“I got married with a silver ring that was worth less than 200 LE” Vlogger Fatma Abdelsalam reveals!

“I thought I’d talk to social media instead of talking to myself,” says everyone’s new favorite vlogger Fatma Abd AlSalam. We had an interesting talk with Fatma, who originally started out as a dubbing director and translator, on marriage, traditions, and women!

• How did you first start publishing your content on social media?

The start was quite random, I tried making a video once and it worked. I got thousands of views which was a huge number for me at the time and so it encouraged me a lot to continue. At first my main focus was on women’s issues but then I started expanding my ideas to approach both genders.

• How do you usually decide what you want to talk about?

I don’t really have a script-writing team, I witness a lot of things that inspire me on daily basis. For instance, I was a member of a particular Facebook group, and I came across a post about ridiculous lists of things a bride should buy, when she probably won’t even use half of that stuff. It was basically a huge number of the same things.

• What are ideas that have interested you the most?

Ever since I was a kid, I have always wondered why advertisements for detergents are solely directed at females. “Eghsely/emsahy” (wash, clean) even though that is not the case in the rest of the world. The idea really annoyed me so I decided to do a video about it.

• You mentioned in your video about marriage that you got married differently, in your opinion, how can women break out of tradition?

They have to really want to, I got married with a silver ring that was worth less than 200 LE. I always watch out not to be preachy in my videos. I try not to talk about my personal life a lot but in that particular video, I felt the need to show people that it happened and it is totally fine, that I didn’t get the typical expensive ring and I wasn’t humiliated, unappreciated or undervalued by my partner. You don’t have to get the 40.000 LE ring to achieve value. Sometimes I feel like we lost the true meaning of marriage for the shallow details that make us feel more secure.

“I didn’t get the typical expensive ring and I wasn’t unappreciated or undervalued by my partner. You don’t have to get the 40.000 LE ring to achieve value.”

• In all your videos, you don’t wear any makeup, is that intended? And what is the message you are trying to send?

I actually have makeup at home, but I only wear it at weddings or night outings. I was trying to prove a point that I can show up without makeup. I felt that it would matter for women who watch that they needed to see me pale and homey in order to know that it is totally okay. I also wanted to put more emphasis on what I say and not how I look when I say it. Men also need to get used to seeing the normal woman. We are not movie stars or celebrities and it is not our job to look pretty all the time.

• Do you often get messages from people asking for advice?

Actually some people have been mistaking me for Osama Mounir. They send me questions and ask for advice but I think it is a huge responsibility to tell them what to do in their lives especially that I don’t know all the different aspects of their issues.

“I wanted women who watch my videos to see me pale and homey and to know that it is okay. We are not movie stars or celebrities and it is not our job to look pretty all the time.”

• What do Women Want?

Respect, and then everything else falls under that. If the person I am dealing with respects me, he won’t hit me, he won’t make fun of me, and he won’t treat me like I am less.

Follow Fatma Abd Alsalam and check out more of her work here.