Sheikha Asma Al Thani On Conquering New Ground, Overcoming Challenges, And Championing Women Empowerment
Having accomplished a series of pioneering mountaineering feats, the only way is up for the indefatigable Qatar Olympic Committee Director of Marketing and Communications
There’s an exuberance to Sheikha Asma Al Thani as we meet at M7 that is at once endearing and impressive. She is, what my mother would term, ‘a real go-getter’ – full of energy and vision, exuding determination and focus in equal measure. She is also undeniably warm, with a kind word for everyone, and a manner that puts people immediately at ease. Her petite frame belies her grand achievements; she is a woman characterised by strength and mental resilience – qualities that have served her well in the series of pioneering feats she has accomplished. In 2014, she was among the first group of Qatari women to summit Kilimanjaro. In 2018, as part of a European-Arab team of women who trekked to the North Pole to improve understanding between cultures and inspire other women to fulfil their ambitions, she became the first Qatari to ski to the North Pole; an accolade that saw her garner international media attention, with a special feature produced by the BBC.
Bazaar held a special dinner in celebration of this accolade, but Asma wasn’t stopping there. In 2019, she trekked to the Everest Basecamp; in 2019 she became the first Qatari woman to summit Mount Aconcagua; this year she became the first Qatari woman to summit Nepal’s Mount Ama Dablam in addition to scaling Mount Elbrus in Russia, as well as Nepal’s Mount Dhaulagiri and Mount Manaslu.
Where does her passion for adventure come from? “I was interested in sports from a very young age,” she tells Bazaar, “and I believe in the power of sport to transform lives. I’ve always found myself in sports and always challenged myself through sports. When I was younger, I wrote a bucket list of things I wanted to achieve when I grew up and I lost the piece of paper and found it again in 2013. I was amazed by the power of writing things down. Climbing a mountain was one of the of the things that I wanted to achieve when I was younger and that’s where my journey began.”
That love of sport has translated into a successful career at the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), at which Asma is currently the Director of Marketing and Communications. “As a sport-lover at heart, it is a role I’m very passionate about and it has given me the opportunity to experience sport in a unique way. Over the course of my professional career, I have been able to lead marketing and communications teams for some of Qatar’s biggest sporting events, including the 2015 Men’s Handball World Championships, the 2015 AIBA Boxing World Championships and the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, as well as for Qatar’s award-winning Olympic hospitality house at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. I was also part of the Doha 2030 Asian Games Bid Committee which I’m delighted to say was successful! It has been fantastic to see the development of sport in Qatar as it continues to grow exponentially year on year. 2021 was a particularly memorable year as Team Qatar had its best-ever Olympic and Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020. We won four medals overall, two gold and two bronze, and I cannot describe how incredible the talent that Team Qatar’s athletes showcased this summer has been and how special this moment was for all of Qatar.”
It’s a sentiment shared by many of her followers, who watch her mountaineering feats in awe. One of her ambitions is to complete the Explorers Grand Slam, an adventurers challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and all of the Seven Summits, joining only an elite handful of individuals. “I want to not only challenge myself, but also to raise awareness for some great causes,” she says of the challenge. “I feel blessed that I have the capacity to do both and hopefully make a real change. I am aiming to become the first Qatari and Arab female to achieve this challenge once completed.”
It’s a suitably ambitious goal for a woman that has accomplished so many ‘firsts’. What challenges and rewards come with being a pioneer? “To become a pioneer in whatever it is you are doing will always come with an element of fear. You are ultimately going down a path that few have trodden before you. You really have to make a leap and have faith in the plan you want to achieve. The challenges are both physical and mental.
When you haven’t done something before, you have to break through a series of barriers first – ‘this is hard, I’m tired.’ People often question why you want to do this especially given it can be so dangerous. The rewards, however, are significant. If I can inspire someone else to achieve and unlock their potential, something that they may have thought of as impossible, then it’s all worth it.”
