Issue #21 - WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

I t ' s al l about YOU. . . nent e m m

r o e w W o

R E M M S U SUE IS

p Em Vol. 8 Issue No. 21 |August 2018 www.younewsletter.net

Sister Zeph A Woman Empowering Girls Through Education

Editor's Note

Summer Women Empowerment Issue

Never underestimate a woman!

As much as we would like to believe that our society is progressing, the sad truth is that there are still a large number of people who disagree with gender equality. But those people’s mindsets come from a place of ignorance, and we have been working hard to change that.

The year 2017 witnessed huge empowering changes for Saudi Women. Starting with the royal decree to allow them to drive, and then letting them attend sports tournaments. Also more and more women are also being integrated into different working sectors. Along with the government support, women are also standing tall by themselves and taking challenges head on.

In this issue, we celebrate our progress by having a special feature with Riffat Arif, known as Sister Zeph, as well as other topics in beauty, fashion, health and a special report.

With Love,

THE NEW YOU 3 EVENTS FLASHBACKS Women's Pop-up Event Screening of a Saudi Horror Movie The First Arab Fashion Week Joelle Opens Clinica Joelle in Riyadh

4 BEAUTY

Summer Make-up Trends Must-Have Beauty Buys

6 HEALTH

What foods to avoid when having braces?

7 FASHION

Spring/Summer Fashion Trends 2018

8Â YOU FEATURE Sister Zeph Empowers Girls With Free Education in Pakistan

11 YOU RESEARCH

Online shops or traditional shops?

Editor-in-chief

Tell me your comments on previous issue

Editorial

Jawaher Zahran Managing Editor

Fiaza Arshad Assistant Editor

Events Flashbacks Saudi Arabia was full of events this year from women empowerment, fashion, openings and even cinema.

22 February

Screening of a Saudi Horror Film

On February 22, The General Consulate of France hosted a screening of the first Saudi horror called Madayen, a film by Hakeem Jomah and directed by Ayman Tamano. The screening witnessed a good attendance, and it was about the old horrifying tales of Madayen Saleh in Saudi Arabia

18 March Clinica Joelle Openning in Riyadh Clinica Joelle, is the famous beauty and surgical clinic initiated by TV Presenter Joelle Mardinian. The Clinica Joelle is successfully expanding outside of the UAE and it was officially opened in Riyadh on March 18.

The opening was attended by influencers as usual and this clinic was created to have the best surgical doctors to maintain its quality.

13

March

The Women's Event

A pop-up event took place in Amkana space for International Women Month from 13 to 15 of March. The event was organized

by Mariam Mossali, known for her blog Shoes and Drama, to also launch her fashion book Under Th Abaya that talked about Saudi street style where all proceeds went to the women empowerment fund. The women's event also showcased other female businesses to empower them in a mini bazaar.

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Video Coverage is also available on YOU! Newsletter's Channel

April

The Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh

Arab Fashion Week, organized by a non profit organization, was an important fashion event that was taking place from 10 to 14 of April at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh under the patronage of her royal highness Princess Noura Bint Faisal and with the support of The General Entertainment Authority. AFW was the first of its kind in Saudi that actually made an international recognition alongside the London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks.

Saudi and international designers were present showcasing their collections. In addition, the event included Harvey Nichols Riyadh Pop-up store, fashion shows, trunk shows, workshops and a Russian ballet show. Guest of honors were Roberto Cavalli, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Beauty

Section

BEAUTY FOR YOU

Summer Make Up Trends of 2018

ISSUE #21 - WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

YOU! Newsletter searched for the most adorable summer makeup trends from the most prestigious beauty magazines and got these four trends for YOU.

1

3

Go Eye-Bright

Look Blushed

2

The Cleopatra Winged Liner

4 Queen of Metallic

In this issue, YOU! picked four beauty buys that you can consider putting on your shopping list.

The Fresh Hair Mist from CHANEL

The Editor would Pick This

Every girl wants her hair to smell good and what is better and classier than a Chanel perfume?

Chanel made a hair mist for perfumes such as Coco Chanel, N 5 and other famous scents to keep your hair smelling fresh and classy.

Can be found at Debenhams.

Photo Credit by Frangrantica

The Pantene Pro V Collection

4 Beauty

The Huda Beauty Lipstick Set

Buys YOU Must Have

Photo Credit by Palacinka Beauty Blog

If you're a Huda Beauty fan, then you should try this lipstick set that comes in a cute lip-shaped tin. This set will give you an attractive lip contour look by having three types of lipstick of the same color which are, the lip contour, matte liquid lipstick and the lip strobe. Find it at Sephora

Pantene is a good brand for hair care and Pantene Pro V collection such as, the shampoo, conditioner and the butter cream can give you extra moisture and hydration. Find it at drugstores.

