Rue Maghreb 2.0 : What steps can Rue Maghreb take in order to engage with communities around the world effectively and authentically?

Rue Maghreb has been something that I have been working hard on for the past year. This project that went from an independent study to a brand has brought me to many realizations about the world we live in, and I'm glad to be given the opportunity to work on this right at school. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at my AP from last year! 

Last year was packed with collaborations with street artists from Morocco, reaching out to organizations to donate to back in countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, but most importantly, I began forming the community that I wanted Rue Maghreb to be all along.  Social media interaction was beginning to happen!  Members of our community posting their latest purchases from our site, commenting on any photos we posted, sharing photos on their stories for their followers to see, direct messaging us about how our community has made them feel like they have a little outlet to go to when they miss being back home! This is what I wanted Rue Maghreb to be all along. Being able to see the power of social media right before my eyes, and how you can virtually take someone to nostalgia.

This year, Rue Maghreb announced a new member to the board, Meriem Sadoun. Meriem is someone who is motivated to continue and enhance the Rue Maghreb mission. A hard worker that only wants to best for our brand, and sees the same future as me. Rue Maghreb is not just a brand, but will eventually turn into an organization that gives job opportunities for people in El Maghreb. The problem in our countries currently, is that we have a lot of civilians with degrees in medicine, law, dentistry, etc. but there are no job opportunities available. My goal is to help with that process and spark job opportunities for the public, and a handful of other projects in potentially ten years from now. A question of mine has been, what steps can Rue Maghreb take now in order to eventually become an organization of our own? Community is something very important to us because without a community, there is no one truly backing us up on our mission and goals. We see that by launching these lines, it's not only getting people excited to purchase from us, but it's also educating the pubic on Maghreb culture and also starting up conversations with people who are misinformed. Meriem and I began working on a line for this year called 3ala Rasi which basically translates to "the crown over my head". 3ala Rasi is a metaphor we are using for our ancestors. We think of our ancestors as being something we are not only proud of, but something we share with the world everyday. We hold ancestry above others standards. Carrying out our ancestry to our future children, grandchildren, and future generations is our mission. This line will commemorate important activists in the Maghreb region, spark old traditions in a modern light, and more.

Authenticity is something we try to capture within our brand, and we want our website to translate that. My guiding question for this project was, What steps can Rue Maghreb take in order to engage with communities around the world effectively and authentically? If you want culture to reflect on your brand effectively, you have to be authentic about it. Our website will be a platform to share thoughts and ideas, blog about traditions, recipes, clothing, and so on. A place to shop, but feel nostalgia. Take you back to the souk (marketplace), roam through El Maghreb virtually while capturing the true meaning of our mission statement throughout the experience. Rue Maghreb is taking the steps it needs to take now in order to turn into something bigger. We are currently working with someone who will managing the way we choose to look at marketing on social media. We are partnering with artists from Jordan and Spain on this project in order to build relationships with others and share work others from both parts of the world. Something that we have added to Rue Maghreb is a section called "Rue Maghreb & Friends" which basically works with local or foreign artists who may be from the Maghreb diaspora or not, may be Women business owners, or anyone who is in line with our mission.

Click the link that will send you to a presentation I have created a presentation that goes more into the idea of Rue Maghreb 2.0 visually!

To conclude, I think that we are currently headed to the right direction in carrying out Rue Maghreb's mission. But most importantly, I think Rue Maghreb is taking the right steps in working towards becoming an organization in the future. Rue Maghreb is progressively becoming a platform that sparks community engagement, and this community can help create job opportunities for our countries back home. Sparking opportunities for both sides of the world, the Western & Maghreb world. 3ala Rasi will launch April 3rd, including our new site, and we are so excited to see what this year looks like for Rue Maghreb 2.0.

Website: Ruemaghreb.com
Instagram: @rue.maghreb

Rue Maghreb

For this independent study, I spent some time working on an idea that I had been thinking about for quite some time, starting a brand. I follow a lot of brands on instagram that all create streetwear to represent Middle Eastern culture such as Palestinian, Yemeni, Jordanian, Lebanese, Iraqi, and Syrian culture. As much as I love those culture, and hold them close to my heart especially growing up with friends who cam from that background, I always wished that there would have been a brand like that for my roots. I come from a Mexican and Moroccan background, it was always really hard growing up and trying to find something that resembled me. I was never ashamed of who I was and where my parents came from, in fact, each time someone started a conversation with me I would inform them on my background. Because I saw that these brands have a trend with the people who they wanted to bring forward, Middle Easterners, I also saw a lot of people who came from a North African background whether they were Tunisian, Moroccan, or Algerian, who also followed these brands. I wondered if they felt the same way that I did. I wondered if they wanted something to relate to, but still wanted to educate others on their background. From there I played around with the idea of starting my own brand that catered to North African countries. I had been thinking about it for a while to the point that I was certain that I wanted to start something. I talked to my parents about the idea, and they agreed. My independent started with me trying to come up with a name. I knew that I wanted to think about incorporating French and Arabic to the name because those are the two commonly spoken languages in the Maghreb region. I wanted a name that joined these countries together, but I also wanted an urban flow to it. I played with the idea of street names, and in France every street name starts with Rue, meaning street or route. Maghreb is the region in North Africa which include three countries such as: Algeria, Morocco,Tunisia. From there, I found the name, Rue Maghreb. I created an instagram handle, and started contacting people I knew to follow and inform others about the brand starting. From there, we started the process of creating a brand!

