The Volunteering Project That Set My Career in Motion

Back in 2012, while I was still in college, I joined a social educational program for students and postgraduates as a volunteer. I didn’t know it then, but that decision would end up shaping my entire career.

Every project had different teams you could join, and without really planning it, I kept finding myself in the same place: operations and logistics. Not on stage, not in the audience,  but in the background, making sure everything actually happened the way it was supposed to.

While most people were focused on attending and enjoying the sessions, I was drawn to something else entirely,  being responsible for the day-to-day activities, planning special moments like opening and closing ceremonies, preparing agendas, building show timelines, and making sure every detail of the event ran smoothly.

There was something about that responsibility I genuinely loved. Watching a plan come together, second by second, and knowing you were the reason it worked.

It wasn’t just about the big moments either. It was making sure every session ran smoothly behind the scenes — the small, unglamorous work nobody notices unless it goes wrong. It was reaching out to vendors and negotiating special rates because, as an NGO, every dirham mattered. It was going back and forth with the hosting venue to lock down the right space, the right setup, the right terms. None of it was glamorous, but all of it taught me that a great event isn’t built on the stage,  it’s built in the details no one sees.

What I fully appreciate at the NGOs like the one I worked with don’t just run events, they build people. They give students and postgraduates a space to lead, to fail safely, to take on real responsibility long before the working world ever asks them to. That kind of hands-on development shapes confidence, decision-making, and character in a way a classroom never could.

Watching that impact happen around me, seeing peers grow into organizers, speakers, and leaders through nothing but volunteering and trust, is what pushed me to want to be part of creating that impact myself, not just witnessing it

That volunteering experience eventually led me to my first paid role, a part-time organizer for medical conferences. From there, it grew into a full-time position as an event executive, and it’s been my path ever since.

Looking back, I never set out to “become” an event professional. I just kept choosing the role no one else wanted, the one behind the scenes, and it turned out that role was exactly where I belonged.