When Hamda Taryam was 12, she dreamt of becoming like Oprah Winfrey, not a talk-show host, but someone with enough wealth to be able to help the less fortunate.
At the age of 21, Taryam, one of the first Emirati drag racers, achieved her goal and became the founder of the Hamda Foundation.
Employing the help of sponsors and people she had known from her motorsports career, which is featured in the Netflix series The Fastest, Taryam has built wells, a school and a hospital for orphans in the town of Masaka, Uganda.
She was one of the speakers at an event in Palace Downtown along with other Emirati women inspiring change, including Nouf Omar, Jazie Suwaidi and Hanan Al Mheiri, ahead of Emirati Women's Day.
“Whatever I gained from my career, I just put it over there,” she tells The National.
Reflecting on her journey, she says it’s intriguing how challenges often appear less daunting when you're engrossed in resolving them.
Something she has learnt is paramount in overcoming these challenges is the support of other women.
This unity serves as the foundation for younger generations to overcome even more obstacles in the future, she adds. “I think women who reach a specific position have to support each other because this is something that will show other women that people are there to support you."
Flying high
“Emirati women at this stage, being in a new country, have an important role. We are as important as men, and being in different fields has proved this point,” says Nouf Omar, one of the youngest Emirati pilots at Emirates, who started following her dream at the age of 17.
The pilot, who flies the Boeing 777 to global destinations, advocates for greater gender diversity in the profession, asserting: “I would like to see more female pilots. Those who have the dream and the ambition to be one should go for it.”
Explaining the importance of the field, she says: “Just like doctors have a soul they need to save, we have souls that we need to carry from A to B safely. The studying part is, of course, difficult because it is a serious field and it is a responsibility as well.”
Beyond her piloting career, Omar is also a padel tennis player on the UAE national team.
“Having a non-routine job can be challenging in terms of maintaining a social life, but I have managed to do it,” Omar says. “I am an entrepreneur, a daughter and a loving cousin, so I manage to see my parents, family and friends, and try to keep everyone and everything balanced in my daily life.
Breaking moulds
A similar ethos resonates across disciplines.
Jazie Suwaidi, founder of beauty and wellness booking app Flaunte, says: “There's always a place to start and if you're the first person to do it, then you're doing it for a greater good, not just yourself.”
Suwaidi’s story is an example of that. A beauty enthusiast and former professional gamer, she has developed a knack for spotting gaps in the market and transforming her passion into purpose. However, breaking the mould is not without its challenges.
“I think someone has to take one for the team every single time,” she says. “There is always going to be a backlash in the beginning.
“The first woman to ever drive faced backlash, the first female pilot had some backlash, the first woman to ever go study abroad had backlash ... but look at us now: we not only look up to [female ambition], but also encourage it.
“So, I think there is always a place to start and if you are that first person to do it, then you are doing it for a greater good, not just yourself.
“Although we don't realise it now, each of us paves the way for someone else.”
