Wassla Weekly provides you with all the information you need regarding culture, arts, intellectual events, sustainable lifestyle and entertainment in Dubai and the UAE.
Use Wassla Weekly to find the right venue for your business dinner, to plan a cultural outing, or to get details about an upcoming conference. Whether you’re visiting for a week or relocating, you’ll want to know what is happening in your new environment. Covering everything from academic and professional conferences to the Dubai Film Festival and from visiting artists’ exhibits to book signings, Wassla Weekly keeps you in the know.
Subscribe to your favorite Dubai scene—or discover them all. Enjoy cocktail parties with local glitterati, attend the latest restaurant opening, discover a new designer, or find out about the latest beauty craze. Whatever your taste, Wassla Weekly will fill your inbox with the hottest things to do, see and buy.
About Al Wassla
We are your personal link to both the business world and the cultural life in Dubai. We also aim to enhance sustainable lifestyle.
Whether you’re searching for a corporate connection or recommendations for a night out on the town, or a volunteering opportunity or an eco-chic product Al Wassla can connect you to the best that Dubai has to offer. Think of us as your personal connection and business link to an emerging global nation—we are here to connect you.
Al Wassla is a multifaceted organization whose ultimate goal is to contribute to UAE’s emergence as a leading global nation. Al Wassla’s consulting arm serves local and international clients seeking to make the right connections for new business relationships. Al Wassla’s online media arms, Wassla Weekly and Daily Dubai, offers readers a comprehensive guide to Dubai’s cultural and recreational life.
Al Wassla offers:
• Business connections
• Cultural codes of conduct for out of town visitors
• Corporate culture tips
• The latest happenings in the world of art and culture
• Academic events
• The best restaurants and bars for business or social gatherings
• Social and business events
• Where to shop for whatever item you need
• Newsletters featuring art, entertainment, dining and more
Make a connection and sign up for your subscription to Weekly Wassla.
Al Wassla Consulting Services:
The Gulf region’s thriving economy offers abundant opportunities. Al Wassla connects its clients with the right people to form new business relationships. For international companies seeking to do business in the region, Al Wassla navigates the landscape with local knowledge, connecting its clients with the right partners. Similarly, Al Wassla Consulting helps local businesses and organizations connect with international leaders in their respective fields, helping local players extend their global reach.
Founder:
Nasrin Shah Abushakra, Ph.D.: Proprietor
Good Greetings! Or salaam as we say in Dubai. I am Nasrin Shah Abushakra, the creator of wasslaweekly.com. Wassla in Arabic means connect, bridge, or link. Wassla is here to serve you with the power to connect, bridge a gap, or link to a new idea. Even today I am connecting the dots of being a mother, wife, scholar, Fortune 500 home engineer, tastemaker, thought maker and wannabe ninja.
Most of my life was spent in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. My parent’s heritage is from the heart of the spice routes of the East. I grew up in a home where value was placed upon connecting flavor from both the East and West. While growing up in one of the most international cities in the U.S. (and the most intellectual due to all the universities), several elements were infused into my being.
- The first: Traveling is essential to life. I have been traveling the globe since I was four months old.
- The second: Education doesn’t stop when you leave university. It’s a lifelong journey. I am still learning–and hope to do so until my last breath.
When it was time for me to attend university, my choice was to re-locate to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., where I saturated myself in a stew of politics, international affairs and existentialism. When I could, I spoon fed myself with New York’s edginess, South Beach’s enthusiasm and the West Coast’s glamour. During the chapter between undergrad and grad school, I was presented with an around-the-world ticket for graduation. I was off on my delicious journey, but not with a backpack and a Euro pass. Instead, I headed to the Far East with a journal, a bottle of Tums and a colorful pattern of vaccinations. That journey kicked my ass, and humbled me. The fragrance, sounds, and spiritual foundation are still with me today. All of us who are reading this are the most blessed human beings on earth; the developing world is a magical place, but it breaks you. The poverty alone can turn you inside out, but the resilience of the people can inspire like nothing else. Again, connecting these two worlds has become my life’s purpose.
In 2002 I entered the Ivy Tower as a Professor, with both a relishing education as well as experience: a Ph.D., a Master’s degree and over a decade of skills from the US Department of State, IMF, World Bank and the private sector. Because I loved being drenched in a rich tapestry of global aroma through my travels, I had the privilege to serve as a professor at the finest intuitions both in the East and the West. Again, I was building bridges, one between the elder and the younger generation the other between theory and practice and the last between the intellectual community between the east and the west.
Now how did a nice girl from the East Coast end up in the Middle East? Stay tuned for more of those juicy details on this site. In a nutshell, I boarded a magic carpet with a genie, which promised me a new sensation of connections; that she would help me create an awesome bridge to my two worlds, that often times struggled to co-exist. The genie reminded me that even Christopher Columbus was looking for spicy vibrations when he stumbled upon America.
Now what are my credentials, you ask?
Here are some highlights:
I have my Masters of Science and Ph.D. from American University in D.C.. I served as the Director of the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Orientation Program at the US Department of State. I’ve had my research presented at the MIT LINK Project, World Bank, IMF, US Department of Education.
With all I’ve done and with all I continue to do always leads me to this: Here I am, the quintessential New England girl now living in Dubai, who loves to share my secret connections, my wassla with you!
