Dear Loyal Reader,
Rezhna Husen is my favourite social media influencer in Kurdistan. How can I not introduce her on this blog?
My favourite Social Media Influencer* introduces herself as a beekeeper and a gardener. With a degree in computer science, this 23 year-old girl from Sharbazher in Slemani is a writer at heart and is touching lives by just being herself. She speaks clean, pure pati Kurdish. She does not mix English or Arabic words here and there, just pure Kurdish, and lives the ultimate Kurdish lifestyle.
My message for girls is to just be yourself
Rezhna, Kurdish Social Media Influencer/ Content Creator @rrezhnna
Rezhna is just like any lifestyle blogger/vlogger you might follow with food recipes, daily routines, places she visits, and her sometimes her family is in the picture too. Rezhna even shows her outfits and her manicures. But all like you’ve never seen before. Ever.
Instead of a molten cake in a five start restaurant, on her instagram feed she shares picking organic pomegranates and figs from her parents’ little farm in the village. She makes traditional Kurdish meals from scratch, and shares the entire process. Instead of acrylic manicures, Rezhna pampers herself with traditional Khana on the tips of each of her fingers. And she is not shy to show them to the camera.
She shows her outfits (#ootd), and is never ashamed of the same maxi dress tucked in a Kurdish men’s shrwal “because that’s all I have, and I am comfortable in these clothes,” she tells her almost 30, 000 followers.
Just like your other Social Media Influencers, Rezhna documents all her favourite occasions from a birthday surprise to herself and all the preparation that goes into it. Of course, in Kurdish style. She even documents cleaning her family’s little farm home. Everything that all bloggers and Vloggers do on YouTube and Instagram Rezhna does, but this Kurdish girl has a mission: “I want to keep the Kurdish culture alive. I love our culture.”
In her stories Rezhna speaks of how marriage happened in the Kurdish culture before, compared to today. She speaks about culture, and traditions. She gives a shy laugh and tells me, “I relate more to my followers’ mothers and grandmothers than those my own age.”
In a world of constant pressure to dress differently, to dress in brands, to live a life sometimes beyond ones means. Rezhna brings her followers back to the simple life, the easier life, and what she calls, the happier life.
“This is what I wear, my usual life is this, this is how I am and this is what I do…”
Rezhna, Kurdish Social Media Influencer and Content Creator @rrezhnna
In her writings, she touches on everything from social issues and farm life to daily updates about her life, the animals, the trees and the fruits. Rezhna shares conversations she has with her grandmother, and her father’s jokes.
I have had the privilege to speak to Rezhna various times, her smile shines to reveal perfect, imperfect teeth. I do not think I have come across any 23 year old in my life who is as real and as genuine as her. A beautiful blend of education and passion, of dreams and ambitions, of simplicity, love and appreciation to life.
People like Rezhna were truly missing in the Kurdish social media arena.
Her feed inspire me. Motivate me, and her YouTube videos make me want to leave my city life and join her on her everyday farm adventures. I am serious.
Without a question. When my Instagram feed becomes waving hips, popping lips, fancy cars, five star meals and designer bags and lipsticks, Rezhna is my breath of fresh air.
Rezhna uses the hashtag Rezhna News in Kurdish for all her life updates #ڕێژنە_نیوز her dream is to be one of the best beekeepers of Kurdistan. She dedicates her time to the study of bees, and hopes to one day travel to a developed country to learn the art of beekeeping, only to return to her family’s little farm in Sharbazher and be what could be the only young Kurdish female beekeeper in the Kurdistan region.
Can you make this dream come true for her?
Lots of love from
My Nest in Kurdsitan
Sazan Mandalawi,
*I have never been comfortable with the description of Social Media Influencer. However, I have no problem referring to Rezhna as an influencer, for I wish all influencers were like her.
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