Reem N. is a dedicated and focused freelance journalist who has depicted hard work in her profession and is a role model for many writers worldwide. Now, she is a doctor after furthering to completing her master’s program in Masters of Arts (MA), International Journalism at the City University of London, portraying exemplary and excellent results after scoring an MA with merit from 2010 to 2011. In her career, Reem served for several publications, where she worked diligently and wrote articles on various topics and, despite facing many challenges, received admirable compliments from her seniors.
Reem possesses a Bachelor of Arts, Mass Communication / Media studies from the American University in Cairo, studying from 1998 to 2002. She demonstrated good scholarly traits in school, evidenced by her excellent student work. She furthered her master’s studies at the City University of London in 2010-2011 and qualified for a distinction. She wanted to continue studying; however, “If chance and favorable conditions had been provided, I could have further my studies to the Ph.D. level were it not for my family ties and relocation issues.”
After Reem’s 2002 graduation, she was linked up to start writing for Al-Ahram. Her father was a role model journalist, and her grandfather held a significant position within the company. She began publishing for Al-Ahram by the end of June, the same month as her graduation. She considers writing to be challenging for a beginner; however, “the more you write, the better you get, the more people you meet and more interviews you do.” However, she recommends that only people filled with passion should join the field of journalism as it requires much patience and dedication to succeed.
“I suffered through some intimidation from my co-workers because I was the first woman from an American university to enter Al-Ahram,” she recalled, “Since I come from a family of well-known journalists, my lack of experience at the time also contributed to negative attitudes towards me. When my grandfather left the publication, the treatment I received got even worse, forcing me to switch from Al-Ahram to Daily News.” Despite such a story being overwhelmingly upsetting, Reem managed to come to peace with it. “It shaped me in the person I am today,” she said emotionally.
She got acquainted with people who could appreciate her excellent work and attitude in the profession. “I received appraisal posts and good compliments on my social media pages and the Al-Ahram news page. Besides, I interacted and made many friends through news reporting work, thus attracting more followers to the Al-Ahram news sites and other related journalism and mass media communication units,” she concluded.
As she served as a reporter, Reem pivoted to crafting a well-researched report that resonated with the audience, who were ever grateful for her excellent work. Additionally, she was enthusiastic enough and contributed accurate information timely, as expected by the Al-Ahram manager. Her editor-in-chief gladly agreed to write a recommendation letter for her new desired workplace when it was time to depart.
Moreover, she is not bound to the specific writing topic as she considers feelings and personalities in her writing to be more impactful. The relocation to Egypt became a significant event in her career as she began writing about politics. As much as she evidenced good work, she faced many challenges, especially being bullied and lacking experience.
Reem N. is an Arabic-to-English interpreter who worked as a freelance journalist in 2012. Utilizing her profound linguistic skills in both English and Arabic, she bridged the communication between the Arabs and the Europeans. By means of her translation work, news reached various individuals in an understandable and profiled manner; however, languages are not her only proficient field.
“I also served as a journalist from 2011 to 2012 in the intelligent economics unit”, she added with a smile, “My job was to assist in analyzing financial statistics data besides chairing some of the vital newsroom discussions on the country’s economy with some of the prominent economists and statistical analysts.”
Reem N. published in The Daily News Egypt; with her keen knowledge and experience in economics journalism, she invented and proposed many fascinating business strategies in her writing. “During this time, I wrote a critical analysis of the best business ideas that boomed up to date, such as the technological production of agricultural products. An example is potatoes, cotton, and fresh fruits,” claimed Reem, “Most of my articles provided exploited ideas, making Egypt one of the leading potato exporters worldwide despite being a desert.”
Apart from her career, Reem N. is the pride of her family and a loving wife and mother. Her father has always supported her pursuit of journalism, yet her mother has wished her daughter to start a family with a caring husband. Reem managed to bring happiness to her parents by reaching both goals. “My husband fully supports my work and is very understanding when it comes to it. However, both of us always put our daughters before everything else in life”, she finished with a warm smile.