Woman This Month - February 2023

Valentine’s Day Chic!

Love is a universal feeling and the celebration of love isn’t a new concept to the vast majority of us. As Valentine’s Day draws closer, we bring you some of our most-loved outfits and accessories. Perhaps you’ll find some inspiration for your celebration of love whether it’s with a significant other, family or friends.

There are plenty of ways to express yourself with your Valentine’s Day outfit this year. What’s the Woman This Month team wearing? We’re going all out. Frills, prints, tailored jackets, metallics and more. There really isn’t any need to shy away from any trend!

One of the first things to catch our attention this Valentine’s Day was the Eveningwear Edit by MATCHES Fashion which featured fantastic occasion-wear. Drawing inspiration from Valentine’s we gravitated towards the Emilia Wickstead dress with its rose prints and the stunning floor length evening gown in a soft pink. Roksanda’s crimson number with statement sleeves would be the perfect fit with some classic black stockings while the pink sequined cocktail dress by Ashish would be fun and flirty. For a classic look, you can’t go wrong with Tom Ford’s burgundy blazer.

To accessorise, we love the BY FAR capsule collection for Valentine’s Day which features bags and shoes that are at once electrifying and romantic. The iconic Baby Amber bag, the Glami clutch, the Evelyn mule and the Eliza slingback are all covered in custom Italian flagstone leather in a gentle pale pink shade. If pink’s not your thing, you’ll love the classic red bag from JW Anderson.

For a look that is both cosy and lush, we adore the eyecatching pink velvet suit from ETRO’s FW 22/23 collection. The glowing red layered dress from Cecilie Bahnsen is sure to turn some heads too!

EDITOR’S PICK!

FYNE Jewellery’s Nod to Love

The romantic ideal of fine jewellery is one that’s not lost on us. It might be the sentiment that a diamond is forever, or that true love is rare, or the infinite characteristic of a ring, bracelet or necklace. For Fyne Jewellery, their craft is centered around meaning, sustainability and longevity; all qualities that are also synonymous with the notion of love.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we couldn’t help but take notice of some of their pieces: the Amara Diamond Eternity Ring, Love 'Hob' Ear Stud and Love 'Hob' Bracelet Cuff.

Bahrain’s Ballerina

Marija Rakic invites Bahrain

This Month’s Farrah Saville to her studio to talk ballet, Bahrain and building her dream on the island. She opens up about representing Bahrain in Paris as part of a dance delegation at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

It’s a cold winter’s day in Bahrain - windy and icy. Marija Rakic talks to us from her ballet studio in Seef which overlooks the RitzCarlton, Bahrain. “I started dancing when I was eight years old at the National Ballet School ‘Lujo Davico’ in Serbia. My parents took me there one rainy day and I had an audition in front of a jury of 15 people and luckily, I was accepted, meaning I have been dancing for 24 years!”

“There was the war in Serbia in 1999, so I had to stop dancing for six months as schools were not open. As the war ended, I was pushed by my teacher to start doing ballet classes with a generation two years older than me, so I could progress faster. That is why I graduated high school two years before my own generation,” she explains.

Marija’s dance career includes a history of

dancing at the top ballet schools in the world. At the tender age of 16 Marija was accepted to a ballet academy in Salzburg, Austria. Just a year later she received an official invitation to study at a ballet academy in Madrid, Spain followed by an acceptance to Perm State Ballet School in Russia.

“I graduated as one of the top students and immediately after began receiving offers for job opportunities in Russian theatres. My professional career started at a theatre in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia. After two and a half years there, I received an offer to work in Moscow and started touring with The Moscow Ballet Company around Europe. We danced in main theaters in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, such as Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro de Liceu (Barcelona) and Teatro Elfo Puccini (Milan),” she reminisces.

Adding to her illustrious career, she accepted a job offer with ‘Ballet La Classique’ Elik Melikov and performed on stage of RAMT and the historic Bolshoi Theatre just a year later. “By 2014 I was working between two theatres: Teatrul de Sibiu in Romania and The Moscow Ballet Company,” she states.

