Written by Farida Abu Sulieman.
Edited by Khaled Mohammed
People often start thinking about their dreams and ambitions at a very young age. We would
daydream, make career plans, and get enthusiastic about achieving our goals. And usually, we
would have to finish school or college first to start taking actual steps toward what we want.
But I don’t believe that’s the case anymore. Gen-Z has already proven that things like your
college degree, graduation status, or job aren’t always necessary to achieve your dreams; the
only thing that matters is you. My interview with Malak only reaffirmed this belief of mine.
Malak Hatem is a high school student, pianist, writer, and an up-and-coming TikTok and
Instagram creator, whose content mostly focuses on empowering, advising, and motivating the
youth.
It all started when Malak discovered her passion for media presentation and journalism. As
Malak studied the possible options, she discovered that going the conventional way (i.e
majoring in Media Studies at a university) wouldn’t be the best for her. And so, Malak decided
to start working toward her goals even before graduating from high school. She enrolled in
various student and extracurricular activities, internships, and courses revolving around
different topics and fields, to glean as much experience and knowledge as possible.
A while later, Malak started receiving questions from her friends and classmates about these
activities, how they could enroll in similar ones, and what qualifications they needed. This
encouraged Malak to openly speak to her colleagues about her experiences and provide them
with all the information she had. All that led to her giving a talk at a TEDx event in April 2021,
publishing her first content on social media, and subsequently developing a new passion for
youth ambassadorship.
What makes Malak’s content so great is its relatability; Malak’s audience has a greater
connection with her because she’s of the same age group, and her content is targeted towards
them. Successfully using social media’s power has also allowed Malak to extend her reach and
connect with people.
Although social media audiences are keener on entertaining and sarcastic content, Malak didn’t
allow that fact to deter her. She understands that different people are interested in several
types of content and she is more focused on benefiting people than going viral. Nonetheless,
Malak is reaching her goal and has two growing social media accounts with thousands of
viewers.
And now that Malak has gained a good amount of experience creating content, I asked her if
she would like to give some advice to anyone interested in doing the same. She answered with
the following:
- You should have enough knowledge and research regarding the topic you’d be presenting, or it would only result in misdirection and controversy.
- Don’t underestimate yourself or your content, even if it takes you a while to go viral or get noticed.
- Try to be as goal-oriented as possible. Get your plan ready and start following it to get the best results.
- Don’t let cyberbullying or the competitive environment of social media and the internet get to you. And you should protect your privacy and personal life from that influence as much as you can.
- Accept constructive criticism. Let the ideas and opinions you receive from others help you improve, not hold you back.
- Keep it short, simple, and straight to the point. Try being concise and direct for the audience to engage with and understand your content.
- Use the trends cleverly to get engagement from viewers.
As we concluded the interview, I was happy to have come in contact with such a spirited,
confident creator who was in pursuit of her dreams. I wish Malakall the best and I highly
recommend checking her content out!
