LCL • local • living a creative life

Ali "Bluesman" Sleeq joins us in this episode to talk about what it means to keep doing what you love to do, no matter what people say. He's the dude about the Blues, a genre of music that isn't popular here in the region (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter), but he keeps his passion for it anyway. Tune in to hear from Ali about how to stay original and unique in a world full of Top 40 hits.

Sandi Ismail finds refuge in embroidery. Being alone, with only the small sounds of needle and thread through canvas, is the way she finds solace from the worries of everyday life. Tune in to learn more about finding your refuge in crafting, and how to make the jump from corporate to "finding your voice" in the mess of music out there.

Layla Al-Ammar, recent author of THE PACT WE MADE (Borough Press 2019) and SILENCE IS A SENSE (Borough Press / Algonquin 2021), talks to us about her writing process in this episode. Tune in to hear how she outlines plots and fleshes out characters (spoiler: she doesn't!), and the way her writing changed when she went from hobby writer to striving author. 

This episode is the first of a series called "Deeper Dive", in which your co-hosts Salloul and Rawa discuss what we've learned from interviews so far. In this episode, we talk a little about Yara Meraki's mention of studying her passion (and how we believe it isn't the be-all-end-all of life), what it means to have "talent" (nobody is born with it, not even incredible dancer Doss), and chat a little more about Zouz's encouragement of exploring adjacent fields to your own. Join in on the conversation happening on Instagram: www.instagram.com/lclpronouncedlocal/

Zahra Al-Mahdi, also known as Zouz the Bird, visual artist, filmmaker, and sound enthusiast, joins us for this episode. Zouz talks to us about the boxes we're in, and how messy that can get, and how hard we try to think "outside" of them, when really - we need to clean them up and check out their corners. How can we play around in our creative fields? How can we move to adjacent spaces? Tune in for an enlightening conversation.

Amin Fari, aka Nine Nuggetz, aka *the* Mr. Fari of Talent Shop joins us for this episode. We chat about his time in LA, what it's like being a DJ in Kuwait, and how he finds new ideas across fields of art by looking for how he can translate patterns within them. Tune in to learn about how to experiment within different fields and get your "brain to stretch" to create new concepts.

Sarah Chouari, an artpreneur at Artspace who expresses herself best through doodles and paint, joins us in this episode. She has some business advice, some artist advice, and it all boils down to: stop being a victim and design your day according to your priorities. Tune in to find out more.

We talk with Ali AlHasan, co-owner of Caffeine and Business Intelligence Systems, and father to two beautiful girls. Ali talks self-victimization with us in this episodes, and how to ditch entitlement and take responsibility for your life.

Join us as we chat with Yara Meraki, a Syrian graduate of fine arts. We talk about her experiences creating artwork about refugees, and she describes her strategy to get in the mood for creating: The Ritual. Listen in to find out what her ritual is, and how you can discover your own.

Welcome to LCL, pronounced local, or Living a Creative Life! Co-hosts Salloul and Rawa chat about who they are and why they started this podcast.