An injury forced her to stop her professional dancing career in 2016, and so she joined a ballet school in Qatar. After nearly five years in Qatar, she accepted an offer in the Kingdom of Bahrain where she is currently a ballet teacher.

Her experience, passion and talent led her to represent Bahrain in France at the International Dance Council of UNESCO. She laughs: “I received a phone call from an unknown number and did not want to answer, but after a few missed calls, I picked up. It was

a call from France – the International Dance Council of UNESCO.”

“I had been selected to become a member of the council and so the International Dance Council President, Prof. Dr. Alkis Raftis, came to Qatar for a few days to meet me and I have been an active member ever since,” she adds.

In December 2022, the ballerina represented Bahrain’s delegation at the Annual International Dance Congress at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. “More than 40 countries were represented at the congress, and we discussed issues and options for improving the future of dance across the world,” she states.

Working in Bahrain has opened a new world for Marija. “When a three-year-old child tells me that they love dance, I am always interested to know the reason. Some of them just want to wear tutu ballerina dresses, while some of them love it because they feel happy when they dance,” she says.

“Ballet is good for physical health and exercising helps kids develop good habits. In

addition, it makes them mentally stronger and disciplined. Most importantly, it makes the kids happy and provides them with a safe place and additional professional opportunities in the future,” she adds.

Bahrain has several dance schools, and locals and residents alike have been known to be quite talented in art and dance, but Marija believes there is room for improvement.

“Unfortunately, there is no professional dance or ballet school, but with any luck that will change in future. Hopefully, there is the possibility of establishing a national dance school in the future too - that is my dream here. Young Bahraini talents deserve that, and so it is one of my biggest ambitions to establish Bahrain’s National Dance or Ballet Company,” she says.

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), in collaboration with Common Ground International, recently announced that the Imperial Russian Ballet, will be coming to Bahrain in March – an event that Marija believes will have a positive impact on the dance scene in the country.

“I am really excited to have the opportunity to see Imperial Russian Ballet in Bahrain, as it is one of the leading tour ballet companies in Moscow, directed by the previous Bolshoi Ballet Soloist, Gedeminas Taranda. I used to have ballet classes with them in Moscow and have had many of my colleagues who have worked or are working there. It is a wonderful opportunity for my students, and for the whole country to host such a world level ballet performance. Hopefully, it will motivate kids to love ballet even more!” she says with enthusiasm.

As for the future, Marija says: “My hopes are that one day we will have a national professional ballet school in Bahrain aside from a dance or ballet company. I also hope that we will host an International Dance Congress for dance professionals around the world someday. Most of all, my biggest hope is that the artistic and dance scene in Bahrain will flourish further, and I hope to contribute to the growth of this mindset in the country.”

To keep up with Marija, follow @ballerinabahrain on Instagram.

Creating

A MASTERPIECE

Dedication and the abilty to stick to a goal has a way of changing people’s lives. Madhu S., the vibrant personality behind the viral art account Fem Visionary, tells Farah Baig how an act of commitment and passion came together to change her life.

brushstrokes, delicate hues and mesmerising art are just some of the reasons that make Fem Visionary so special. With nearly 225,000 followers, Fem Visionary is not just another account on Instagram but rather an escape for some.

Intricate

Madhu S., the creative force behind the account, started it in 2017 with the intention of committing herself to a goal for at least a year. “I was born in Bahrain, raised in Oman, and returned to the Kingdom nearly five years ago. At the time, I decided to commit myself to my art with intention as opposed to only creating it when I had free time. The reason was, I felt like I was being indecisive having changed careers and jobs too often,” she says. “So much has stemmed from that one decision. Today, I have an actual career in art, have been featured in a lot of places, had collaborations, amassed thousands of followers all around the world and just released my first book,” she adds with a smile. Taking a trip down memory lane, Madhu recalls how she was naturally drawn to art when she was just in kindergarten. “I was definitely one of those kids that wouldn’t pay attention and would be drawing instead,” she says. After grasping several art forms and mediums,

Madhu found her heart in one medium in particular – watercolours. Her delicate floral artwork is almost instantly recognisable, making it her signature style. “There is something so unique about watercolours. You see, with other mediums you can always work around things and fix them but with water colours… you have to make peace with it,” she explains. “You can picture your art being a certain way but there is a lot of letting go as things can change midway. The good thing is no two pieces are ever alike.”

