October 2026 Emirates Edition

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reetings dear readers,
October in the United Arab Emirates greets with an orange sunrise, sometimes blurred by morning fog. There is something enigmatic in this scene: the city wakes up in shades of yellow and red, as sunlight catches the glass of its skyscrapers. I watch the new day begin with my first coffee, and every year it feels like a quiet reward for surviving the summer.

I know a dozen friends who came here for a year or two and decided to make it home, charmed by our sun. It can be hot and burning, and in August it tests everyone’s patience. But now it slowly becomes caring, tender, relieving. The city exhales. Terraces open, evenings stretch, people linger a little longer after dinner. This is the season when the Emirates reminds you why you stayed. And something in that softer light makes us want to do more: to create, to build, to make a small everyday contribution to the people around us.

This country has a talent for that. It gives people room, and people give back. Not in grand speeches, but in daily work done well, in ideas shared, in doors opened for the next person. That is exactly what the heroes of our October 2026 edition do. Many of them, like my friends, came from elsewhere and chose to build here. Each turned personal experience into something concrete: a company, a brand, an audience, a body of work.

Areej Nashashibi, a creator with a million-strong following, learned to change direction without losing her way, moving from television to businesses of her own. Writer Dana Najib trusted a vision that other people could not see, left a successful career to follow it, and now writes about the beauty of ordinary days. Journalist Greg Tanner, after decades in newsrooms, asks the question every public voice must answer: why should anyone believe you?

Entrepreneur Nikita Sachdev stepped into crypto in 2017, before most people could explain it, and built Luna PR without outside funding; today her agency works across four continents. Nora Al Fares reads the property market through the people behind the numbers, reminding us that in a market that never stands still, growth should create something that lasts.

Artist Kristel Bechara left a stable career in design to paint full-time, and now aims to place 10,000 artworks in homes around the world. Percussionist Rodolphe Manoukian carries the darbuka, a traditional Middle Eastern hand drum, from Beirut to stages in India and proves that rhythm needs no translation. And speaker Nick Santonastasso, now dreaming of PODFest, a Dubai festival for people of determination, shows that self-trust is built in private, one promise kept when nobody is watching.

Different paths, one thread. Some built companies, some built audiences, some rebuilt themselves. None of them waited for perfect conditions. They moved while the answer was still unclear, chose substance when visibility was easier, and kept giving to their clients, listeners and communities. I respect them deeply, and I will admit something: reading their stories, I caught myself rethinking a few of my own plans.

That is what I wish for you, too. Every person in this issue was once exactly where you are now: at the beginning. Read these pages slowly, perhaps with that first October coffee. Let one of these stories stay with you. Then take one more step: the call you have postponed, the idea you have kept in a notebook, the project you keep saving for “later”. Great achievements rarely begin with a leap. They begin with one more step.

This October edition was made with the same care our heroes put into their work. Thank you for reading, and for being part of our community.

Sincerely,

Ekaterina Vasina