Hi my name is Mona Munshi…
Welcome to my first blog post! Ahh I am so excited to be writing this right now, and even more excited knowing that YOU are finally reading it! I am Mona Munshi, Director and CEO of Mona Munshi Photography & Mode Models DXB. I have been wanting to start blogging for the longest time, but life always gets in the way creating a million excuses. I wanted a platform where I can share my voice and knowledge from the years of being an Entrepreneur, creative and mum. I hope to be able to inspire my audience, share tips and tricks I’ve learnt through my journey to becoming a professional photographer and share experiences and stories of a British Pakistani expat living in Dubai. Just as the name of this Blog states I will be sharing my Art and soul to you! For my first blog post I wanted to let you know more about me and what you can expect to see here!
Let me introduce myself… a little about me
I was born and raised in London, United Kingdom and lived there most my life but now I have relocated to Dubai which I now call home. I have lived in different countries including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and have an appetite for traveling which never ends.
My family used to own a clothing manufacturing company as I was growing up, where my Mother and Father amongst other extended family members would spend most of their time. Spending so much time in the factory I grew a passion for fashion design and went to college to study it further. i then went to work back with the family business and worked with some really talented fashion designers where I had hands on experience working in the fashion industry. From travelling to Paris to source fabrics for the next collection organising fashions shows and eventually taking role as head designer in the company.
Throughout my life I have worked a spectrum of jobs from a teacher, restaurant hostess, makeup artist, sales manager, high school councilor, and real estate agent. At one point I even owned my own cupcake business where I had developed over 95 flavours of cupcake! YES it happened! But ever since I was young I always loved doing anything creative.
In 2010 me and my family moved to Saudi Arabia, where while working in an American activity.
After a while we moved back to London where I decided to enrol on a Bachelors degree in Psychosocial Studies along side working in the evening and weekends doing photography to generate an income. I started off doing events and weddings and over time I begun doing Fashion & beauty projects to make up for the quiet months when wedding season was low. After spending many years in the industry travelling for projects all while based in London, I felt that I needed to grow, face more challenges and change environment. I already had made so many trips to Dubai since I have my sisters living here, Dubai was already a familiar city to me making the decision to move here so easy. I have been Living in Dubai now since October 2017 and I can tell you with no hesitation that it was the best decision I ever made in my life! (Alhumdulillah).
We also have Three furry family members named Meeko, Gimbal and Mimi which are characters in themselves always getting up to mischief!
In our free time we love spending time with family, taking road trips and most importantly enjoying yummy food together! Yes our family are all huge foodies (including all our staff) and we love to spend time cooking up a storm or checking out the latest restaurants around town.
Oh and another important note about me, most be know and spot me by my red hair! I have had this colour now for years and its kinda like become a part of who I am and I couldn’t imagine myself any other way!
What this blog is all about…
For my first blog post I want to give you an idea of what you will expect to see here! This space will be a little bit of everything – topics from photography tips and tricks, social media tips, beauty, fashion and style trends, and all things lifestyle including home organisation hacks, product reviews and favorites, and just daily thoughts and things. My goal for this site is for all of my readers to find daily inspiration, useful advice, relatable and helpful content as a Creative, Business owner & expat in Dubai. I want to keep this blog casual and easy to read, more like I’m having a chat with my friend filling you in on all the Tea!
Thank you for being here!
Lastly I just wanted to say thank you SO much for just being here and reaching this far, reading my first blog post. I am so grateful for my readers already and hope you continue to follow along! Also remember to join my e-mail newsletter to be notified of new posts. Let’s get to know each other! Leave a comment below with your name, where you are from, and maybe some ideas of what you’d like to see me blog about.
Thanks again, friends!
Mona Munshi