With a love for teaching, Madhu decided to begin teaching online. “My courses are very self-paced as I believe that with certain mediums it helps if you have someone who can teach you. With watercolours you can end up with messes without guidance which can be quite discouraging if you’re unsure what to expect,” she says.

In addition to creating content online and

teaching, Madhu published her first book –Vibrant Watercolour Birds – in December, 2022. The instructional book is available on various platforms including Amazon. “I strongly believe that everyone should have art in their lives. The book is a mix between realistic and more fun and has sections with practice exercises. If someone's not used watercolours before, they can actually take the book and start from scratch. It’s great for beginners and moves through intermediate and advanced since you pick up skills as you go through it,” she explains.

Sharing her advice for budding artists, Madhu says: “Find a style that you genuinely enjoy doing, and create work that is distinctive and distinguishes you as an artist. You can try different techniques but you have to be known for something that is specific to you. People need to know what you stand for; that’s what creates an impact.”

To keep up with Madhu, follow @femvisionary on Instagram.

The Things We Don’t Say

IS A NEW YOU REALLY NECESSARY?

In this month’s column, Farrah Saville looks at New Year’s resolutions and asks if "letting go of the pressures of new” will be better for all of us.

In the wise words of Queen Missy Elliot, one has to ask when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, “Is it worth it?”. There is an intense amount of pressure that comes with the start of the new year: new beginnings, new life, new health goals to reach and new diets, but what if we didn’t endeavor to commit to big changes at the beginning of the new year? Would it mean no progress and no change?

Often, at the start of a new year, we set unrealistic expectations for ourselves and find it difficult to get back up when we don’t reach them. Before you know it, it’s March and you’ve spent copious amounts of money on butter lettuce that goes to the vegetable drawer in the fridge to die and have used your gym membership once. Committing to big changes is difficult; so why do we put all this pressure on ourselves? I blame good marketing and pure

toxic positivity. For some, the idea of a new year is the possibility of being able to change and see the newness of possibilities, for others… it’s not quite as simple.

What if we just accepted ourselves as is and instead of trying to create new goals for a new year accepted that change was not necessary in existential terms but a lot more practical. Wouldn’t it be easier to accept our flaws, continuously improve, and then begin the process of change instead of putting so much pressure on a new year? There is already so much intensity that comes with a new year - change, expectations, hopes, dreams; so why add the stress of big, altering goals like losing 20 kilos or running 5km a day. Maybe the ideal would be to build small habits instead of a resolution. I mean, even the word RES-O-LUTION feels so final, so big; its meaning: “a firm decision to do or

not to do something” – that’s a big commitment.

Is the key not to wait for 365 days to pass to start again, start new but instead treat every day, every moment as a chance to start new, a chance to begin again. Imagine going into 2024 strong, achieving a small win each day: getting up earlier, sleeping eight hours a day and making sure to eat vegetables with each meal? And simply by taking each day as it comes, sleeping a few minutes earlier, adding one piece of butter lettuce to the plate and waking up five minutes earlier day by day.

Would that make a difference? Maybe the idea shouldn’t be new year’s resolutions but new day resolutions and most importantly, that we forgive ourselves each day and start again to achieve the best version of ourselves.

Your Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner; do you plan on spoiling yourself or putting together a Valentine’s Day wishlist? Here are five products that we absolutely love this month!

CREATE SALON-WORTHY STYLES WITH YOUMI BEAUTY

Whether you love glorious waves, luscious curls or silky-smooth hair, you’re going to love this. Youmi Beauty, a renowned Dubai-based cosmetic brand founded by mega beauty influencer and businesswoman, Youmna Khoury, has announced the pre-launch of its new hair tools. The line will feature a hair curler kit, hair dryer kit, hair brush, and hair clips, all of which are expertly engineered for achieving flawless results.