The Magical Make Up Cloth

TRIED Photo Credit by Boozyshop

This make up cloth can clean all your makeup like magic.

You simply need to rinse your face with a cleanser and then wipe all excess makeup with the cloth. You will see all your makeup coming through the cloth. It's magic! Can be found at drugstores or Sephora.

6 | YOU

Be Well & Be Fit

Section

HEALTH FOR YOU

ISSUE #21 - WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Doctor's Orders

Having Braces on?

Here's what YOU should be eating!

An orthdontist from King Fahad Hospital in Jeddah, Dr. Shroog Al Shareef, shares her doctor's orders with YOU! of what you should or shouldn't be eating while having braces on. You may not have one but you can still benefit others who have.

Do's If you must eat hard food, try to get it dipped in a sauce (such as a yogurt or tea) to soften it up.

Don'ts Avoid hard food like hard biscuits, hard candy, potato chips, and toasted bread.

No hard bitting for burgers or apples.

When eating food that involves biting, try cutting it into slices instead of having one big bite at a time.

No gum chewing or eating sticky food likeTofee for instance.

Be Stylish. Be YOU. Section

topS noihsaF ehT yb otohP

FASHION FOR YOU

ISSUE #21 - WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Spring/Summer Fashion Trends of 2018

YOU! Newsletter searched for the spring/ summer fashion trends from the most esteemed fashions magazines and got inspired to show YOU these five fads.

1

Sequins

2

Whether it is a sequined pocket of a blouse or a whole sequin dress. They are all in style!

Sheer 1 Find this crimson sheer skirt at French Connection Online

3 Cinderella Shoes Wear your cinderella shoes!

Meet prince charming!

Find this sequined dress at HM.com

Mul t ipl e 4 Bags

liaM yliaD ehT yb otohP

When you need to carry many things, you may need more than one bag.

This trend makes carrying lots of things stylish! Â

5

Checks

YOU! FEATURE

Cover Story

Meet Sister Zeph A Woman Empowering Girls Through Education

Z

eph ,or called, Sister Zeph, is a Pakistani entrepreneur who dedicated her life to fight ignorance in her community, as she strongly believed that most social issues stem from the absence of education. Given the lack of access to free schools for lowincome girls, Zeph founded a nonprofit organization to provide just that, called Zephaniah Free Education.

Thank to her, girls in Pakistan are getting the privilege of being educated in a world that needs just that. Aside from this, Zeph is actively participating in noble causes such

Photo by TreeSisters

as helping hospitalized girls who are unable to get good treatment due to lack of funds. A good recent example is helping a girl called, Meerab, who was helped through every stage of her hospital stay and after.

ISSUE #21 - WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

YOU! Newsletter had the pleasure to interview her.

YOU: What inspired you to start Zephaniah Academy?

Zeph: When I was 13 years old, I was beaten by a teacher in front of class. I made a sacred promise never to return to a school and decided to start my own school. Since then, I go door to door to convince families to send their girls to my free school. I have taught hundreds of girls and empowered even more through formal education and many skills.

I did it all along with teaching myself. I got two master degrees from University of Punjab as a private student and now I am doing bachelors in Education. All this was in an open air classroom for years. It was a tough time in my life. I never got a chance to take rest, no support or appreciation. I got tired and sick. My home was attacked by a gunman twice, but luckily I was able to escape.

YOU: Social work is really rewarding, what is the most important trait to have in any social worker?

Z: Social work is not a job or desire but it is a calling and a goal of someone’s life - the reason of existence on this earth of that person.

Therefore, a social worker only wants to make a particular dream a reality by all means and always gets ready to devote his own life to achieve this goal. This is the most important trait in a social worker.

Every social worker works for positive change in the society and to see that change is a biggest reward and satisfaction for the social worker, like I want every girl to be educated and every woman to be empowered and have equality. If it happens in my lifetime, I will be the most satisfied person on this earth.

YOU: Education for women is truly important, how did this impact education in Pakistan in your opinion?

Z: In Pakistani culture, we believe that the purpose of a woman’s life is to produce children and to take care of her husband and other family members. This what makes us realize why education is important for women because they give birth to our future generation and nourish the future of our world. We are promoting this slogan so much that if they are future builders, then they should be educated so that they can make their children educated.

This is how we can do progress as a nation.

During last few years, we see change although process of change is very slow. I think its reason is that our government and other stakeholders are not focusing on the importance of education that much as needed. Still, rate of girls education is improving in Pakistan.

12 | YOU

If you ask me what is the secret of my success, I will reply ''My Failures.''

YOU: People learn from failure more than they learn from success, what was some of your failure stories before you got up and succeeded?

Z: If you ask me that what is a secret of my success, I will reply you ‘’ my failures” because whenever I failed in my life, I used more power and changed that failure into success and found more opportunities than my expectations, without failure there is no success.

