In the journey to propelling creativity, Saudi youth have never lagged behind. Imagination and passion are now seeing the fruit of their labor. Youth is indispensable; they are the future.
In this independent view of Saudi Arabia, more initiatives as Youth in Depth, or YND, will give voice to axiom and hopefully eradicate ignorance. In educating minds, many initiatives are harbored by established personalities, and Youth In Depth is another step toward the bigger picture. Their X factor is the youth.
YND is a non-profit organization that produces a monthly newsletter made by the youth for the youth. Young minds have developed the newsletter in an aim to highlight contemporary talent, achievements and interests of the Saudi youth. They have adopted a role to encourage youth to be more active and to take on more effective roles in society.
YND’s team told Arab News: “We hope to accomplish all of this by helping youth express their opinions, views, suggestions and concerns. We want their voices to be heard! We also hope to achieve all of this in original ways that are interactive and engaging rather than plain informative.”
So, if you are an aspiring writer, have a talent and seek to reach out to the core of Saudi Arabia, this might be your cue. Arab News got in touch with the young initiative and found out what they have to offer.
Introducing the YND Team
The Founder is Yara Hejazi, a junior banking and finance student at Dar Al-Hekma College. Adeem Subaihi is the general manager. Haneen Krimly is part of the editorial board and web development, Ghusoon Hussain is in the editorial board, Sarah Koshak handles public relations and Najla AlBassam is their graphic designer. Heba AlAttas and Rakan Felemban work in the media committee, Yasmeen Hejazi and Moaiad Al-Homaid handle event management, and finally, Badr Abdulghani works in the Marketing and Distribution Committee.
Tell us about the writers, their backgrounds and how you all came together.
We at Youth in Depth believe that everyone has the right to be heard, which is why we allow all young writers to have a chance to get published. There is an enormous group of talented writers in our community, many of which barely get recognized. So, basically, anyone can become a writer for YND, as long as you have the talent and you have something to say!
How did it all begin?
The organization officially launched on April 2010. Yara, our founder, conducted an online survey to understand more about the youth’s needs and interests, then she began to reach out to the community and the team started to take form. At first, it was only Yara, Adeem Subaihi, Sarah Koshak and Haneen Krimly.
Who is your target? How do you plan on making a difference?
Our target at the moment is everyone from ages 15 to 28. We look for talented Saudis who want to express themselves and want someone to understand their concerns and recognize their achievements. YND targets all the Saudi youth in Jeddah, for now, and in all of Saudi Arabia later on. We are planning to make a difference by inspiring youth and encouraging them to put themselves out there, to reach out to their community and prove their importance in our society.
Tell us about the newsletter’s philosophy.
The newsletter’s philosophy is basically: Understand the youth’s concerns, figure out their interests, highlight their talents and recognize their achievements. We gather all of that and publish it for readers to see and perhaps feel that inspiration and encouragement they need to get started with their own projects.
How is the response so far?
The response has been overwhelming. We’ve been receiving all sorts of positive feedback from readers and youth supporters. Many people responded to the fact that we inspired them, and in return, they started with their own projects hoping that we’d write about them. And we did. We’re just so amazed by the extremely gifted youth we have in our community. We like to keep it small and simple because our aim is not to fill up over 30 pages of low quality content. We only want simple but rich and effective articles with worthy stories to tell.
Where can we find a copy of YND?
Our distribution points consist of high schools, colleges and universities, coffee shops, malls and more. The physical newsletter is published every couple of months, although we are proud to announce that our blog has just been launched on Oct. 1. The blog has even more exclusive, rich and inspiring articles that couldn’t make it on the physical newsletter because of the word count limitations. You can view these amazing articles by logging onto: www.youthindepth.org/blog
For a detailed list or a digital copy of the physical newsletter, you can check out our website at www.youthindepth.org
What do you plan on achieving or changing through your publication? What usually derives the matter of YND?