The inspirational quality of her expeditions has seen them capture the imagination of audiences not just in Qatar, but around the world. Why is that? “I think that they appeal to everyone who is an adventurer at heart, both men and women, but particularly women. I was among the first group of Qatari women to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in a charitable endeavour to raise USD550,000 for Gaza. I am also the first Qatari to ski to the last degree of the North Pole as part of an expedition to foster greater dialogue and understanding between women from Western and Arabian cultures. I am fully dedicated to championing women’s empowerment and because I am covering all corners of the globe with my expeditions, I am slowly building an international audience that is excited to join me on this journey.”
With so many expeditions undertaken, is there one in particular that is most memorable for her? “It definitely has to be Dhaulagiri, an 8167m mountain I climbed in Nepal in October,” she tells Bazaar without hesitation. “The reason it was so memorable was that I had climbed Mount Manaslu [also in Nepal] one week previously without oxygen. Mentally, I was very prepared for it but my body was tired and I still had to push higher and higher. Dhaulagiri was a mountain that made me question why I love to climb because it challenged me at every level. It was incredibly steep and the weather was far from preferable. Going through this experience on the mountain gave me a better understanding of myself and pushed me to my absolute limits. I learned that my body can get through 32 hours without much food and water and that the mind is what really pushes you forward to enable you to achieve your goals.”
There is a philosophical element, then, to every climb. How has mountaineering changed her perception of the world? “High altitude mountaineering is often going places that few have gone before in the harshest of environments, it’s about pushing yourself to your limits. It is about willpower, determination, physical strength and mental fortitude. And it is so much more than an adventure, it is a shared journey where others are inspired to unlock their own potential, reach new heights and, ultimately, go beyond boundaries. Mountaineering has taught me that there are many things bigger than us in the world; I look up at the mountains and I feel so small and it always reminds me that we must respect Mother Nature as you cannot fight against her.”
Having climbed with, and met, people from all cultures and backgrounds and shared these once-in-a-lifetime experiences with them, how powerful are those bonds in terms of cross-cultural appreciation and exchange? “It’s enormously important. When I am on expeditions, meeting people from different backgrounds doesn’t only allow me to immerse myself in a completely different culture, it also allows me to support local communities. These expeditions foster greater dialogue between different cultures and often break down barriers because when you experience achieving a goal together through some of the harshest conditions, it unites you in a totally new way.”
What are her hopes for the future? “I’d like to continue to break barriers, not only within myself but internationally with my expeditions. I also want to continue to inspire women to move towards their goals; I want to see more women achieving amazing things around the world.”
That sense of achieving something challenging is at the heart of Asma’s DNA. “I draw inspiration from challenges and from being outside of my comfort zone,” she tells Bazaar. “It is when things seem impossible that we begin to unlock our true potential and discover things about ourselves and the world. Dreams will always remain just dreams if we don’t put effort into making them a reality. There will always be distractions – starve them. Feed your focus, and keepon moving one step at a time.”
It’s a profound and uplifting ideology – what has been the greatest piece of advice given to her? “My mother once told me that the only barriers that exist are the ones we make for ourselves, so we are the only ones that can break them down. When we look beyond these challenges and really yearn for a goal that we have, we can finally dismantle those barriers, piece by piece.”
Lead image credits: Black Dress, POA; Black Trousers, POA; Black CD leather Belt, POA; Shoes, POA, all Dior. Abaya, QR4,200; Shayla, POA; both Slouchyz
Photography: Ziga Mihelcic. Styling: Nour Bou Ezz. Editor in Chief: Bianca Brigitte Bonomi. Make-Up: Naghmeh at MAC. Hair: Aldo Coppola. Art Director: Oscar Yáñez. Producer: Johana Dana. Producer’s Assistant: Ines Guendouz. Fashion Assistant: Catherine Mallari. Shot on location at Scale7 at M7 Qatar.