Walaa Mohamed, Egyptian strong young woman who decided to chase her dreams and not let anything stand in her way, after going through many hardships that “almost” broke her down! She travelled for a new beginning. She settled in Germany and started from scratch to make her dreams come true; her dream of changing the world to a better, more accepting and tolerating one, as well as her dream of becoming a great dancer and performer who spreads positivity and happiness everywhere and every time she puts the music on and starts to move her body. She came up with a new and very unique dancing technique that merges between two totally different styles but in a beautiful harmony. On the other hand, she’s a very successful Project Manager at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Saarland State in Germany, so she’s a live and true example of “she can do both”.
She told us about her dancing style, her integration in a new and different community and much more, so let’s get to know her better and know more about her journey.
Influencers Today: What inspired you to merge between hula-hoop and belly dance? That’s very creative by the way! How did you get the idea?
Walaa Mohamed: Merging between belly dance and hula-hoop is totally my idea, I invented it and I am unique in it, of course there are others who would do it but they have their own style which is completely different than what I do. It’s that ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by dancing because I’ve always thought that we could express ourselves through our body movements, dancing is a harmony between the music and our bodies and souls. It is to mention that dancing helped me a lot in getting out of my depression and made me able to reconnect with my soul, and it was all my idea. At first I kept dancing almost every day and trying different types of music; Latin, Arabic, Egyptian, sometimes Zumba, sometimes oriental, other times a mix between both and so on until I found out that belly dancing looks so good with the hula-hoop so I began to focus more on that.
Influencers Today: That’s really impressive! So how did you start it until you became extremely talented in it?
Walaa Mohamed: Like many of us, I’ve always dreamed of being able to spin the hula-hoop around my waist, so during the COVID lockdown I started to learn a type of sport called “fitness hula-hoop” because it could be taught by a private teacher at home and there was no need to go to the gym. Then I decided to buy a 1.4 kg hula-hoop and subscribe to a course so I can learn to spin it around and after only 3 classes I was perfectly able to maintain it around my waist, but unfortunately after a while I didn’t want to attend the classes because the choreography they did was so boring to me so I started to practice on my own at home; I turn on the music and I dance. And one day I decided to make a video of myself dancing, and I kept doing that, every day after I put my son Younes to bed I’d dance and video-record myself, then I’d sit and watch my videos, and it made me feel so good and happy about myself, I could see that I am cute and my vibes are really good so I started to love myself and love what I do, and every time I’d feel down I’d dance then watch my videos. With time I became more convinced that I am talented and after a while I started to get even better in dancing till I reached the way I am now.
Influencers Today: How hard was the decision of giving up your Egyptian nationality for the German one? And did you have second thoughts?
Walaa Mohamed : Giving up my nationality was a very tough decision and it somehow felt humiliating because we were always treated as third-class or even fourth-class citizens even though I’ve always been successful since day one in Germany and I’m a public figure in the State I live in. I’ve started my journey in Germany through a volunteering work for children with disabilities for a year, then I founded my first Startup that is a company that sells vegan food, and it was the first of its kind here, then it kept expanding and now I have two restaurants and eight food trucks. Furthermore, I’ve always been interested in doing social volunteering work and I’ve been a member in an important Political Party, also I’ve been a Project Manager at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs for nine years now. To sum up, what I wanted to say is despite all what I’ve achieved here in a short period of time I’d still face obstacles due to my nationality.
Influencers Today: What kind of obstacles did you face before obtaining the nationality?
Walaa Mohamed: For example, my son has a German Nationality and once we’re at the airport we start to be treated differently and we’re separated because he’s a European Union citizen and I’m not. Another example is how hard it is to get credit facilities from Banks just because I’m not German in nationality. At the end, I really wish I had the opportunity to keep both nationalities; the Egyptian and the German, but the law of multiple nationalities in Germany doesn’t allow comers from certain regions, like Northern and Southern Africa to keep their birth nationality, and the main reason is that Egypt allows citizens to give up their Egyptian nationality, in contradiction with Tunisia for example who never allows it under any circumstances and in this case the German law is obliged to give the German nationality while keeping the birth nationality.
Influencers Today: What piece of advice would you give to people in general who want to immigrate to another country?
Walaa Mohamed: I advise anyone who would like to immigrate to another country whether it’s European or not to ask themselves first if they would be able to adapt with a different community and a different culture and accept it as it is, especially here in Europe. From my point of view, it’s essential for us as emigrants to be a part of the merging process, and what I mean is you don’t need to lose your identity or become exactly like everyone else here, but you need to be able to accept and tolerate others. We must not forget that we are here as foreigners in a country that’s not originally ours and we decided with our free will to come and live here so it’s not okay to live in a country where we cannot tolerate and accept the behaviors of its people. Just “live and let live”. Life in general isn’t easy, you have to work hard for it and when you’re in a foreign country you’re on your own, no one is here for you, no friends, the language, the culture, the mindset, everything is different and new, so you have to be patient and to be easy on yourself, knowing that nothing comes in a blink of an eye, it all takes time, and with time and effort you will prove to yourself and to everyone else that you can do anything and you will get what you deserve best.
