Nabila Khashoggi
- New York
Nabila Khashoggi currently lives in New York, where she writes, develops her upcoming natural cosmetic line, and raises money for various projects.
The daughter of a Saudi father and English mother, Ms. Khashoggi was raised in Beirut and went to school in England, France, and Switzerland before joining her father at Triad Commercial Corporation and Al-Nasr Trading. As Vice President, Nabila Khashoggi organized financing and marketing for a Russian commercial fleet and integrated agricultural complexes in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 1983, Nabila Khashoggi co-founded Infolex, a system of computerized portals designed specifically for travelers. Available in hotels and airports, Infolex's rich information bank gave tourists and business travelers access to reservations in the United States and Europe well before the advent of the Internet. In 1984, Ms. Khashoggi began working with her brother Khalid on a real estate development venture. In this role, she developed and marketed properties in Spain, France, England, the United States, and Korea. Her other projects included management of a Kenyan tourist camp and the distribution and financing of mobile hospital units and medical equipment.
Additionally, Nabila Khashoggi has garnered recognition as an actress. She has appeared in television series, films, and theatre productions, including a lauded performance of John Cargill's one-woman play Everything in the Garden.
Throughout her career, Nabila Khashoggi has maintained involvement with a number of nonprofit organizations. She served as Director of the Khashoggi Foundation, facilitating grants and funding to underserved children and families in the Middle East. Today, she continues her charitable work with The Children for Peace (ONLUS), a nongovernmental organization co-founded by her stepmother and based in Rome, Italy.
An artist, and entrepreneur, Nabila Khashoggi launched the NABILA K skin care products and home ambiance line.
Nabila Khashoggi is involved with helping The Children of Peace (ONLUS), a humanitarian organization her stepmother co-founded to help young people worldwide who are living in challenging circumstances obtain their essential needs such as food, medical help and educational opportunities.
Nabila Khashoggi wrote Spartan and the Green Egg, a graphic novel series for children.
A story, whether told with words or pictures, should resonate with children. One way for storytellers to approach this is to think like a child in the age group for which they're writing. When authors root themselves in the minds of their characters, it is easier to connect with the audience. People make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. Watch out for child protagonists abruptly making adult decisions. Younger readers pick up on that dissonance and break their bond with the character. Before making adult decisions, child protagonists should go through some crucible that grants them a more mature perspective. Of course, resonance does not mean that readers must always relate to characters.
It's difficult to relate to a non-human character who spends his or her days riding around on dragons, for example. In this instance, and in all instances, the author should hit on an emotional truth. Even if readers cannot relate to riding dragons, characters should go through trials that readers can understand: trouble at home, an all-or-nothing trial that determines the course of their lives going forward, and peer pressure are just some examples.