Globally, art and media are rapidly evolving.
Creatives in the UAE face a new landscape of uncertainty, growing unemployment, mergers, and constant tech evolution.
Gulf Creative Collective brings isolated creatives together to collaborate, navigate these shared challenges, and thrive.
We connect Creatives to each other and to employment, freelance, funding, and growth opportunities - on our Slack!
The Team
Bhoomika Ghaghada
Founder, Gulf Creative Collective
Co-Founder and Lead Copywriter of STREET FZC, a UAE-based ad agency targeting Millennials and Gen Z, Ghaghada is passionate about cross-platform community building. Since 2014, she has worked with Y&R Dubai, Tonic International, ITP Media Dubai, UN Women, and the New York City Mayor’s Office.
When she’s not writing, she’s working on her research and building community. Explore her mix of idealism, clarity and ingenuity at bhoomikag.com.
Tarun Shyam
Founder, Gulf Creative Collective
Co-Founder of STREET FZC, a UAE-based ad agency. Tarun has been in the media in the UAE since 2009, when he set out to convince Nando’s that they need a Facebook Page. He also serves as an adjunct faculty at New York University where he works on courses related to open source social content and digital verification.
Through his career, Tarun has worked in different capacities across the media in companies including Dubai Media Inc, CNN, Socialize, J. Walter Thompson, New York University, Yahoo Finance and Uth Mag.
Leena Al Marzouqi
Founding Member, Gulf Creative Collective
Leena is a 29-year-old marketer that is fiercely passionate about content creation within the region. She likes to watch ads in her free time, read books and work on her novel.
Sarah Ali
Founding Member, Gulf Creative Collective
“Hello! Im Sarah Ali, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Dubai. I’m a 90’s Dubai kid so I’m basically 80% chips oman and 20% karak chai. I love design, arts or anything that allows me to be creative really! I’ve done my Masters in Graphic Design Communication in UAL, and the majority of my work revolved around women of color and their struggles. I generally try to keep the focal point of my work and research women-centric as that is important to me.”
Mira Al Qasimi
Founding Member, Gulf Creative Collective
Mira Al Qasimi is a cultural practitioner who is a triple-threat performer at heart and performing arts programmer by vocation. She has worked on several festivals as well as community activations. Mira has been in the founding teams of venues Dubai Opera, Manarat Al Saadiyat relaunch, UAE Pavilion and the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi Theatre. She is also the founder of the events management company XCulture.
“Think critically but with compassion, have integrity with humility and have enough courage to charge towards your aspirations.”