Now the process included, how do we print shirts? I went to different screen printers across the Chicagoland who would be able to print my designs on shirts. Another question came up, where do I purchase wholesale shirts? How soft does the shirt need to be? Do I cuff the sleeve? Many questions were coming up which may have been the most stressful time of the business planning. It came down to my teachers recommending me to screen print my own shirts because not only was it cheaper, but I would be able to see the process myself. I do not regret printing my shirts one bit, especially because of how picky I am with things. I was able to see the process from building a screen printing frame, to picking the colors I wanted for ink, to printing my very own shirt. I bought the shirts from a wholesale website, and chose the Bella + Canvas brand shirts to work with. Now that that process was over, I needed to take some photos of the merch to put up on the website. My friends and I held a shoot at my house, and then we headed out to Wicker Park to get some shots. Chicago is the best place to take photos, especially when your trying to get the urban vibe for your shots. When I was thinking about the brand, I wanted to make sure that people were aware that the brand is based in Chicago. I grew up in Wicker Park and I think the area has a lot to do with the way I am today. This area has allowed me to express myself, and my culture. I got most of my fashion style from seeing the people around me. Walking around Milwaukee Ave. and seeing everyone's outfits inspired me and made me feel more confident in who I was. I want people to feel the same way with their merch when walking around an area they feel connected to. As we were shooting, my friends and I also felt that confidence with what we were wearing. The shirts fit in and people began asking us where we got our shirts fun which was my very first interaction with people asking me about the brand. It was a great feeling. Here are some clip of the shoot that day!




Lastly, it all came down to creating and designing the website. I needed a domain in order to make the name official! Now that I had settled with the name, Rue Maghreb, I was very confident in the decision I had made. I created the website using Wix.com which was a great way to start off creating a website, especially when you don't have experience. I started thinking about the ways that I wanted to design the website to make sure that it caught everyone's eye. I made sure to release a countdown on instagram to inform my audience to tune into the website when I launched. While I was designing, I also made sure to direct message a bunch of people who were also interested in North African culture. Whether they were North African themselves or already had a shop dedicated to Moroccan rugs or even teapots, I made sure to message anyone and everyone to get the word out that the site was launching. The day I launched, I had people from Antwerp, Belgium which has a huge Moroccan population putting the Rue Maghreb site on their instagram pages. I also had people in Dubai informing their followers. People in the U.S. Three days before the launch, I emailed this beauty influencer who is Moroccan. She is famous for being the very first hijabi model for the popular makeup shop, Sephora. She helped Sephora in making a big step in terms of diversity for the brand. She wore the merch and posted about Rue Maghreb on instagram. Prior to the launch, Rue Maghreb had 138 followers. After the first day of the launch, we made 210 followers! It was great seeing the messages from people who were excited not only for the launch, but also to know that they had always wanted a brand that was dedicated to their culture! Today, you can check out the merch on the Rue Maghreb site!

I am so glad that I started the brand up! I think it was a great experience through everything. Although this is an independent study, I couldn't have done it without the help of my teachers who guided me through questions that kept popping up. I have been able to connect with Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians throughout the U.S. and internationally which is awesome. I see some really exciting things happening for the brand very soon. I have two contacts, one in Morocco and the other in Chicago to collaborate with which is really exciting! This independent study was a great way to wrap up the end of the school year!

My Experience with Biomedicine

My independent study was based on my experience with different career options that involved biomedicine. This was a very bumpy road for me, as any one else would be when searching for different career options. Although I am only a sophomore in high school, I think that when looking into the medical industry it is important to think about different paths to take in terms of schooling. Something that I found quite challenging during this term was figuring out how much schooling would be necessary for me depending on the career path that I take. I went from exploring biochemistry to clinical science to microbiology, and finally ended up with a subject I am really into at the moment. I met with different people, and even got a volunteer opportunity by the end of the term that I love. One of my career aspirations is connecting my medical background with helping refugees and/or migrants in need who are not able to get the sufficient resources they need to stay healthy. I work for SCN, Syrian Community Network, as a tutor and help students learn and develop social/emotional learning skills. Starting off small is an important way to build up where you want to be in the future! Read my presentation to learn more about my experience throughout this term!

To conclude, this independent study was quite the experience. This independent study class is new to GCE, and I think that it worked efficiently. This is a good way for students to connect to something they want to do in currently or in the future. Because I spent a term thinking and looking for different options to take, I definitely will not stop here! I would love to continue on researching and thinking about the steps I could take now while still at GCE to get one step closer to my career aspirations!