We love to see our young generation reading something with attention and interest. We hope this newsletter brings more people back to reading articles that inform and inspire them. Yes, each issue has a certain theme that relates to current situations and events. We usually plan the structure of every issue a while before it’s supposed to be published. We always try to give the priority for new and upcoming projects and initiatives over those that have already been talked about. Our purpose is to give these youth groups and initiatives a little push by showing our full support and to give others the confidence that they can do the same.
YND is a non-profit organization that produces a monthly newsletter made by the youth for the youth. Young minds have developed the newsletter in an aim to highlight contemporary talent, achievements and interests of the Saudi youth. They have adopted a role to encourage youth to be more active and to take on more effective roles in society.
YND’s team told Arab News: “We hope to accomplish all of this by helping youth express their opinions, views, suggestions and concerns. We want their voices to be heard! We also hope to achieve all of this in original ways that are interactive and engaging rather than plain informative.”
So, if you are an aspiring writer, have a talent and seek to reach out to the core of Saudi Arabia, this might be your cue. Arab News got in touch with the young initiative and found out what they have to offer.
Introducing the YND Team
The Founder is Yara Hejazi, a junior banking and finance student at Dar Al-Hekma College. Adeem Subaihi is the general manager. Haneen Krimly is part of the editorial board and web development, Ghusoon Hussain is in the editorial board, Sarah Koshak handles public relations and Najla AlBassam is their graphic designer. Heba AlAttas and Rakan Felemban work in the media committee, Yasmeen Hejazi and Moaiad Al-Homaid handle event management, and finally, Badr Abdulghani works in the Marketing and Distribution Committee.
Tell us about the writers, their backgrounds and how you all came together.
We at Youth in Depth believe that everyone has the right to be heard, which is why we allow all young writers to have a chance to get published. There is an enormous group of talented writers in our community, many of which barely get recognized. So, basically, anyone can become a writer for YND, as long as you have the talent and you have something to say!
How did it all begin?
The organization officially launched on April 2010. Yara, our founder, conducted an online survey to understand more about the youth’s needs and interests, then she began to reach out to the community and the team started to take form. At first, it was only Yara, Adeem Subaihi, Sarah Koshak and Haneen Krimly.
Who is your target? How do you plan on making a difference?
Our target at the moment is everyone from ages 15 to 28. We look for talented Saudis who want to express themselves and want someone to understand their concerns and recognize their achievements. YND targets all the Saudi youth in Jeddah, for now, and in all of Saudi Arabia later on. We are planning to make a difference by inspiring youth and encouraging them to put themselves out there, to reach out to their community and prove their importance in our society.
Tell us about the newsletter’s philosophy.
The newsletter’s philosophy is basically: Understand the youth’s concerns, figure out their interests, highlight their talents and recognize their achievements. We gather all of that and publish it for readers to see and perhaps feel that inspiration and encouragement they need to get started with their own projects.
How is the response so far?
The response has been overwhelming. We’ve been receiving all sorts of positive feedback from readers and youth supporters. Many people responded to the fact that we inspired them, and in return, they started with their own projects hoping that we’d write about them. And we did. We’re just so amazed by the extremely gifted youth we have in our community. We like to keep it small and simple because our aim is not to fill up over 30 pages of low quality content. We only want simple but rich and effective articles with worthy stories to tell.
Where can we find a copy of YND?
Our distribution points consist of high schools, colleges and universities, coffee shops, malls and more. The physical newsletter is published every couple of months, although we are proud to announce that our blog has just been launched on Oct. 1. The blog has even more exclusive, rich and inspiring articles that couldn’t make it on the physical newsletter because of the word count limitations. You can view these amazing articles by logging onto: www.youthindepth.org/blog
For a detailed list or a digital copy of the physical newsletter, you can check out our website at www.youthindepth.org
What do you plan on achieving or changing through your publication? What usually derives the matter of YND?
We love to see our young generation reading something with attention and interest. We hope this newsletter brings more people back to reading articles that inform and inspire them. Yes, each issue has a certain theme that relates to current situations and events. We usually plan the structure of every issue a while before it’s supposed to be published. We always try to give the priority for new and upcoming projects and initiatives over those that have already been talked about. Our purpose is to give these youth groups and initiatives a little push by showing our full support and to give others the confidence that they can do the same.