The Curling Wand features an extended barrel, making it perfect for extensions or long hair to achieve an effortless, salon-worthy, blow-dry effect from home. The long barrel is coated in ceramic which helps to seal the hair cuticle, prevent frizz and enhance shine, and has an adjustable temperature of 80-220°C. Paired with the curler is the Mermaid Hair Waver Kit, ideal for creating beach-bound tresses and mermaid waves.

Meanwhile, their innovative, lightweight digital hair dryer features intelligent technology for smooth, shiny and frizz-free results. Youmi Beauty’s hair brush promises to be gentle on strands while leaving hair smooth and silky without any breakage or damage. The Youmi Beauty Hair Clips are a final addition for completing a full, glamorous look. Coming in a pack of nine, the embellished clips can be used for hair styling or accessorising.

Available at Youmibeauty.com

DISCOVER CLASSIC OUD WITH LOOTAH PERFUMES

Immerse yourself in an aromatic experience with Lootah Perfumes’ timeless collection of oud fragrances. Among the many things that the Middle East is famous for, the one that stands out the most is the Oud fragrance, a rare scent steeped in its heritage. Often referred to as black gold, Oud is derived from the rarest and most expensive wood in the world. Silky Oud features notes of Lavender, Ylang Clary Sage, and Dry Wood. With this fragrance you’ll experience the rich aromas of the Emirati culture reeling you back in time. This sweet aroma oud with its woody floral rich honey scent is sure to be the perfect addition to your collection of fragrances. Available at www.lootahperfumes.ae.

VEGAN MAKEUP FROM FLORMAR

The inclusive and affordable makeup brand Flormar has launched their latest ‘Green Up’ range consisting of clean, cruelty-free, and vegan products. The extensive range includes a concealer, foundation, lipstick, eye pencil, mascara, lash serum, nail oil, nail scrub, nail enamel, eye pencil, and mascara. We love the new range of lipsticks introduced by the brand. If you are looking for a herbalbased lipstick that will match all your make-up styles, this lipstick is just the one. Produced from natural ingredients, these lipsticks offer easy application with a creamy texture and sweet aroma. It’s available in four shades: Nude Beauty, Back to Nature, Natural Kiss, Wild Rose. This vegan lipstick adds that instant oomph factor to the lips with just one layer due to its intensely pigmented formula. Available at all Flormar stores and select beauty retailers.

A BIT OF VITAMIN C!

Beauty is quite literally skin-deep, so don’t forget to take care of your skin as part of your daily routine. Olivanna’s new Vitamin C Brightening Serum is a fantastic lightweight moisturiser that you can add to your skincare routine. The serum enriches your skin with Vitamin C at the heart of the dermis for age-defying results.

The vegan formula provides effective antioxidant protection against UV-induced cell damage and includes Cornflower cells which improve cellular activity while boosting collagen and elastin synthesis. What this means is that you’ll end up with skin that appears firmer and more toned with a reduction in wrinkles and fine lines.

The serum is also rich in ceramides, squalene and hyaluronic acid which strengthens the skin’s barrier, gives it a hydration boost and brightens it too.

Available on www.olivanna.com.

GLOW UP WITH CATRICE

Your sophisticated glowy make-up look starts with Catrice this Valentine’s. Prep your face with the Glowifier Illuminating Primer to give your skin that glow from within!

The primer radiates with a soft and subtlegolden shimmer and can be worn on its own, underneath or on top of make-up, or combined with powder. The fact that the product has a versatile formula means that you can also mix it in with your favourite foundation for a look that is long-lasting and has a natural finish! The primer’s watermelon extract helps nourish your skin, but also perfectly preps it for the night. Combined with some bronzer, blush and statement lip, we’re positive this will be the perfect look for your Valentine’s Day Available at beauty stockists across the region.

