I teach media production and storytelling at Zayed University in the UAE.

My students are mostly young women who are kinder, and sharper, than I deserve. They ask questions that cut through the performance of expertise and return the room to something more honest: what are we trying to say, and why does it matter?

Teaching media is teaching attention. It is teaching people how to look, how to listen, how to arrange time, image, sound and silence until a story begins to breathe.

I learn from them constantly. A classroom can be a production space, a writing room, a rehearsal for courage and a reminder that stories are never only about technique.