King’s Academy welcomed former King’s Academy faculty member Ala’ Hamdan, who is a filmmaker, visual storyteller, photographer, and co-founder of At Films production company, to speak to students on March 7 about her career and life experiences. Hamdan is one of a series of guest speakers lined up by the school for the month of March in recognition of International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8, in order to celebrate and learn more about the inspiring women around us.

Addressing students and faculty in the Abdul Majeed Shoman Auditorium, Hamdan spoke about the “yeses she doesn’t regret” — things that she never regrets saying yes to as a woman in her field of work. Those included: saying yes to new opportunities even if you don’t feel ready for them; choosing your battles wisely; being true to yourself, your values and identity; and speaking up about causes you care deeply about.

“Women are more likely than men to not take opportunities because they think they are not ready,” said Hamdan. “But if everyone waited until they were 100% ready, they would never try anything! I try to challenge myself and take opportunities, even if I know I am not ready for them, because I know I am willing to try and work really hard, and to learn from that experience.”

With over one million followers on Instagram, Hamdan spoke about how she has many people disagreeing with her online when she talks about issues such as women’s rights, Arab stereotypes, Islamophobia and other sensitive topics. She explained how she realized that she needed to choose her battles wisely, and not waste her energy trying to reason with random critics online. Instead, she said, she finds herself in a better place when she saves those discussions for bigger stages and audiences that want to help make the world a better place.

As a social media “influencer,” Hamdan spoke about how it was important for her to use her large platform “to give a voice to the voiceless,” even when doing that is difficult. Some of the ways she has done that is by creating a video series to give a voice to survivors of domestic violence and raise awareness about the issue. She also did the photography for a book called Muslims of the World — a best seller on Amazon upon publication in 2018 — that involved traveling to 14 countries to meet and document the lives and stories of Muslim people to help combat misperceptions and stereotypes.

While it is tempting to try and follow all the trends on social media to quickly build a bigger following, Hamdan explained that for her, what was most successful was being true to who she is. “Don’t force yourself to do something that is not you,” Hamdan said. “I think about what I like, what causes I feel connected to, who I represent, why I am on social media. I create content that represents me, that helps people — and that helps me grow slowly and steadily on social media.”

“Once you answer those questions for yourself,” Hamdan added, “you will find yourself making content, being creative, and furthering those causes.”