Feature Writer/Blogger
HalfStack Magazine
Total years of experience :15 years, 4 Months
Write weekly blog posts on special events, food reviews, concerts and celebrity features.
• Wrote, produced and filmed video segments dealing with social issues and multiculturalism.
• Significantly increased viewership and visibility in Middle East and Arabic countries.
Wrote, produced and edited content for The Early Show — a 7-10 AM morning news program
airing 5-days a week. The content centered on parenting/family matters, domestic relationships,
dating, public services, budgeting/finance, education and daily news. The cross-cultural target
audience ranged in ages 20-60 with demographics being 65% female.
• Responsible for hiring and staffing an 8-person production staff and writing team.
• Responsible for content posted on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc).
• Was the network’s ambassador/PR Rep. at news functions, tradeshows and media events.
• The Early Show was the #1 new program in the nation. ‘Tareq and Layla’ were the
station’s brand. Set the objectives and performance goals to evaluate the success of
the programming against various target audiences. There was a heavy reliance on social
media to generate public interest and support.
• Interviewees included Former Prime Minister of Iraq Ayad Allawi, President of Iraq Jalal Talabani.
• Host of two additional programs:
- 12, a special interest program that centered on the mathematics of planet alignment,
astrology and how they affect cultures, the body, relationships and people. This show
also had a call-in question/answer segment.
- Chase Your Prize, a holiday 60-minute quiz show that was the charity arm of the station.
Guest Journalist of Egyptian talk show Happy Morning and presented on social issues and on the
arts. This show was hugely popular with an annual viewership of 40 million viewers nationwide
including the Middle East and North America.
• Increased viewership by 5% (by name recognition alone) and this program was #2 in Egypt
for it’s time slot.
• Responsible for researching topics/content and setting the priority of information.
Stayed abreast of political, world, local and entertainment news and effectively translated world
events for local audiences. This station was recognized for a broad appeal to a diverse demographic.
• Creator of Facebook Show, a 9 PM prime time, 60-minute, twice a week, interactive
television program tying real-time social networking (Facebook) to editorial television while
fielding viewer commentary and posting. It relied on daily news events and popular news
items for content.
• Host of Arab Café, a 7 PM, 3 times per week, 60 minutes/arts/media program similar to
Access Hollywood.
Host of People Talk — Similar to Nightline, this evening (11:00 PM), 60-minute program aired,
3-times a week. This debate/forum style program sponsored fiery discussions among different
political parties and centered on current news and economic topics of that day.
• Interviewees included: Vice Prime Minister of Iraq, Vice Prime Minister of United Arab
Emirates, Vice Prime Minister of Jordan and Vice Prime Minister of Syria.
• Anchor for nightly Evening Economic News
• Anchor for Around the World — a weekend, news/arts program dealing with current topics.