslim women, to launching ZAYTOUN Publicity, a PR agency dedicated to amplifying native, Arab, and Muslim voices.

A conversation about identity, motherhood, land, and the power of storytelling rooted in culture - from the voices leading the SWANA cultural shift forward.

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In this episode, we're joined by Arab comedian and content creator, Abeer, for an honest conversation about dating as an Arab woman, advocacy for Palestine, and using humor to challenge cultural expectations. Abeer shares how she built her platform, what drives her creative voice, and why she believes comedy and activism belong in the same space. This episode is for anyone that's ever been made to feel like they're too much but knows they're meant for a lot more.

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Most people think hiring a CPA is just about filing taxes. Sam Jarrar-with his extensive experience managing high profile clients and guiding enterpreneurs of all experience levels-is here to change that.

In this episode of Well Rooted, we sit down with Samer Jarrar, founder of Jarrar & Associates CPAs, Beverly Hills' award-winning accounting firm-to talk about what it really takes to build and protect wealth as an entrepreneur.

Sam opens up about his journey from immigrant to industry leader, the financial mistakes he sees new business owners make over and over, and why your relationship with your accountant should go far deeper than a once-a-year tax return. He also answers real questions from our audience on navigating the financial side of entrepreneurship.

If you're serious about growing your business and building lasting wealth, this episode is your blueprint.

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Paul Elia is a Chaldean Assyrian comedian who almost became a lawyer - until Hollywood had other plans. On this episode of Well Rooted, we sit down with Paul to talk about his brand-new stand-up special Good Son, now on YouTube, and the winding road that brought him here: from law school dreams to becoming a Hollywood regular, to finally leaning all the way into where he comes from. We get into what it really means to be Chaldean and Assyrian in America, how Hollywood sees - and often misreads - Middle Eastern artists, and why his most personal work is also his most fearless.

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What happens when art stops being decorative and starts being dangerous — in the best possible way?

Lara Salmon has spent her career asking that question. A world-renowned Irish-American performance artist and co-founder of social justice apparel brand For Your Viewing Pleasure (FYVP), Lara has built a life at the intersection of radical creativity and deep human solidarity. In this conversation, she joins us to talk about all of it — the work, the world, and the cost of paying attention.

We trace her journey from immersive performance practice to years spent living in the Middle East, where proximity to conflict, beauty, and survival fundamentally shifted how she thinks about art's purpose. Her time working alongside refugees and marginalized communities didn't just inform FYVP — it became the reason for it. The brand she built with her partner and designer Vanessa is clothing as conscience: wearable resistance for people who refuse to look away.

We also go there on the art world's relationship with Palestinian liberation — who's speaking, who's staying silent, and what that silence costs.

This is a conversation about creativity as a form of courage. About what it means to make something when the stakes are real.

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