Aida Ahmed

My name is Aida Al Marzooqi, and I am a proud Emirati woman, born and raised in the UAE. I graduated from the United Arab Emirates University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering. After graduating, I worked in the Planning and Regulations unit of Dubai Municipality. I started as one of many architectural engineers, and over the span of 7 years, I worked my way up to becoming the head of the unit. I continued at my position for 4 more years, until I decided to leave in 2009. At that stage in life, my priorities had shifted, which is why I made the decision to become a stay-at-home mom, that way I could give my full attention to nurturing and raising my four children and instilling within them morals and values that would help guide them in the future and that would allow them to thrive as integral parts of the Emirati society. While I did choose to leave my job, I did not leave my passion for architecture behind. While juggling my job as a mother, I am also a partner at a major architectural consulting company. This way, I was able to balance motherhood with my passion, in a way that did not force me to be away from my children for long periods of time. In addition, I am also a sport enthusiast. It is something that I quite enjoy doing in my spare time, and it is the time in my day that allows me to de-stress, so it is a time a value dearly.