Influencers Today: As an Arab, what influence or impact would you want to leave on the community you’re living in?
Walaa Mohamed : Well I would like to change so many concepts in the community I live in. It’s that when I had to leave Egypt ten years ago I was devastated because the society wouldn’t accept me being divorced at 24 years old and made me feel that my life has ended and that I had no hope to live a normal life again, I almost felt dead inside. But I was lucky enough to be able to relocate to a new place with a different mindset and look for respect and acceptance there the way I am. However, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies like it might seem, some nights I would cry myself to sleep, feeling lonely and missing quite a lot, but by the end of the day I would overcome all of this and get back on my feet again only because I decide that I want to. So the thing I would like to change the most in any community I live in is to learn to live together and see each other as only humans regardless of our backgrounds, religion, color of skin, language or nationality. In other words, to let our souls deal and interact with each other regardless of any materialistic differences.
Influencers Today: Was it easy for you at first to integrate in the German community? What challenges did you face?
Walaa Mohamed: When I first came to Germany it was not easy for me to adapt to a new life but I didn’t have much of a choice. Actually the German language was so difficult for me and for almost a year I couldn’t talk much or express well what I really felt or needed to tell. I faced so many challenges, I founded my company right after I’ve arrived to Germany with my husband whom I’ve met here, and to be honest he helped me a lot in everything; to understand the language and the mentality. I managed the company with him and I worked really hard, and it wasn’t for nothing because I improved a lot; in my job as much as in my personality, I became stronger and much more confident.
Influencers Today: And what did you like mostly about the culture?
Walaa Mohamed: What I like the most here is that people treat me as a person regardless of whether I’ve been married before or not, they treat me and treat each other’s with respect and humanity, there is freedom and democracy in all aspects, my voice is heard and respected no matter what I say or what my opinion is with no fear. There is order and there are rules to protect us all, everyone does their job properly with no exception. I also love the quietness and the peaceful spirit around here.
Influencers Today: It’s said that every art tells a story, what’s the story you would want to tell through your very unique way of dancing?
Walaa Mohamed: Each dance reflects a part of me and my soul, it tells how I feel and what I’ve been through. I don’t dance to any music or lyrics unless I’m feeling it and feeling the rhythm to my very core. I’m not just performing, I’m expressing the lyrics of the songs I dance to through the movement of my body, my facial expressions, the look into my eyes and the energy I spread while I’m dancing. In the matter of fact, my best dances and the ones that really get to people and receive millions of views on social media are the ones I danced while being at my lowest moments and feeling terrible, when I feel unable to speak or do anything I just turn the music on and I start to dance. To me, dancing is a therapy and this is what I realized after being totally burned out, dancing and expressing how I feel through it is what brought me back to myself, made me love myself again and gave me hope again.
Influencers Today: You said once that you didn’t want to get public on social media at first, why is that? And what made you change your mind?
Walaa Mohamed: Well of course I had doubts and I wasn’t sure about people’s reaction and how would they accept what I’m doing, you know how conservative is the Arab society so I was waiting for the right moment when I’d have enough courage, even with myself, and find myself able to see dance as an art, to change my mindset and see things from a different perspective than what I was raised up to, I’m not saying that it was wrong, on the contrary I have all respect for our customs and traditions and the way my parents raised me up with and I do admire it, but it just that one day I suddenly had this mind-pop that it’s okay, I’m not doing something to be ashamed of because my body and the way I choose to express myself with have something to do with my soul, it’s all coming from within me, and it’s said that it takes power to express yourself by dancing and I gained that power, expressing my emotions and how I feel through my facial expressions and the movements of my body is a talent and not everyone has it or can do it, so I can’t seem to see what I’m doing as something disgraceful.
Influencers Today: So apparently it was a very hard decision! What made it easier or helped you into finally making it?
Walaa Mohamed: I’m in love with what I do and I’m in love with that whenever I feel tired, upset, exhausted or unable of venting out whatever I’m feeling, I just struggle and I give every effort and I get up, practice, go for a run, take care of myself and my fitness. You know, being 34 years old and having a son, people always wonder how am I still in shape like that but it all started with a dream since I was a kid, I’ve always had this dream of staying fit, having the perfect body and always taking care of myself because women are the essence of the whole life and not because we get married and give birth it means we neglect ourselves and our bodies, and I made a decision since I was a little girl to stay that beautiful in my own eyes, and it’s all for myself, to feel comfortable in my own skin, not for anyone else to see me beautiful. So I just had this mind-pop with all these thoughts and I found that courage and confidence, I found out that I believe in myself and in what I do, that I know deep down that it has a very beautiful spirit and I want to deliver that spirit to everyone else, I also realized that hula-hoop dance isn’t popular or even known in the Middle-East and since I knew it and could mix it with belly dance so why not taking that step and start to spread that art, and when I did I received an amazing feedback so it gave me even more courage.
