One arrived in Dubai with barely anything. Another has built an online audience of millions. A third rediscovered her creativity through interior design, while a 48-year-old architect continues to test his limits through martial arts – four DAMAC residents share their personal journeys behind the front doors
On a balmy August afternoon in 2007, Hamza Bensaid came to Dubai with just Dh500 lent by his mother and a biology degree from Morocco. His first job at GITEX lasted just three days. A university application was rejected because his English was not good enough.
He could have gone back. Instead, he bought an English-learning book, found a job paying Dh2,000 a month and studied alongside his 12-hour working days. He eventually passed the TOEFL examination, graduated from university and built a career in marketing across MNCs.
Nearly 19 years later, Bensaid reached another milestone this March when he bought a home for his wife, Rano; their daughter, Aya, six, and son, Amine, three. “I came here looking for an opportunity. I found a career, a family, a home and a country that I am deeply grateful to call my second home,” says Bensaid, who lost his dad at eight and grew up in the busy port city of Tangier.
Today, Bensaid spends his days plotting campaigns for nutrition brands as an associate marketing director across the Middle East and North Africa while photographing his family and Dubai’s landscapes on weekends.
Bensaid’s story is just one of several playing out across DAMAC communities – beautiful scripts of turning individual passions and fulfilling their Dubai dreams.
Poppy Owen: Turning life in Dubai into a community of her own
When Poppy Owen moved from North Wales with her husband, Benjamin, and their two children in December 2022, she was looking for a different way of life. What she did not expect was that sharing that life online would become a career in its own right.
Having spent more than 12 years as a business owner, Owen was already familiar with using social media to grow an enterprise. After stepping away from business mentoring, she began documenting family weekends in Dubai on YouTube in February 2025. Later that year, she expanded to Instagram and TikTok, offering practical insights to people in the UK considering a move to the UAE.
The response was swift, with her channels attracting millions of views and messages from people who found her content useful. “I realised I could make a really positive impact just by sharing the knowledge and experiences I’d gained from living here,” she says.
That online following has also translated into real-world connections. In September, she organised Poppy’s Party, a meet-up that brought 300 followers together for coffee, music and children’s entertainment.
At home in DAMAC Hills 2, that sense of community is woven into everyday life. The family walks to the gym and coffee shops, the children ride their bikes to the parks, and weekends often revolve around the Malibu Beach Waterpark.
“There’s just so much to do here without even needing to leave the community,” she says.
Owen plans to continue growing her content creation career and hopes to move into a larger villa in DAMAC Hills 2 as the family’s needs evolve. For now, the familiar faces and everyday routines have made the neighbourhood home.
From special-effects makeup to transforming homes
For Kayleigh Davidson, a resident of DAMAC Hills 1, creativity has survived a change of country, career direction and medium.
Originally from north-east England, she moved to Dubai with her husband and two daughters three and a half years ago. Before relocating, she worked as a special-effects makeup artist, eventually managing the makeup department for an award-winning event. The role involved recruiting artists, leading a team and transforming hundreds of performers.
Since moving to Dubai, her creative attention has shifted towards renovating and redesigning the family’s villas. The connection between the two pursuits, she says, is the instinct to look at something and imagine what it could become. “Whether it’s transforming an actor into a completely different character or transforming a house into a home, I love the process of taking something from an initial idea to a finished result,” she says.
DAMAC Hills 1 has also become the setting for the family’s everyday adventures. Their daughters enjoy gymnastics, horse riding and swimming, while the family cycles to school. Her husband has an office within the community, and their adopted dogs have a dog park to enjoy.
Neighbours have become friends and, in some cases, family.
Dr Mohammad Baydoun: A fighter’s mindset, at home
For Dr Mohammad Baydoun, a Lebanese architect with a PhD in risk management, the discipline that shapes his professional life has always extended into his personal pursuits.
Baydoun spent 14 years in real estate development in Lebanon before moving to Dubai in 2016. He joined DAMAC Properties in 2018 and has since led development, contributing to the launch of more than AED 200 billion worth of real estate projects.
Yet martial arts and fitness have remained constants. A two-time Lebanese national karate champion, he has also won CrossFit competitions in Dubai and continues to challenge himself through running, calisthenics and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Living in DAMAC Hills for more than four years has allowed him to build exercise into his everyday routine. The community park is a favourite for outdoor training, while walks around the neighbourhood and time spent with his wife offer a quieter counterbalance to corporate life.
At 48, Baydoun is embracing the challenge of being a beginner again in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“I believe the secret to staying young isn’t avoiding age. It’s refusing to stop learning, moving and challenging yourself,” says the fitness enthusiast who has over 427,000 followers on Instagram.
More than bricks and mortar
What connects these residents with different backgrounds, ambitions and definitions of fulfilment – is the role each of their homes and neighbourhoods play in their respective journeys.
DAMAC, the largest private developer in the UAE and Middle East, has delivered 50,000 homes, with another 55,000 under development. Behind those figures are residents building routines, raising children and discovering new pursuits in the places they call home in Dubai.
Source: Khaleej Times
