A lesser known fact is that Tahseen left her work as a civil engineer to continue her career in media, which she began at the early age of 11.
Shifa Gardi, Tahseen’s friend and colleague, lost her life in the same line of work. Gardi was killed on February 25 by an ISIS bomb while covering the war in Mosul for Rudaw.
On Saturday at the first ever TEDx Duhok event, Tahseen spoke to an audience of hundreds regarding the challenges women working in media face and the sacrifices they must make.
She highlighted that women in media are not just a beautiful face on screen, but they are capable of making real change in the world.
She believes Gardi died trying to prove that point.
A 29-year-old native of Duhok, Tahseen began her speech recalling a memory from about five years ago when her and her family were sitting together in her family home, discussing life and how happy they were.
Tahseen had received a letter from the Minister of Reconstruction and Housing of the Kurdistan Regional Government praising her work as a civil engineer on a project to help develop roads in the Kurdistan Region.
Suddenly, her grandmother turned to her and said, “Isn’t it enough? You’ve been working in media for 10 years and you are a successful engineer now, why don’t you just leave it?” she recalls her grandmother saying. “It’s bad for your reputation as an engineer. People will respect you more if you quit this job [in media].”
She believes her grandmother had said what was on everyone’s minds, but no one else would dare say to her face.
Tahseen began her career at the age of 11, as a children’s TV presenter. She told the audience in Duhok how cool she thought it was to have such a job at that age, but also recalled the difficulties. Even at the young age, she felt she had to prove herself to everyone and herself, that she could be a successful presenter on television and still committed to her family.
Women in the media industry were very few and were under pressure to succeed, Tahseen noted. Society also presented challenges as they often criticized women working in television.
“Everyone was pointing to us in the society,” she said. “They were telling us how shameful our work was.”
Tahseen realized at that point that she must work hard in school to receive good marks so that others would respect her.
She continued working in media until she finished high school, and when she graduated with good grades, she remembered how happy she was.
“I was very happy, I was crying. Not only because I received good marks, but also that I could prove to my family that media had a good impact on me,” she said. “It could bring out the best in me.”
Despite her success, she still felt at a loss after graduating high school, trying to decide what to do with her future. She had a stable job working as a television presenter, but her family encouraged her to choose a more suitable major than media to study in university.
“I love to build,” she said, explaining why she chose engineering.
Still working in media on the side, Tahseen studied civil engineering at the University of Duhok and graduated in 2011. She noted that that small title, engineer, added to her name brought respect from others.
After working as an engineer for a few years, however, she still wasn’t satisfied. Though she loved to build, she wanted to build against the mentality that women working in media is shameful, she said.
Tahseen quit her job in engineering to focus on her media career, saying that media, like engineering, is all about structure.
“When you want to have a good program, a good structure, you have to work really, really hard,” she said. “Even harder than engineering.”
She noted that as a journalist there are two challenges they face interviewing people with a variety of backgrounds and expertise.
“As a good journalist, you have to know more than each of your guests,” she said. “The knowledge and the research you do is the first challenge that we all face.”
The second challenge, especially as women, is that they must prove to the audience that they are more than a beautiful face on a television screen.
“It’s not all about my face. It’s not all about my appearance. I’m not a doll. I’m not just talking,” she said. “I have knowledge.”
Though there were many times she felt like giving up, Tahseen said she is determined to work hard to be successful in her career.
Last week she visited her family’s home in Duhok. All of her family was there, talking about her work, but this time it wasn’t about engineering. It was about a successful programme she’s had at Rudaw that her family was happy about.
“This is the reason we continue,” Tahseen said. “If you want to make that change, you have to work really hard. It’s not only about luck.”
