Clothes are a critical part of making a first impression and the candidates know that all too well. It’s easy to discount fashion as superficial and suggest that focusing on fashion distracts from the important issues, but the reality is that if fashion didn’t matter, it wouldn’t be a $3 trillion industry that currently accounts for two percent of the world’s GDP.

When 18-year-old Labeabah Almheiri founded The Emirati Bravado, she had one important aim in mind. “I want people to be willing to get to know each other,” she told My Salaam, “odds are you have something in common with another expat or Emirati.”. The Emirati Bravado is a website that hosts stories and features on important Emiratis and expats.

As noted author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.”. There are a number of stereotypes about women in the Middle East, most of which assume that their lives are limited and without professional focus. The reality, however, is that this region is brimming with powerful, ambitious, empowered women who are celebrated by their communities and buoyed by government initiatives that specifically focus on building their success.

Halloween is a favorite holiday for children and candy connoisseurs alike but the storied holiday hasn’t always been so easy to celebrate in the Middle East. The history of Halloween stems from its tie between the fertile and sunny days of summer and autumn and the cusp of the shorter, more morose winter season that can often bring about gloom and depression. It is thought to have evolved from the Celtic festival known as Samhain which was a time when people would dress as ghosts and light fires in an attempt to scare off spirits.

Although our hearts want to believe that love is all we need, research, stats and experience makes it quite clear that love is often not enough. With over 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce in the US, anyone considering a relationship needs to go into it with eyes wide open, fully aware that successful relationships require not only understanding but work.

Kim Kardashian is a fashion icon, an entrepreneur, a wife, a mother and a human being. And on Sunday night in Paris, she also became the victim of a violent crime, although luckily she escaped physically unharmed. A spokeswoman for Kim Kardashian West, who has now left the city, says she was held up at gunpoint inside her Paris hotel room by two armed masked men dressed as police officers.

This past week was marked by the opening of a new film with a stellar cast. Masterminds, a film by director Jared Hess, is chocked full of the who’s-who of American comedy. Masterminds being a hit should be a safe bet. But it has not done well at all. It has been eviscerated by critics for being classist, sexist, stereotypical, and the worst for a comedy movie: unfunny and boring.

The American Presidential Debate on Monday pulled back an important curtain. For many, it was just another foray into Trump’s ingratiating, hyper-aggressive campaign style: a pompous blow-hard who struts around on stage pontificating his message that what makes America great is xenophobia, racism, and misogyny.

It’s important that if we have the choice we surround ourselves with people with different perspectives and ideas, even if those differences makes us uncomfortable. Without being uncomfortable, there’s no necessity outside of our own motivation to change or grow. And motivation can be a fickle friend.

After an exciting trip abroad, many people, although home with wonderful memories of exotic places, also feel the soreness and fatigue that comes with turn around travel on budget airlines, sitting in economy. Even though the Middle East is close to amazing travel destinations, travelling itself can be something one has to suck up and get through, rather than enjoy and revel in.

It is a new academic study, but some married people may say, with tongue perhaps only slightly in cheek, they already knew its findings. Research released last month suggests that single people, contrary to conventional wisdom, live happier and more meaningful lives than their coupled-up counterparts.

A new class that’s come to Dubai is Gogo Bounce Rebounder, currently available at Train Strength and Fitness Gym in Al Quoz. It’s a small personal trampoline based exercise that started in 1977 and was popular through the early 80s with US President Reagan even reportedly saying, “If you see somebody jumping up and down on the second floor of the White House, that's me rebounding."

The Capoeira community in Dubai offers opportunities to those interested in this Brazilian martial art and opportunities to those who may not yet know what Capoeira is. With the 2016 Olympic games taking place in Brazil, there is a resurgence of interest in all things Brazilian and Capoeira, at it’s heart, is a balanced combination of core elements and deeply connected to Brazil’s rich history and culture.