I have worked, as they say, both sides of the fence – as a journalist and editor, and as an in-house communications person handling PR and media relations. At my time doing the latter, the organization I worked for (Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar) was featured prominently by media – in Qatar and the region – on a regular basis. I was always asked how VCUQatar used to get so much coverage in the media. First and foremost it was because...

What I remember most about those early years in Doha was the sense of community and belonging. When Qatari grandmothers went shopping to the souq, they came back with boxes of goodies for children in every family in the neighbourhood.