We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nikita Mae Puyat & Habeba Mostafa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nikita Mae Puyat & Habeba Mostafa, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Nikita:
I was diagnosed with stage 1 bone cancer when I was 15 years old and had to undergo multiple treatments and surgeries, external and internal changes to my body, and missed high school experiences within 9 months. Facing such an immense challenge taught me an invaluable lesso: life doesn’t pause for anyone. This realization shaped my perspective—no matter what I’m going through, I’ve learned to get back up and keep moving. Resilience, for me, is about finding strength in the struggle and trusting that perseverance will carry me forward.
Habeba:
I like to think that a part of it is ingrained in me, but that I’m also heavily influenced as a daughter of Egyptian immigrants. Whether it’s genetically or mental, I say that I learned to work hard and keep going, despite the challenges, from my parents.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We are a full-service marketing agency. While Habeba has a creative background in photography and journalism, Nikita has experience in business and marketing. think what makes us stand out is how personable our brand is. We love to get to know our clients, their goals, and how we can bring their vision to life.
We met in high school, and since being friends for close to 15 years, we’ve always enjoyed trying new things and having fun. Luckily, this has translated into the work that we do and the relationships that we build with our clients.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Nikita:
Faith, grit, and a growth mindset. You need to have blind faith in yourself and your vision to move forward, even when the path ahead feels uncertain. Faith is what keeps you steady when doubt creeps in. You need grit to stay committed to your goals when obstacles arise to turn your goals into reality. And lastly, you need a growth mindset to embrace the inevitable challenges and setbacks and view them as opportunities for learning and improvement rather than roadblocks. My biggest advice for others early in their journey is to have the mindset of failing forward. Fear of failure often stops people from taking risks, but failure is one of the greatest teachers. If you can shift your perspective and see failure as a step closer to success, you’ll find yourself growing braver and more resilient with each attempt.
Habeba:
Persistence, flexibility, and creativity. It’s easy to feel discouraged when things don’t always go as planned, but waiting it all out can give a better outcome than the expectation envisioned. By being flexible with curveballs, as well, you allow yourself to grow, and that’s essential and most beneficial for anyone’s journey, at least from my perspective.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Nikita:
As an immigrant who came to America as a toddler, I watched my parents start from almost nothing and build a life for our family through determination and sacrifice. For me, their work ethic became a blueprint for how to approach life. They showed me that success isn’t handed to you; it’s earned through consistent effort and resilience. Their example taught me to approach every challenge with the mindset that if you work hard for what you want, the possibilities are endless.
Habeba:
They taught me the importance of hard work and patience. While they provided us with a great foundation, we always had to work for and earn the extras that we wanted growing up. Through this, they taught us that nothing comes easy, but that in the end, anything that we want and eventually receive is worth the wait.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bolddigitalstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bolddigitalstudio/
Image Credits
Photos by Habeba Mostafa of Bold Digital Studio
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