Interviewer: Tarek Hassan Refaat
Publisher: Amira Haytham
” I’d like it to be the beacon for everyone, young or old, to follow their passion. The talent in this country is tremendous, and I think that, through The Word Project, the world could get to know a lot of talents that will last through the ages… “
Haidy Zakaria
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: First of all Haidy, thank you for taking the time to be with us and sharing with us your insights! So, let us begin, can you tell us a bit more about Haidy Zakaria?
Haidy Zakaria: Well, I’m a poet, writer, and performer. I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old. My passion has taken me onto many different places, all leading me to start The Word Project
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Could you tell us more about the word project?
Haidy Zakaria: The Word Project is the first community in Egypt for spoken word poetry and performance arts. Over the years our stage has been graced with amazing talent and diversity, hosting poets from all walks of life, from Egypt as well as the UAE, the US and Germany. The community’s focus is always on the idea of giving people a voice, on allowing artistic expression and on spreading the concept of spoken word poetry in a culture where performance poetry used to be a staple. The Word Project was started in November of 2013 with the first slam taking place on February of 2014. At first only about poetry, the project has grown to encompass a lot of other forms of performance arts such as music, monologues and stand-up
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: From what we understand, The Word Project started as a poetry platform and today is growing into a full arts performance event.
Haidy Zakaria: Yes it is. After every event, we would get people telling us that they want to participate with another form of performance, and we just couldn’t say no. So now we get comedians, singers, actors, and performers from all walks of life.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What were your main challenges in establishing this project?
Haidy Zakaria: Getting the word out was a big challenge, so was looping people in on what spoken word poetry was. A lot of people were very skeptical about the success of the project, asking me if anyone would ever be interested, that we were in a day and age where poetry was no longer appreciated, but I knew the poets were out there, hiding in plain sight.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How do you view people management from your experiences?
Haidy Zakaria: It’s all about passion, I think. If the people working with you feel like this is their project as much as it is yours, everyone will focus on getting it to the best place it can be. It won’t be a job, anymore, it will be family.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: The word project is quite the drive for youth, how do you see it in let’s say 2 years from now?
Haidy Zakaria: I’d like it to be the beacon for everyone, young or old, to follow their passion. The talent in this country is tremendous, and I think that, through The Word Project, the world could get to know a lot of talents that will last through the ages.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Can you give us an insight about your regular day?
Haidy Zakaria: I have a day job and I’m a Masters student, as well as the founder of The Word Project, so I have a pretty full day, usually. After work I’m either at a Word Project meeting, finishing up my thesis or working out, then it’s off to bed to repeat it again the following day.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Transforming the Word Project from a cultural activity to business model, could you walk us through?
Haidy Zakaria: There was always a big question mark around the sustainability of a social star-up; everything that isn’t tech, fintech or product oriented is considered to be a failure waiting to happen. However, most of those who think that never take into consideration the human element. People can surprise you, and they usually do, and sometimes, the mere concept of offering them a venue for something that they were lacking would drive them to make your company successful.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: When bringing a team member on board what are the main three things you look for?
Haidy Zakaria: Passion, imagination and hard work
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Marketing for The Word Project or Square one requires a lot of different things, could you tell us how different the experiences were or if there are any similarities?
Haidy Zakaria: I’ve always gauged the project through the people. When our events started to be bigger and the people started asking us to increase the times we hold them, I knew there was more to explore here.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: When did you and how did you decide that The Word Project, will no longer be an activity and needed more?
Haidy Zakaria: The project started on the premise of introducing spoken word poetry to Egypt, then it morphed into shedding the light on performance arts and artists. The upcoming two projects have something to do with both those things
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: You’ve hinted to us that there are more things to come for the Word Project, could you give us a hint or two?
Haidy Zakaria: Our next event is pretty soon, on Saturday September 30th, the following one is going to be mid to late October and there will be another one in November.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How to reach out to The Word Project?
Haidy Zakaria: The social media team is super responsive, so you can ask us anything through the page’s inbox www.facebook.com/thewordproject
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: It’s been quite a pleasure having you with us, would you care to share your favorite quote that inspires you?
Haidy Zakaria: As a reader, I never have a favorite quote for too long. My favorite thing that inspires me is the idea of “getting to work”, hard work pays off, and we should always remember that.
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: If there’s one advice that you would give to the youth, what would it be?
Haidy Zakaria: Try different things, work hard, and don’t listen when they tell you it’s a stupid idea
HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: In the end, we’ve come to the end of our interview, is there something you would like to say or share?
Haidy Zakaria: Thank you for having me 🙂