Influencers Today: What advice would you like to address to Egyptian women living in Egypt?
Walaa Mohamed: I actually love that question because I feel that this is my calling and the message I would want to deliver. First of all, I’m not calling for liberation or for women to uncover and dance and so on, but the message I want to deliver through social media and my Instagram account is to tell all women and girls to love themselves and appreciate themselves, not to lower their standards or settle for less than what they really deserve, on another side, I want to say that not because we go through bad experiences it means we give up and stop our lives. Every experience we go through, whether good or bad, and the bad before the good, we have to see it as a gift from God, an opportunity to grow, to see what happened and how did we react then learn from it and see how can we develop into a wiser personality with better abilities.
Influencers Today: But don’t you think that it can be so hard sometimes to have that perspective while we’re in so much pain?
Walaa Mohamed: I understand so well that while we’re in the middle of it all we see is darkness and we think that we won’t be able to get back up on our feet again and move on, I myself had been burned out because of what I’ve been through, whether my first divorce back in Egypt or the second one here in Germany from my son’s father, to whom by the way I have full respect and admiration for showing me how people can separate with love and utter respect, and I only got better when I reached that point of admitting that I’m not okay but deciding that I don’t want to give up on myself and my life, because I love my spirit and I love looking at myself in the mirror and see my smile and the look into my eyes, but when I did that all I saw was sorrow and tears and I did not want to stay that way. Now the thing is, it’s not just me, so many women are exhausted and are going through tough situations, so many women settle for mush less than what they really deserve, and there comes a moment when they feel that their lives have got to an end, that there’s no hope, that they’re unable to keep going, they’re really struggling, but the real problem here is that many people when going through a hard time they just wait for something to change around them and they don’t think of making that change themselves and from within them, so this is my advice to every beautiful Egyptian soul, you have to look into yourself, know your true worth, make that change you keep waiting for, knowing that God has made us “Whole”, we don’t need anyone to come into our lives to complete us for we are complete ourselves, and if we don’t know how to love and cherish ourselves we won’t be able to give love to others. Know that as long as we let our happiness depends on the existence of others then we’re only making ourselves miserable, because once they’re gone we break down and we fall. Therefore, love yourselves, always work and invest on yourselves, appreciate and feel your triumph, always be proud of yourself and cherish every single moment and every single day in your life, for every day is a new opportunity, to achieve something and make it count, don’t waste any minute, put all your effort in so by the end of the day you’d feel fulfilled and you’d feel how successful you can be. And one last thing, love your inner-child, release her and let her be, most of us had a somehow difficult childhood for things were totally different back then for our generation, so make it up now to that beautiful and innocent inner-child who sometimes would want to cry or get angry or laugh out loud, just be yourself, it’s your journey and yours only, it’s not easy but it’s totally worth it, so unless you make the best out of it no one else would do it for you, and when you fall now one would grab your hands, only you can get yourself back up on your feet.
Influencers Today: A unique personality like yourself, with a unique style in dancing, we wonder who inspires Walaa the most and why?
Walaa Mohamed: To be honest no one in particularly inspired me to dance, I’ve always loved to dance so much since I was a little girl, and I think the inspiration to where I am now comes from within me, from all the experiences I went through and above all from the dream I’ve always had since forever; to be on stage dancing happily and spreading beautiful energy all around to make people happy and inspire them. But of course I look up to artists I used to watch when I was a child and hoped to be like them one day, dancing and acting in movies, like Samia Gamal, Kitty, and the beautiful Sherihan, in my opinion these are the ones that when they dance you can feel their souls dancing not just their bodies and can get to anyone the most. Actually I’ve always dreamed of taking the movies and performance business to a whole new level, a modern one that matches 2023, of course there is Donia Samir Ghanem now who performs beautifully and she’s super talented but I still have tons of new and out of the box ideas that I hope I can make true one day, I really hope that producers and directors would reach out to me and I’m sure we can change a lot and make new and exciting work together.
Influencers Today: As an influencer, do you sometimes receive harassment messages from your followers? How do you deal with that?
Walaa Mohamed: I don’t usually receive upsetting or harassment messages, on the contrary most people really love me and love the positive vibe I try to spread. However, there is another type of messages I receive from people commenting on me not “covering up” enough from their point of view, or people who don’t like me dancing and moving like that, religious wise I mean, and I do understand what they talk about and where it’s coming from and it doesn’t bother me but I usually ignore these messages and delete this kind of comments.
