Page 59 - Demo

www.MOSTmag.com || MOST FITNESS || 59When I had the official letter, I got a lot of media attention and TV and newspaper interviews; it helped me share my story with other people. It definitely made me more credible, and made people trust me more.The actual idea came from my personal trainer, Bashar Diab, when I was training for my second body building competition. He told me, why don%u2019t you go to the minister? You are a female bodybuilder, and we don%u2019t have that in Lebanon. This is something new; ask him to endorse you, recognize your sport, and it will be really good for you and for Lebanon. It will raise awareness that a woman can be a bodybuilder without being the typical idea of a super bulky bodybuilder. I was first endorsed as an athlete, and then later I created the first fitness application for Lebanon. The Minister gave a speech, and I had a press conference where I invited the media and the Minister and gave them a presentation of my app.MFM: What was the process like for creating your app, and how is it different and more unique than other fitness apps out there?MN: It%u2019s a mobile version of my existing website. I used to work as a journalist, so I love to write; writing is my passion. I started the website about fitness as a hobby when I first started training. I shared my training, workout videos, diets, and what I was all doing to get in shape. People had started asking me questions, so I created a free website where I gave free support and access to free information. The website started to do really well, and was averaging 8,000 visitors per month. I thought the next best thing would be to have a mobile app, so I expanded and added animated illustrations and applications. I figured this might be something more practical because not everyone will check a website every day, but they always have a phone in their hands. Also, when I started my fitness journey, I was very confused and very overwhelmed about the abundance of information available, so I desired to give back to people that were like myself, and guide them in what to do. There are a lot of scams out there, telling you to take diet pills, or use certain machines, so my website is free of advertising and gives unbiased advice.MFM: You are a board member of NGO Animals Lebanon and an advocate for animal rights-did you have pets growing up, and how did you become passionate about that cause?MN: I%u2019ve always had pets my whole life. I grew up in Africa and Nigeria, and we had all kinds of pets including: dogs, cats, mini farm horses, ostriches, antelopes, and any kind of animal that you can imagine. I always really liked rescuing animals because unfortunately in Nigeria, animals are very mistreated. I love to take care of them, and rescuing them became my thing-no matter where I am or what country I am in. It is still legal to abuse animals in Lebanon, and we don%u2019t have animal protection laws. There are a lot of animals smuggled into the country. We are the largest NGO in the Middle East and are currently working to change the law in Parliament, and make it illegal to abuse animals.