For the past year, my heart has been weighed down with a sorrow that’s hard to explain, but any Lebanese woman in the diaspora understands it deeply. Each headline from the Middle East brings a pang of pain and longing, connecting me to a place that’s both home and yet a world away. As a mother of two, I feel the weight of these realities differently now. I imagine their futures and their hopes and wonder how I can instill resilience while the world around us feels so uncertain.

Amid this, I’m building a jewelry business—a dream born from a love for my heritage and one I hope will someday offer the world a glimpse of Lebanese beauty and strength. My days are full, balancing work, family, and this passion project, yet each moment reminds me of why I began: to connect, to create, and to celebrate the beauty of resilience.

It’s a struggle, but every piece I create feels like a small act of resistance, a testament to hope over hardship. I hold tightly to the dream that one day, my children will look back and see a story not just of survival but of grace, determination, and the enduring beauty that lives on, even in the heaviest of hearts.