Maria Al-Masani

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Maria Al-Masani (born 1984) is a Yemeni and Canadian fashion designer[1] and public relations executive who co-founded the Yemen Rights Monitor, a blog to record human rights violations. In 2012, she was named as one of eight 'agents of change' by CNN's Inside the Middle East.[2]

Early life and career[edit]

Maria Al-Masani was born in Russia and moved to Yemen at age three. At 16, she moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, attending a local college before relocating to Ottawa to study economic development at Carleton University.[3]

Al-Masani came to national and international attention as the first contestant of Yemeni origin to enter the Miss Universe pageant at the national level for Miss Universe Canada, and the first Yemeni contestant to win a title, of Miss Congeniality at the competition in 2010.[4][5][6] She also worked for two political parties in the Parliament of Canada, one as an intern in 2006, the other as a staffer in 2013.[7]

Activism[edit]

Al-Masani founded Yemen Rights Monitor during the Arab Spring in 2011, providing a means of updating news via social media when traditional news media had been blocked – she was later cited by Andy Carvin as one of his most reliable sources about opposition activities in Yemen.[2][8]

She has appeared as an activist against forced marriage on Al Jazeera's The Stream, recounting her friends escape from a potential forced marriage in Yemen.[9] In 2012, Al-Masani was among the speakers at a summit hosted by Yahoo! in Cairo on women's use of technology to create positive change.[10][11] In 2011, she spoke at the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference, discussing how social media has been used to circumvent censorship in Yemen.[12]

Maria Al-Masani supports free speech as the foundation of western civilization, modern civil society and decries censorship[13] inspired by her late uncle Dr Abdulaziz Al Saqqaf.[14][circular reference] Dr Al-Saqqaf was the winner of the N.P.C.'s International Award for Freedom of the Press for 1995.[15]

Al-Masani serves on the board of Madbakh Women's International, a group whose projects have included raising funds for the National Boroma Fistula Hospital in Somalia.[16] She also discussed fistula on Al Jazeera's The Stream and in a feature in the Canadian political and government newspaper The Hill Times.[9][17]

Opera[edit]

Maria Al-Masani is a supporter of traditional classical music and organized Evening of Beauty along with Pellegrini Opera to fund-raise for the Evening of Beauty.[18][1]

Happy Yemens and Haute Couture[edit]

Since Sept 24, 2014, during Yemeni civil war, Al-Masani started a collective Happy Yemens www.happyyemens.org[19] to raise awareness for her besieged town of Taiz, besieged by Houthis.[20] The expose of corruption had caused an outrage amongst many pro Houthi radical Islamist Twitter platform users, especially her post on UN corruption in collaboration with Houthi militias in Yemen.[21] As her uncle Dr. Abdulaziz Alsaqqaf, founder of Yemen Times, was assassinated for his endeavors for a free press in Yemen, Al-Masani supports journalist ethics and truth in media, asking journalists to fact check, and is a supporter for truth in media for GamerGate.[22] Since 2015, she has been studying classic haute couture at the Richard Robinson Academy,[23] a school found by Richard Robinson who worked under Christian Dior himself.[24] Her blog Ottawa Royal Style, popular among elegant discerning women www.ottawaroyalstyle.com[25] focuses on a classic chic elegance, with an emphasis on aesthetics that will bring joy to the wearer,[26] and help the client achieve her personal and professional goals.[27] Her influences are vintage Dior, Jacques Fath and vintage Givency, Richard Robinson, Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad.[28]

She currently is a fashion designer, starting her own brand, Al-Masani Royal House, based on ideals of promoting elegance and beauty to help increase women's self esteem. www.almasaniroyalhouse.com[29]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Glitz, glamour and a little opera in Ottawa - FAJO Magazine". www.fajomagazine.com. 8 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Women and the Arab uprisings: 8 'agents of change' to follow - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  3. ^ Martin, Jim (2010-04-11). "Former Erie resident in beauty pageant controversy | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News". Goerie.com. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  4. ^ "Beauty to cover up in pageant | Canada | News". Toronto Sun. 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  5. ^ nurun.com (2010-03-18). "Beauty to cover up in pageant | Vancouver 24 hrs". Vancouver.24hrs.ca. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  6. ^ "Arab-American Rima Fakih wins Miss USA 2010, Update: stripping photos revealed | National Post". News.nationalpost.com. 2010-05-17. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  7. ^ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/malmasani [self-published source]
  8. ^ "NPR's Andy Carvin, tweeting the Middle East". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  9. ^ a b "Married at 11 | The Stream - Al Jazeera English". Stream.aljazeera.com. 2013-06-03. Archived from the original on 2014-01-13. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  10. ^ "Yahoo! Hosts "Change Your World! Cairo" 2012 Summit | ycorpem - Yahoo". Yodel.yahoo.com. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  11. ^ Soguel, Dominique (2012-01-26). "Arabic Twitter Stars Come Face-to-Face in Cairo". Women's eNews. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  12. ^ "Jim Fruchterman: Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference". Huffingtonpost.com. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  13. ^ "Maria LovesTaiz on Twitter".
  14. ^ Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf
  15. ^ "Dr. Abdulaziz Died". 30 September 2004. Archived from the original on 30 September 2004.
  16. ^ "Madbakh Women's Initiative Inc". Madbakh.com. 2007-12-05. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  17. ^ Bruno, Jessica (12 April 2010). "It's time for Canada to 'recalibrate' teen maternal care internationally". hilltimes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  18. ^ "Rogers tv". www.tvrogers.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-19.
  19. ^ http://www.happyemens.org[dead link]
  20. ^ Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith (28 December 2015). "Life under siege: inside Taiz, the Yemeni city being slowly strangled". the Guardian.
  21. ^ "Maria LovesTaiz on Twitter".
  22. ^ "Maria LovesTaiz on Twitter".
  23. ^ http://www.ottawaroyalstye.com[dead link]
  24. ^ "Why demonize The Rebel for daring to criticize 'political Islam'?". National Post. 1 September 2017.
  25. ^ "www.ottawaroyalstyle.com".
  26. ^ "Maria Al-Masani Styl (@AlmasaniStyle) - Twitter". twitter.com.
  27. ^ "Maria Al-Masani (@maria_almasani) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com.
  28. ^ "Maria Al-Masani (malmasani)". Pinterest.
  29. ^ "Al-Masani Royal House and Jewelry | Touch Your Dreams". www.almasaniroyalhouse.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18.

External sources[edit]

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