We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samira Ezzo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Samira, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Keeping my creativity alive is when there is a constant need to search for new things to discover & change accordingly to make this discovery successful in my own ways. In other words, the fact that there are so many things to stay creative for, like the inspiration I get from wandering in streets observing every detail, and activating my 5 senses consciously, by noticing the small little corner shops that sell a product of a craft, or the accumulated architecture that can sum up the history of a city, or even listening to the side conversations from small mini markets that have key words used in one city than another… When I experience all of this stimulus, I cannot but bring it justice for me to keep being creative in exposing such beauty with others.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am the founder of Layers of Lebanon ( @layersoflebanon ), which focuses on storytelling narratives of cities through guided tours, and most famously the Green Line Walking Tour that has been running every weekend for the past 2 years, focusing on recent history (Lebanese Civil War), architectural and urban expansion of the city Beirut in parts of the city that were once divided for a 15-year war, West and East Beirut, while walking on the previous demarcation line, known as the “green line”; hence the name of the tour. People enjoy the tours curated in Beirut so far, whether private tours called “Kazdoura Beirutiye”, /kazdoura/ an Arabic word standing for a stroll or wandering around, and the Green Line Walking Tour since the way hidden gems are presented in a story bringing it to life.
Such a skill came from my former 3-years experience as a head school librarian in an IB curriculum school, and as a librarian (known as Learning Resources Center Coordinator in the IB world), it is more than just reading stories and taking care of paper and digital academic resources, but also teaching teachers and students on the research skill that is core in their academia, leading me for the past 2 years to make sure that all narratives and researches done for the guided tours are well-researched in a credible manner. Also, taking matters in tourism to another level with pursuing credibility in tour guiding by enrolling in Tourism Guidance major at the Lebanese University, Lebanon’s public university, to graduate as a licensed tour guide from the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, which takes 6 semesters (total of 180 credits)!
And what’s discovering stories in cities in Lebanon, especially in Beirut, without making sure that I document them in video form to be posted on my social media through @samirablogs ?! Being a content creator for years now pushed me to learn video editing, script-writing, and many more! From filming about touristic sites, to culinary heritage, and many more in a form that anyone listening to the first sentence shall be hooked! My community as well is always on their feet tracking cultural events happing in Beirut through a broadcast channel that I have on Instagram’s @samirablogs account, and for the ones who are bookish as I am, we keep connecting through the “Book’s Corner” channel on the same Instagram account which adds more credibility to my constant research on topics related to my tours.
Whether it was tours or content posted on social media, I’m always participating in research related projects in cities in Lebanon, starting in Beirut and beyond. So expect to see me in Lebanese cities wandering around, or at specialty coffee shops indulged in a book, or mostly enjoying opening nights at art galleries connecting with the lively community around!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In my journey from academia to tour guiding and content creation, 3 important skills were most impactful: communication, research, and leadership. When starting it on your own in tourism in a country like Lebanon, in which its economy counts on the Tourism sector, expect nothing but competition. So I made sure to present tours and build trust through my social media content that focuses on topics related to cultural heritage in all of its diverse forms, from archeology to culinary heritage to heritage practices…
Meaning credible research-based tours following academic integrity in presenting facts or heard narratives about any topic in the form of a story to my clients to communicate it in the best creative form possible, whether showing old post cards of a certain site we visit to bring it to life, or gathered photos and paper material that they can observe when discussing architecture for example. Most importantly, leading my project in which my practices come to life, @layersoflebanon and @samirablogs, in an entrepreneurship manner in a challenging country.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
Living in Lebanon is a privilege in ways that there is no country in the world with 4 different seasons, with a sea and several other water resources from springs to rivers, and plenty of archeological sites dating back from pre-history to Greek, Roman, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman and many more, connecting Europe across the Mediterranean sea to the hinterlands of Asia … However, geo-politics comes in the way of the tourism sector, with constant wars and invasions done by Isreal on south of Lebanon as we share borders with occupied Palestine to even invading Beirut, from the 1978 then in 1982 till 2000’s, and now with the war we are living since 8th of October 2024.
Even with wars ending will need some time for even visiting tourists to trust booking their tickets to Lebanon.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samirablogs/ and https://www.instagram.com/layersoflebanon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/layersoflebanon/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/samirablogs/
Image Credits
Profile photo no need to credit.
Dunia Subh for other photos
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