The Personal Balanced Scorecard

With a new year comes the urge to better ourselves. Renowned Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) and Accredited Chartered Manager (CMI), Eman Deabil, tells us how we can develop our yearly personal plan, evaluate our personal performance and achieve our goals by incorporating a personal Balanced Scorecard.

We’re just getting used to 2023, but as we take it all in, it’s probably worth looking back at our achievements last year so we may reflect on the lessons learnt, and draft some fresh plans for the New Year. There are many techniques that can be adopted to develop our yearly personal plan, evaluate our personal performance, measure where we stand and where we want to go; one of these is the Personal Balanced Scorecard.

It’s worth mentioning that the Corporate Balanced Scorecard is not a new technique; it’s mainly a framework that was invented by two gentlemen, Norton and Kaplan, in the early 1990s which has evolved ever since.

The Balanced Scorecard was created to formulate a strategy and monitor its performance. I have been working on this for a number of organisations and customising it to fit their needs and requirements, and although it’s challenging at times, it is very rewarding when you look at the outcomes at the time of performance evaluation – be it positive or negative. What’s more, a couple of years ago, when I was working with some of my mentees on developing their personal plans and goals for the year, the idea of leveraging the Balanced Scorecard for personal development came to mind and I

started sharing it during my sessions. It’s not an invention, but rather a way to look at life from different perspectives, define personal objectives and set clear initiatives and KPIs to meet those objectives. Let’s explore some brief examples of how to use it or even integrate it with other tools such as the ‘Wheel of Life’ - a concept that was originally created by Paul J. Meyer in the early 1960s.

In a nutshell, the Corporate Balanced Scorecard has four perspectives which can be customised: financial, customers, internal processes, and organisational capacity (or learning and growth according to old literatures). Under each perspective, we have a number of objectives which are connected by cause-and-effect relationships. For each objective, we can have initiatives and/or KPIs associated mainly to fulfill that objective. The ‘Wheel of Life’, on the other hand, consists of a number of elements as seen below:

· Family and friends

· Fun and leisure

· Health

· Personal growth

· Career &

· Finances

Here are some steps to creating your Personal Balanced Scorecard:

1) The first step is to select what we consider highly-important elements and treat them as Balanced Scorecard ‘perspectives’, so we may have a nice integrated tool that can rightly serve our personal development goals. These ‘perspectives’ could be: Family, Financial, Career, Lifestyle, etc.

2) Next is to identify the objectives you need to accomplish under each ‘perspective’. Then, for each objective, list down the initiatives that you need to undertake and/ or the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with corresponding targets that you need to monitor. Initiatives are the projects that have start and end dates (one-time off), and KPIs/targets are continuous. Your initiatives could be things like MBA thesis or start a business while your KPIs could be: the number of kilograms you would like to lose as part of your weightloss (eg. target is 5 kg), number of books read (target is 10 per year). For each initiative, you need to have a specific timeline, and for each KPI, you need to have a unit of measurement (what and when to measure).

3) For better assurance and comfort, discuss what you drafted with a trusted advisor –

could be a friend or a mentor or coach. Let that advisor challenge your plan, assess its feasibility with you or probably add more stretching objectives. That session will help you crystalise your thoughts and modify or enhance your plan.

4) When you finish drafting your objectives, initiatives and KPIs, start tracking and

evaluating your performance. As we all know, things might not go as planned - be it for better or for worse; changes to your plan should be recorded and justifications or reasoning should be documented. This will help you assess your capabilities for next time or improve it – if needed. Remember, we can’t improve or manage

what we don’t measure, so to improve, we need to measure.

Below is just a snapshot of how your plan could look after leveraging the Balanced Scorecard technique. You can easily transform this to the tabular format for easy tracking.

Last but not least, I would like to seize this opportunity to wish you all a pleasant and successful 2023 filled with notable accomplishments.

