Ep 18: Dubai TV, ft. Shahad Ballan

The Dubai Wave Podcast’s influential Season 3 concludes with an exclusive conversation with one of Dubai's most dynamic, successful TV presenters, Shahad Ballan. Thrilled to present our super exclusive conversation, at long last. We spoke about her journey into television and the challenges that she faced and overcame in her life and career. We also spent some time speaking about inspiration, resilience, personal development, and coming back from a life-changing accident.

If you've got huge dreams and ambitions, regardless of the hurdles you face, you will absolutely love this episode.

Produced by Dr. Spencer Striker, Digital Media Professor at the American University in Dubai, (now at Northwestern University in Qatar), the show was created with the help of a talented student production team at AUD 

About Shahad

Shahad Ballan is a an Arab TV presenter and journalist who is currently the host of a women's lifestyle show on MBC1 called HAMSA. She is a graduate of the Sheikh Mohammad School for Communication majoring in Digital Production and Story-telling at American University in Dubai. Following that, she went on to work with Dubai TV and took her first step in TV presenting when she hosted an entertainment/tourism show called Al Mawaad. Two years later, she made a move to MBC group were she presented the prime time news bulletin on MBC1 for 3 consecutive years. In the year 2016 Shahad made another turning point in her career when she moved to MBC4 to host ET Bilarabi, the Arabic version of the international format "Entertainment Tonight". 

Beginning her career in television with a chance encounter, Shahad was first seen on the red carpet when she was a researcher escorting a guest for an interview. After graduating from studying film making, and while working in her first job as a researcher, a producer spotted Shahad and asked if she would be interested in working on a pilot show. Without experience in presenting, and in the space of one week, she made the big leap from being a researcher to becoming a presenter on her own show. This move into television was the catalyst for Ballan to develop her taste in style, as growing up she tended to only wear black. Dressing for the camera meant stepping out of her comfort zone and experimenting with colour, working out what she liked and what worked for her.

Hosted by: Spencer Striker, PhD, Digital Media Professor at the American University in Dubai

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerstriker

& Digital Media Student at AUD, 

Special Guest: Shahad Ballan

Official Website and social media links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahad-ballan-96893336/?originalSubdomain=ae

https://www.instagram.com/shahadballan/

https://bnc.lt/m/cOnX1VihYU?_p=c11434dc91047af3e50387ff

About the Dubai Wave Podcast:

The concept with Dubai Wave is to look at big picture Dubai. Each episode focuses on a unique topic, such as Dubai Fitness; Dubai Social Media; Dubai Food Scene; Dubai Music, etc., with the goal to illuminate a 360-degree viewpoint of all the exciting things happening here, the gem of the Middle East. The impressive guest list to date includes the founder of Dubai’s most influential MMA gym, Tam Khan (Dubai MMA); successful entrepreneur, Anas Bukhash (Dubai Entrepreneurship); the editor of What’s On Dubai, Laura Coughlin (Dubai Magazines); the host of Virgin Radio Dubai, Brent Black, (Dubai Radio); and the first Emirati filmmaker to achieve International acclaim and standing, Ali F. Mostafa, (Dubai Film). Previously, Dr. Striker, with help from talented Digital Media and MBRSC students, launched a successful podcast called Digital Media & Tech in Dubai, focused on the Dubai tech industry, with eight episodes to date, featuring some of Dubai’s most exciting digital thought leaders.

Production Managed by: Carma Al Younes, AUD Digital Media student
Edited by: Aminur Rahman
On-Site Recording Support by: AUD Digital Media’s own Anil Mathew James
Executive Producer: Spencer Striker, PhD