Influencers Today: We all have our ups and downs, we all go through hardships, if it’s okay with you can you tell a hard situation that you’ve been through and how did you get over it?
Walaa Mohamed: I’ve been through two difficult circumstances throughout my life, I’ve been married and got divorced twice; the first time was an Egyptian husband back in 2012, I’ve just graduated from college and we got engaged for two years then married for only two months before getting divorced. I was only 24 years old, you can imagine how our society with its mindset would look at a 24 years’ old who got divorced after 2 months! My parents considered me a disgrace to the family and blamed me for not compromising and trying to keep my marriage no matter what the circumstances were, our relatives and neighbors were divided in opinion, a part pitied me and the other kept wondering and asking what was wrong with me as if it must’ve been my fault. I felt humiliated. A colleague of mine since college fell in love with me and wanted to marry me but his parents refused saying “how can you marry someone who was married to someone else before!”. That terribly wounded me and broke my heart. All I needed back then was someone who would console me and assure me that everything was going to be okay, but there was no one. I couldn’t bear living in Egypt that way, this is when I got the opportunity to go to Germany. Surprisingly my father agreed easily, as if he wanted me to go and stay away so that people around us would forget about my divorce incident. I got to Germany then and worked as a babysitter for children with disabilities, I did everything for them with no shame; cleaning up, changing, absolutely everything.
Influencers Today: And what about the second one?
Walaa Mohamed: The second time was at 2018 when I got my second divorce from the father of my son Younes, who was about 1.5 years old. I was dead inside, got into depression and even had suicidal thoughts. Younes’ father was everything to me, he was the first person I met when I arrived to Germany, we had our own business together, we had our company that we had founded together and it was running perfectly. Besides, that company, in which I’ve put all my effort and energy, was the reason why I was able to integrate in the German community in a short period of time, as well as learning the German language fast and easily. After our divorce I lost everything, and I did not take a penny from the company. I looked at myself then and all I saw was failure and devastation, and I didn’t want by all means to go back to Egypt that way. But what hurt me the most is that deep inside I’ve always known that I have a good spirit and beautiful soul, and that I am a hard-working, nevertheless I’m out of luck and I keep losing everything, always with a heartache. Then I started to rethink deeper and tried to see things from another perspective, that’s when I started to realize that everything happens for a reason, every disappointment and failure will eventually lead to something great, and that if it wasn’t for all the hardships that I’ve been through I wouldn’t have reached where I am now.
Influencers Today: You call yourself “روح حابة الحياة” what do you love most about life? And how do you think we can get the most or the best out of it?
Walaa Mohamed: As for why I call myself روح حابة الحياة or “A Life Loving Soul” it has so many reasons and it is actually so deep to me. I’m like many others who weren’t born with a silver spoon, I went through so many hardships, worked hard, got physically and mentally exhausted, stumbled a lot and fell a lot, and each and every time I’d started all over again from scratch. Nevertheless, I never held grudges or hatred to anyone not even the ones who did hurt me, I’ve always treated everyone with a kind heart. Now! Back then when Younes’ father and I got separated I had the worst time of my life ever and I was completely all alone, had no one around for support and I got into depression. I started to play sports, take care for myself and my mental health, calm down, focus on myself and try to heal my soul, only then my perspective towards life started to change a lot, and I got to understand that we can reshape our lives by how we choose to look at it. I mean if we choose to see the beauty of it, it will be beautiful. I started to give in to the idea that everything happens for a reason, it might not be clear enough to us at the moment being but with time we would be able to understand and comprehend these reasons. And what I did is that I’ve decided to accept all these experiences that I’ve been through with a huge amount of gratitude and consider them as a gift that helped me grow and reconnect with myself and my soul. I’ve decided to love Life and thank the destiny for whatever it brings, because the certitude I’m having deep down that It’s always on my side and that Life is always good to me, is what makes me wake up every day with happiness in my heart and peace of mind.
Influencers Today: So you would agree with the saying “happiness is a decision”?
Walaa Mohamed: Of course happiness is a decision not a state, I would totally agree to that. Actually this is the conclusion I reached, whoever decides to be happy will be and there is nobody who will come into our lives to make it better or to complete us and make us happy. Of course life isn’t always “pink” and I have my struggles, and people I love leave me after being emotionally attached to them and it gives me heartache, but I learned to look at these bad experiences as a gift and I’m grateful that these people got into my life even if it was only for a short period of time and that we’ve been through many things together and made beautiful memories together. After all, we cannot hold onto beautiful moments forever because nothing lasts forever, everything in life is temporary. I think whoever gets to change their perspective towards life like I did will attain too many good things, hopefully.
Influencers Today: Thank you Walaa for being such a beam of light, art, philosophy and inspiration! Thank you for making the decision you have made and for taking this path, and lastly thank you for the interview.