Navigating friendships is not always easy—and it certainly takes work to learn how to be a good friend. As a child grows and develops their social skills, it’s only natural that they will have a hard time sharing or may struggle to get along with another kid at some point or another. In the name of raising happy, kind and empathetic children, there are a few things that you can do to help your child be a good friend. A huge part of learning to be a good friend is learning to compromise and share. Teach your child to be flexible by practicing at home with your family. Point out moments when you are flexible as you are playing with your little one. For example, rather than simply following their lead, you can also make requests. Try saying, “I want to use the purple ball.” At other times you can compromise and say something like: “OK, sure. I can be flexible and use the green ball instead.” Alternatively, ask your child to be flexible by saying: “Could you be flexible and use the green ball this time?” The same goes for sharing- ask your little one

Friendships are some of the most special relationships a person can have, and some of the most essential friendships a person can make are during their childhood. This month, Ouiam El Hassani tells you how to help your child be a good friend through playdates.

to share their toys to instill the quality. Things never go quite as expected when it comes to children, which can make it really hard when your child first starts playing with other kids. They may have big feelings when things don’t go to plan. Children may react to the unexpected by getting upset. Should this happen, remember to validate their feelings first and help them work through those emotions in a productive way. This could be taking a break and a moment away from their friends—and that’s OK, too.

When it comes to playdates, try to:

Plan it for a good time of day- As your little one is beginning to have playdates and learning about being a friend, set them up to have a successful playdate by first choosing a calm time of day. Getting close to naptime is often tricky, and, if possible, try to avoid shifting a nap in favour of a playdate.

Meet at a neutral location- Sometimes it can be hard for your child to host other children

in their space and share their toys. Try to meet at a neutral location.

Discuss how toy sharing works beforehand- If you are hosting the playdate, talk about sharing toys before the other children come over. With your child helping, set aside any special toys that your little one will have a very hard time sharing in a space where the other children can’t access them.

Set up structured activities: Some children really benefit from structure. You can build structure into the playdate by preplanning and setting up structured games and activities. This is a great tool for kids who have a hard time jumping in to play or struggle with self-regulation during playdates. Remember, it will take your child some time to learn about being flexible and sharing when they first begin experiencing playdates. Guide them through it, and most importantly, teach them all you can about friendship.

How would you describe yourself?

Passionate all the way, whether it’s about family, work or friends!

I simply love what I do and deeply care about my relationships. I’m also an extrovert and don’t usually fret the small stuff.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I reckon they are still hidden!!!

What’s the best advice you have ever received? Life goes on. Nothing lasts forever.

Name three things you are currently looking forward to. A great 2023 on every front. Achieving more successes professionally and personally. A vacation with my family!

InHerShoes

This month, the Woman This Month team catches up with the Operations Manager at Ramee Grand Hotel & Spa, Seef – Varsha Bhatia. Let’s take a walk in her shoes!

What’s your favourite movie?

Not really a movie but a Netflix series called Black Mirror; it was very futuristic and relatable. As for Indian movies, I love Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (One Life to Live).

What’s your favourite food?

Italian and Indian it is. Being a vegetarian, I love my pastas, pizzas, risottos, Indian snack food and yummylicious Indian sweets!

What’s your favourite thing about Bahrain?

Bahrain has been my home for decades. The friendliness and the helpfulness of Bahrain’s people never ceases to amaze me! Also, one of the most important features is the safety and security of the citizens. I would rate Bahrain amongst the most top-rated safest countries of the world!

At karaoke, your go-to song is? Karaoke and me? We don’t gel well.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Old age homes! I have a soft heart when it comes to elderly. I just simply love the feeling of love and happiness that you see in the eyes of the elderly!

Now you’ve seen your regular issue, which we hope you enjoyed, make sure to check out our websites and social media for daily updates of what’s happening across the Kingdom. You can find us at:

Award Ceremony

The Government of India awarded KG Baburajan with the highest civilian Non-Resident Indians award -The Pravasi Bahratiya Samman - considering his remarkable success in the Engineering sector and his contributions in philanthropic and socio-cultural fields.

bahrainthismonth.com

bahrainthismonth

womanthismonth com

womanthismonth