UAE Portrait of a Nation: DJ found her confidence in Dubai

From a writer for a lifestyle magazine to a DJ and a tour guide, Ananda Shakespeare has donned several hats in just over a decade and each of them has helped her grow.

Ananda Shakespeare, who left her home in London 11 years ago to explore the UAE, says she would not have tried so many things had she stayed in the UK. Antonie Robertson / The National

DUBAI // Ananda Shakespeare left a stable job and her home in London to explore the opportunities promised in the UAE 11 years ago.

Beginning her journey as a writer, she has since gone on to become a successful DJ, Sister Rock, opening for the likes of Arrested Development, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, and De La Soul, and trained as a private tour guide in four, soon to be five, of the emirates.

“In London I felt that the people out there doing things were my friends and not me,” she said. “I was surrounded by successful, creative people; music stars, writers, artists, and I just felt I was a writer simply watching them doing these things.

“In Dubai, I’ve found my confidence. I could be a DJ, I could be a tour guide, start my own business. Living here has been really integral to my personal development. If I had stayed in London, would I have tried any of these things?

“Yes, I’d have a good home and an interesting social life, but would I have progressed so much in my personal life? I don’t think I would have.”

When she first came to Dubai, she was writing about the city for a lifestyle magazine, a trade that would become the foundation of her development a few years later. In 2011, she first trained with Dubai Tourism to become a licensed tour guide and since then has obtained licences in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman, and will soon add Ras Al Khaimah to the list.

“I got frustrated with people saying there’s no culture in the UAE because there is, you just have to find it. There aren’t the museums like London has, for example, but it’s a different place and not even 50 years old.

“Things are changing a lot though. You can walk around places like Al Quoz and go to galleries and gallery launches and feel like you’re under the arches in London,” she said.

But her time in Dubai has not always been easy. “I found the first year really tough,” Ms Shakespeare said. “It was a real culture shock and I was quite unhappy. There wasn’t much to do, wasn’t much of an alternative, artsy scene, there wasn’t even the malls or public transport and, with me not driving, it was quite hard to get around back then.

“I thought Dubai would be a lot more sophisticated than it was when I arrived and it was part of the reason I got into DJing because there just wasn’t that indie music scene here, so a few of us started to build that up for ourselves.”

Life since then has been full of ups and downs.

Made redundant in the recession in 2009, but six months later hired by a business publication, she has used her time in the Emirates to grow, and has no plans to leave any time soon.

“The UAE is full of opportunities and that’s what makes me tick,” she said. “Even when I was made redundant I networked and met some really interesting people. The UAE can be like the American dream. There are a lot of success stories here. It’s harder to have that sort of success somewhere like the UK.”

She found the UK no less transient than Dubai. “People there also come and go.”

For tourism, she loves the diversity of the Emirates, each having its own flavour. “It’s a lot easier to do adventure stuff now than it was when I first came,” she said. “A lot more people are offering experiences we didn’t have then, like desert driving [where you drive the cars yourself rather than going dune bashing with a driver] and ‘glamping’ [glamorous camping]. It’s also not just five-star hotels any more, so that brings a more diverse range of people here.”

In spite of the rocky journey, as she builds up her tour-guide business, she sees bright things ahead in the adopted country she now shows off to visitors.

She said: “You get out of life what you put in, whatever the weather, wherever you are.”