I have many stories of failure but I would like to share one from last year when two men tried to kidnap one of my students when she was going back home from school. Although she was able to escape because of self-defense techniques which we teach our students, her parents did not allow her to come to school again due to fear along with many other girls who had to leave the school. I decided that I should have pick-anddrop service for them so that no girl has to leave her school. I had some money around $3000, but the price of the van was $10000. I tried my best to get a loan from the bank but no one gave me because I did not have a regular source of income. It was a really tough time in my life because I could not bear to see the future of my students being ruined. I asked some people to give me money as loan and they also denied. I would cry at night as there was no solution, then I started posting a lot about it on social media. I wrote emails to all my friends about it and there was no help. Then, I got an opportunity to speak at Emerging Women Lives conference in USA but my visa was denied five

times. We decided to do the speech online. On the day of speech, my computer got an error, and I did not know what to do. Then I used my mobile to do that live speech and I spoke from my heart.

The next day, a very generous lady donated to us, so I bought the van. Now I am able to give pick-and-drop service to our girls who need it, and those girls were back to school who only left because of fear of being kidnapped.

YOU: What was the overall community’s response for such academy ?

Z: It was funny for the people around me. No one trusted me and no one was ready to join my school because I was just 13 years old. But I kept going. I did not want any child to experience what had happened to me. I decided that I will never use a stick in my school, and that I would make education interesting for the children. In the beginning, there

was only one student. I started it in the open air. There was no building, not even one room. There was no pen, no copy machine and I only had few books. In summer, we would sit under the sun, and in winter we would sit under blankets. And when it rained, we had to leave the studies. Our roof was the sky that sometimes would give us normal weather so that we could study in open air, and sometimes not. At the age of sixteen, I did my matriculation and started a job as a receptionist in a telecom franchise where I was being paid 15$ a month. This was the amount that I started using to buy stationary and other important things for my school.

Since then, I have gone on working. I did masters in Political science in 2010, and another Masters in History in 2013.

Now I am doing Bachelors in Education. All this education I got without any institution or any teacher. Now I have two schools with 200 students and one skills center with 100 students. I have taught hundreds of girls and empowered even more though twelve years free education and different skills.

Now I have students coming to my schools from almost 10 villages. We are growing and making a bigger impact, but on the other hand, opposition is also increasing but it cannot stop me. Nothing can stop me from getting education and from spreading education.

YOU: What do you think a person need to start an NGO (nonprofit organization) and what did you need personally?  Z: First of all, we need a mission and we have to have a firm belief in our mission that this is a right thing and this will deliver something to our society which will uplift our people. Then complete devotion to our work and a wonderful team who has faith in you and your determination. This is a beginning, but this beginning will need years to happen in a true spirit.

We have to be ready to face all kind of challenges. Financial sources are needed and the impact which we make should be visible on a big scale because change is not just a feeling, it should be seen physically. This is what I needed personally and this is what I did.

Change is not just a feeling, it should be seen physically.

YOU! RESEARCH

YOU! Asked

What Do YOU Prefer?

Online Shopping or Traditional Shopping?  Online Shopping sites are increasing day by day, and according to Forbes Magazine, many shops are closing down due to the boost of online shopping. In 2017, well-known shops recently closed such as JC Penny, Guess, Sears, Macy's, Payless and many others. As it seems, people are switching to online shopping right from their cozy couch instead of having to start their car, and driving all the way to an actual store. YOU! Newsletter surveyed a sample of 21 people to know whether they preferred online shops over traditional brick-and-mortar shops or not.

According to our online survey, 80.95% preferred to go online shopping over physical shops and only 19.05 % would go to actual shops. Meaning, there is a real preference of shopping online. This translates that people are actually preferring conveniency over anything else. For them, it is the conveniency of staying home, the ability to shop at any time and get an order placed by just one click. Still, we cannot generalize the results as the sample of the research was small.

Since most of the respondents preferred online shopping, it would be only fair to ask what they would look for in online stores. We asked about the importance of elements like site safety, customer service, after sale services, quality and rarity of products, good shipping, and finally the prices. The most important two elements of the online stores according to the surveyed sample were customer service and after sale services. This concludes that the quality of customer service and any service

whether it is pre-sale or post-sale are equally valuable when choosing an online shopping site.

This is understandable since a good service can make customers feel at ease and be more confident when placing orders.

Surprisingly enough, 71.43% of the people surveyed experienced zero or only one bad online shopping experience. Like any shopping experience(online or not), having a good shopping experience in the past will make the customer more likely to repeat a purchase in the future. That explains why people are going online shopping because they are usually satisfied with most of the online shopping attempts they had, if not all.

To sum up, the popularity of online shops these days and their strive for excellence make them more appealing than others.

Behind every successful woman is a tribe of other successful women who have her back. - Unknown

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