Interviewer: Mahmoud Mansi
Editor and Translator: Rwan
Abdelhafiez

“Empowering people comes from giving people a voice and hearing their stories.”

Mona Lamloum

1-HR Revolution Middle East: Mona you started your career as a journalist, and now you are working as a writing instructor for children and events management. How does journalism differ from writing for children and how empowering women plays an important role in both of them?

Mona Lamloum: I’ve always been fond of journalism. I remember, as a child, how fascinated I was by journalists in movies who are depicted as truth seekers and heroes, and that is why I wanted to be a journalist. I worked for a year in journalism in my freshmen year of college and then decided, unexpectedly and by chance to shift into Children writing and literature. I wrote a book for adults and a friend suggested that by writing for children, I can reach all the family that will read the book as well and will be impacted as well. I care about empowering women to write because I myself struggled for 5 years to publish my first book. Thus I wanted to help women to learn, enhance their skills and publish their books through the use of my network.

2- HR Revolution Middle East: How is conducting a workshop for children different than conducting a workshop for adults?

Mona Lamloum: Children, from my experience, are more talented in communication and creativity nowadays than they were before. Although society and families sometimes try to block the child’s creativity, however, by respecting their ideas and what they say in the workshop, we give them a chance to be more interested and creative. By motivating them and showing them that they matter and their voices are heard, they even become more enhance and more eager to learn.

3- HR Revolution Middle East: As educators, what are the things we should avoid when dealing with children?

Mona Lamloum: The direct ordering of speech. Children always ask why because they want to learn and even us as adults we need time to know and learn what is right and what is wrong. In addition, we should avoid destroying or underestimating their dreams. There are always posts on social media about young people saying that despite their teachers’ negativity and view that this person can do nothing, they did it. We should also show children that even we as adults and parents make mistakes in order to help them avoid the shock of dealing with the cruel part of society later on.

4- HR Revolution Middle East: You have worked in developing refugees with Caritas, what kind of empowerment do you believe refugees need in order to maintain a successful life?

Mona Lamloum: I worked with refugees on their mental health, I worked with 8 different nationalities. Refugees always face a traumatic life or event that led to them leaving their countries. I try to help and raise their awareness towards mental health and how important it is for them to lead a healthy life.

5- HR Revolution Middle East: As a family counselor and a coach who have worked with many parents, what are the most common mistakes parents can fall into with their children, and how can it impact the future of these children in the working environment?

Mona Lamloum: Both children and parents influence and affect each other. When a child is born into thinking that 100% perfection is needed, this will later on affect him/her in the workplace and will negatively affect them in terms of the amount of effort they will have to put into work and their colleges as well. Another common mistake is teaching children to be highly competitive rather than compassionate and empathetic.

6- HR Revolution Middle East: One of the recent and successful events you have organized in Alexandria was “Enta Batal Kesetak – You Are The Hero Of Your Own Story”, can you tell us how do you believe the role of people empowerment can have on society?

Mona Lamloum: Empowering people comes from giving people a voice and hearing their stories. The event included people from different perspectives telling different stories. These stories touched people’s hearts in different ways and in a positive way. Empowering people comes from opening up and telling one’s story in order to both inspire one’s self and others.

7- HR Revolution Middle East: In 2017, you were nominated and selected to be an IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) where you travelled to the U.S as a participant at the “Women as Political and Community Leaders” project. Tell us about your experience, your challenges and the lessons learnt and knowledge gained?

Mona Lamloum: IVLP helped me be engaged with a culture that I only saw on movies. For example, I learned that in hotel rooms and restaurants there are tipping techniques that shows appreciation to the workers in these places. I experienced no feelings of being a foreigner or an outcast. A lady once complimented my dress and another lady that I asked about a certain location helped me until I reached it and fully understood where it is. I experienced and learned that the American people have beauty just like any other country and how that governments and politics do not represent its people. One of the challenges I faced was travelling alone for the first time on a long trip as well as the language barrier. I learned and got to understand how that my country has amazing women rights that are not found elsewhere like for example new moms have 4 month paid off work days in order to take care of the baby. I learned that in Egypt, the job position determines the salary with no care for the gender.

8- HR Revolution Middle East: What advice would you give to organizations in order to attract talented and ambitious people who have big dreams?

Mona Lamloum: My advice for organizations is to get away from the work routine. Where those talented people do not need to spend all the wasted time of job description. In order to attract people with talents, the organization needs to be unconventional in terms of the working hours, the rules and the code of ethics.

9- HR Revolution Middle East: What is to be expected in 2020?

Mona Lamloum: 1-“Haddouta 2020” (a writing competition in children literature that will include a publishing of the winning story) will be in a new version this year. 2-A new project will be created “Qisaty” (My Story) which aims to train young children on writings. By doing this, this will be an advancement from what I did with the UNESCO in 2018. Where the competition this time is done in order to publish for the children’s stories. In addition, trainings and workshops will be provided for them in order to mentor and guide their writing, and best stories will be painted by special needs painters and published then.

HR Revolution Middle East: Thank you Mona for this interview, for sharing your knowledge and passion, and we wish you great luck in your current projects and future goals.