Meet Farida Talaat, our proud BSc alumna of The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, presently working as a Communications Advisor for the Government of Dubai. This is her story.

Farida specialises in Public Relations and Marketing Communications, where she worked with several agencies such as Hill + Knowlton and MSLPR, as well as in-house with brands like the Jumeirah Group and Canon. Her journey began in Paris, France where she completed a 6-months internship with Hyatt Hotels, inspiring Farida to widen her knowledge and skills set through EAHM’s BBA programme. Upon graduation, she won herself a PR and Communications role at Burj Al Arab, building her career path in the same field. 

Today, Farida has worked with both small boutique clients as well as large multinationals. From various organisations in Dubai to the Canadian Bar Association and Ikea Canada in Toronto, Farida gained a great array of clientele throughout her career, leading to her first start up in FinTech. 
Curious to know about her experience at the Academy and the role it played in her career, here are some questions Farida helped us answer:

How did your time and learnings at EAHM help with your career?
“I gained a lot of skills and got great insight into the real world by working with senior executives even during my internships, which helped me gain technical and people skills. It really helped me become a businessperson.”

What were your fondest memories at EAHM?
“I had a lot of fun at the events held on campus, creating a good space for edutainment. Studying alongside students of different cultural backgrounds really opened my eyes on the world, and so was the study-life balance where we had lectures in the morning and could explore Dubai in the evening.”

What would be your advice to our future graduands?
“Make use of the generation you are from as you are exposed to new ways of doing things. Reach out to entrepreneurs, create connections, and widen your network. Use this opportunity to explore things like learning a niche skill or discover a hidden talent. Also, it’s very important to learn languages!”

Is there anything else you would like to say about the decision to study at EAHM?
“Hospitality is a very specialised field, but EAHM also provided me with general business knowledge. It allowed me to become the Communications professional that I am today.”

Farida’s future shines bright as she tells us about her big plans that are underway with important players in the industry, entrepreneurial ideas to explore as well as opening an arts studio in Dubai to feed the artist in her. She chose Dubai to be her base for its unmatched infrastructure, being a tourism capital, and the perfect ecosystem it provides her to reach her business goals and success.