Jessica Kahawaty On Her Career Trajectory, Creating a Personal Platform And Becoming A Champion For Change

Humanitarian. Foodie. Entrepreneur. Actress? Behold The Many Faces Of Jessica Kahawaty

I wanted to keep it light and frothy. Focus on her gorgeous Greek summer getaway, seemingly perfect family life and the jetsetting she was about to embark on for the luxury brands she represents, encapsulating her seemingly bright, breezy, beautifully curated life.

But Jessica Kahawaty had other ideas. Surely having the mic meant she should use her voice rather than just chit-chat about holiday plans? With her wind-swept hair, endless brown legs drawn up on the sofa as she made time for us between changing hotels in Mykonos, sporting a golden tan on skin that didn’t have an iota of make-up, this former pageant queen doesn’t need any filters. She’s also bubbly and personable, quick to give the team credit when I complimented her on our cover shoot, smiling that “it’s just so liberating to actually do things that are outside of the box, that are more creative. And that speaks to me more, speaks to my multidimensional personality as well. It’s a mirror to the stage of life I am in. In every facet of my life, whether it is my work or my personal journey, I am inclined to take the path less trodden.”

The sunny holiday setting, the way I’d crowbarred myself into her schedule while everyone was having fun on the Aegean isle… I wasn’t expecting for the conversation to take an intense turn. The 34-year-old isn’t afraid to take a minute to gather her thoughts before articulating them. It’s clear that she wants to make sure nothing she says is taken out of context, or misconstrued – which makes me instinctively think that at some point this has happened – often veering into self-analysing philosophical territory when I asked about subjects as diverse as pageantry, her social media persona, nurturing one’s confidence and becoming a catalyst for change.

My hunch is confirmed when she later admits, “In the limelight, every word is amplified, every action scrutinised… authenticity becomes a prized commodity. While I’ve been vocal about many facets of my life – from details of my businesses to human rights and family health issues – there are always layers that the public lens doesn’t capture.”

Jessica Kahawaty: An Early Start

At a time most of us were working through our insecurities, figuring out a way out of the fog of teenage angst, Jessica was, aged 14, strutting down the catwalk. She admits that at the start, “You don’t necessarily feel like you have a voice in this big industry.” But “as time has gone by and people recognise the work that I do, my voice means way more. I think confidence is something that you work on over time. It comes with life experience and success. But I’ve always been bold, pushing for things that are outside the norm. I love to do things differently.”

And although it might make for a neat narrative to think she was in the right place at the right time and the rest was serendipitous history – she was spotted alongside her model mum, Rita, and thrust into the profession. She admits, “My trajectory wasn’t always clear-cut.” A law student, who was looking to specialise in the human rights field and become a practising barrister, she was “startled by this newfound ‘fame’. I had a huge question mark over what my career would be.”

A firm believer in navigating a path, the quote ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail,’ has become a doctrine for this entrepreneur who believes in “charting one’s course with precision and passion.”

Luckily for Jessica, there was someone who knew the industry and was able to watch out for her. She pays a touching tribute to her mother: “My first memory of modelling was actually walking the same show with my mum when I was 14. She is an amazing role model. She’s just incredible, resilient, strong. A woman who sacrificed so much for her family. She lived that traditional kind of immigrant life in Australia, which I admire a lot, because, you know, I don’t live that life today. I know the struggles that she went through.”

Anyone who glances at Jessica’s social media can instantly recognise the close bond the duo have. “It’s a blessing to work with her today because she’s achieving all her dreams with me at a later age in life.” When I bring up the idea of a momager, Jessica quickly negates that notion, insisting, “If anything, I’m guiding my mum on things to do, because she’s still so young at heart and in spirit. And it affects me a lot because my maternal grandmother passed away at a very early age when my mother was in her early 20s. I feel like I always have this sense of duty to make my mum’s dreams come true today.”

Exploring Different Paths

“Opportunities have come my way, some knocking gently, others with force,” she tells us. Like other canny models before her, she’s diversified, building a portfolio of business interests and branching out into other fields, some more expected – like the presenting role for the region’s edition of Project Runway – and others, perhaps, slightly left field. When I venture that her culinary concern, Mama Rita, is unexpected for a model, she laughs, correcting me, “Those who know me were not surprised.”

“Mama Rita pays a big homage to [my mum], and to my grandmother who taught her all the recipes. My mother got stuck in Dubai during the pandemic, and we did a food tasting for friends of ours who wanted to open their own business. I randomly said to them, ‘You know, my mum cooks amazing food. And I’ve always wanted to do a cookbook for her.’

And they said to me, ‘Why don’t you actually create a food delivery business?’ The cloud kitchen we wanted to work with didn’t take us seriously at all. They’re like, ‘Pretty girl, pretty face. She’s doing fashion, what is she going to know about the food industry?’ Three months later, we went back to them with the full branding, the menu engineering, everything required to launch a food business. So six months later, to the day, we launched Mama Rita and sold 10,000 meals the first month.”

Returning to my question about it being an off-kilter choice, she muses, “People were always telling me to do a fashion brand or a make-up brand… and they are beautiful things that one day I would love to engage in, but I felt like food was for all. Food was democratic, something that I could share with every single person. It didn’t feel like a business. It just felt like opening our homes to the world.”

