What I Did Next

We’re continuing my conversation with interior architect Nouf Al Moneef, Director of the Noor Riyadh festival. On today’s episode, Nouf tells me about the evolution of Noor Riyadh, why they chose light as a theme in addition to art, as well as about her own design aesthetic.

You can find the first part of my conversation with Nouf in your podcast app as well as on YouTube.

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Nouf Al Moneef is an interior architect and the Director of the Noor Riyadh festival, which falls under the larger umbrella of the Riyadh Art Project. Noor Riyadh has now welcomed more than 3 million visitors and hosted artworks by hundreds of Saudi, regional and international artists. 

Nouf also continues to help grow the conversation about art and design on social media, although she is not a fan of the word influencer. Nouf has garnered a huge following and has had an obvious impact on how the KSA is perceived and she is a wonderful ambassador for culture, the arts and her country as a whole.

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We’re continuing my conversation with actor Khalid Abdalla this week, going behind the curtain into his solo play, Nowhere. I saw the play when I was in the UK last October and was personally moved by his performance. 

On this episode, Khalid tells me about the journey that led to him writing Nowhere, and the impact of his work. 

On a bonus episode for members out next week, we’ll dig into his process as an actor, and how he prepared for his role as Dodi Fayed on The Crown. If you haven’t tuned in, you can also catch the first part of my conversation with Khalid in your podcast app.

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Khalid Abdalla first became known to many of us with his incredible role in The Kite Runner. More recently, he was on our screens as Dodi Fayed on The Crown. But beyond all his subtle and challenging roles, I was personally moved by his stage performance in his solo play, Nowhere, which I saw last October.

We covered so many topics during our conversation that we’re bringing this to you as a two-part episode. On our main episode today, Khalid tells me about his journey, including his performances in The Kite Runner, The Square, The Crown and Nowhere, as well as how he views them through the lens of his own identity and how this has evolved now that he’s a father of two. 

Next week, we’ll go behind the curtain into Nowhere itself, how the play came to be and the impact of his performance. And finally as a bonus episode for our members, we’ll dig into his process as an actor, and how he prepared for his role as Dodi Fayed.

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I’m excited to welcome Farida Osman as the first athlete on the show! She’s a 3-time Olympian, 3-times world bronze medalist and holds senior national records for butterfly, freestyle and backstroke events.

Farida is such a natural, positive person who is authentic and passionate about her sport. She’s a wonderful ambassador for swimming and an incredible role model for young sportspeople who can look to her and see that anything is possible.

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I’m super excited to kick-off 2025 with one of our new segments called WIDN Encore, where I’ll be checking in with some of your favourite What I Did Next alumni.

My first guest is adventurer, entrepreneur, and podcaster Omar Samra. I first spoke to Omar in 2021 about his company, Wild Guanabana, and his epic maritime challenge with Omar Nour which they parlayed into an award-winning documentary, Beyond the Raging Sea. We’re picking up right where we left off and Omar tells me what he’s been upto since.

A reminder that these Encore episodes will be members-only going forward, so if you’d like to hear from your favourite alumni, including Ahmed Alfi, Nada Debs, Ali Ali and Amy Mowafi, subscribe now so you can get this and all of our bonus episodes throughout the year!

Chapters:

00:00 Coming up

02:00 Moving away from city life

03:58 What Omar is working on

08:49 Launching two podcasts

11:33 Darkness retreat

15:19 The body experience of the darkness retreat

27:26 A more reflective Omar

30:09 Influential people in his life

33:22 Anthropology and Astronomy

35:20 Lightning Round

A quick teaser on what’s coming up on in 2025, including a new line-up, schedule and offerings!

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Thank you for joining me for an incredible year of What I Did Next. This week, I’m joined by the show’s producer, Chirag Desai, to look back at how quickly the year has gone by, and what is to come in 2025.

This episode is brought to you by EFG Holding. For 40 years, EFG Holding has been realising more, for clients, investors, businesses, communities and individuals. See the world differently, and realize more with EFG Holding. 

This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One, your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets. Start investing today!

Omar Elsahy is General Manager for Amazon in Egypt, overseeing 2,500 employees in the country as well as after-market services across the region. He told me about his early years in the US and Egypt, starting a number of businesses with his brother before pivoting to e-commerce with Souq.com.

I enjoyed getting to know Omar through this conversation, and also got some great insights into the way he thinks as a leader, and how Amazon approaches innovation.

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A quick note: we recorded this conversation before the conflict began in Lebanon earlier this year.

Sarah Beydoun is the founder of Sarah’s Bag, a social enterprise that produces bespoke luxury accessories and clothing. She tells me how her company was born out of a University thesis and how they continue to empower women in spite of the never-ending turmoil afflicting Lebanon, as well as her son’s being diagnosed with autism. I find her story so inspiring and moving.

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