Tackling Tricky Topics

Despite being born and raised in Australia, the now-global citizen always kept in touch with her Middle Eastern roots, although she agrees that when she was growing up, “In Australia, you feel very Lebanese and in Lebanon, I felt very Australian. I don’t think I felt 100 per cent of anything. But that’s the beauty of it. It’s such a blessing to be exposed to so many cultures and have them shape who you are. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”

It is this unusual combination that has made her such a hit with her 1.3 million social media followers, with her win at the Miss Australia beauty pageant giving her an instant boost when she started her accounts in 2012. “I don’t ‘content create’. It’s just whatever I feel like sharing with those who have followed my journey for all these years,” she elaborates. “If I’m on holiday, I’ll share my holiday, if there’s an important cause I want to amplify, I will do a whole campaign about that. The more authentic you are, the more people will find credibility in your words and in your images.”

And although modelling opened doors, what really gave her international exposure – ultimately bringing her to Dubai and kickstarting her career in the region – was winning the Miss World Australia pageant in 2012, and coming runner up at Miss World later that year. She agrees that it was “a huge turning point because that changed the whole trajectory of my life.”

But she doesn’t shy away from the controversies surrounding the pageantry scene. She explains, “I can’t deny that [they] gave me a platform to be more recognisable, to move to the UAE, and to actually engage in my philanthropy because Miss World is a little different to the other pageants as they have a segment called Beauty with a Purpose. They’re focused more on what gives substance to a woman. At the same time I do see some of the pageants misusing their purpose. I think if things are done for the right reasons, there’s a positive gain. I have two conflicting opinions within myself.”

Championing Causes

“I’ve always wanted to be a voice for change. I started my philanthropy work when I was 17. I was always thinking of ways to amplify the voices of the unheard, or those who have been silenced. And I was thinking of ways to put myself on a platform to have a standing within the community. I always wondered what that was, because before social media existed, you either had to be an actress, a singer or a sportsman to be famous, how else were you going to be known?” she muses, bringing the conversation round to what she really wants to discuss. “Pageantry was an avenue that I found; it served as the platform, being an ambassador for causes. It started with causes that were health related, like breast cancer awareness.”

Jessica has travelled the world with the UN, from refugee camps to schools, bringing her spotlight to areas that need help. But her most recent philanthropic project, as the face of the ‘From Darkness to Light’ campaign for NGO Free a Girl, which aims to rescue minors from sexual exploitation, was her most harrowing yet. “I went on an undercover mission in Calcutta to the red-light district,” Jessica is visibly moved when she thinks back. “They’re doing incredible work on the ground to rescue these girls and rehabilitate them. The mission was to raise awareness and fundraising. The UN estimates there are two million minors who are being exploited and trafficked globally. It’s a humanitarian topic you won’t have anyone disagree on. You have children being snatched from their families, and this is a global problem because a lot of them are being trafficked outside of these countries to the western world. It’s terrible that we’re turning a blind eye, because there is such an intelligent, complex ring of traffickers who are united in their business of doing this. These girls are the forgotten ones. They are numbers and treated as such.”

Jessica is deeply aware of her privilege when she notes, “It was really tough. You feel like you’ve done nothing after you leave, even though you try… I always wonder why I was born with a specific passport in a specific place with the opportunities that I have. And I realise it’s to help, because they don’t have the tools that I have.”

“It’s all luck. I don’t know if you’ve read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, but it examines all the factors that contribute to one’s success. It could be where you’re born, it could be a skill that you fall into. There’s a documentary on Netflix called Ladies First about an Indian girl who was extremely poor, very frail, didn’t have anything. There was an archery school nearby and she begged them to let her practice with them, just for three months to prove herself. She ended up becoming a world champion. It gives me goosebumps. You could have potential geniuses and engineers and inventors and artists, but how many of these children are going to have that opportunity?”

New Horizons

Australia was home for Jessica, with Lebanon a holiday destination, so how did Dubai come into the mix? While on her media tour for Miss World, she happened to stop by the city and was offered the chance to host a programme on Yahoo. “I come from a very strict family where my parents would have never imagined that I would move from Sydney to Dubai at such an early age,” she reminisces. “But I saw something in Dubai that that really stood out. I saw a beauty and knew that’s where I wanted to be. I felt at home right away. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”

Surely her next step will be into acting? “I studied it back in Australia and a little in the US before the pandemic. For me, acting always took priority over hosting. I fell into hosting Project Runway, which was a wonderful opportunity, but I definitely do enjoy acting. I was shortlisted for the role of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. I’ve also auditioned for a lot of George Miller’s movies like Mad Max. I can’t say too much now, but there could be some really cool projects happening in 2024,” she says, leaving us in suspense.

Identifying Ikigai

When I ask about her professional life, Jessica takes me on what at first feels like a tangent but then quickly becomes an insightful revelation. “Have you read Ikigai?” she asks. “It’s a Japanese philosophy. It resonated a lot with me, because it’s about finding your passion, your mission, your vocation, and your profession. I always wanted to do something that entailed all four things – I wanted to feel fulfilled. I knew that philanthropy was my purpose. My vocation? I loved fashion, I loved food, I loved people. I loved creating beautiful things. I loved art. And it’s about making those things your mission and your profession at the end of the day. And when you do that, and when you find your ikigai, you won’t feel like you’re working – you’ll just feel like you’re living. I never feel like I’m working. I just feel like I’m living my purpose.”

Photography: Amer Mohamad. Styling: Nour Bouz Ezz. Hair: Ivan Kuz. Make-Up: Manuel Losada. Photographer’s Assistant: Yasir Ali. Equipment: Stellar Studios. Fashion Assistants: Mita Das Gupta & Pranita Garg

From Harper’s Bazaar Qatar’s Autumn 2023 issue