RIYADH: When Belgian happiness manager Cindy Van Pollaert arrived in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2021, she expected to encounter the country as it was portrayed in much of the Western media.<\/p>\n
Instead, a visit to the Formula One race in Jeddah challenged her assumptions and ultimately inspired a storytelling project dedicated to amplifying the voices of women across the Kingdom and the wider Gulf region.<\/p>\n
Van Pollaert was struck by the atmosphere among the crowd at the event: women and men gathered together freely, a vibrant public space and a sense of confidence among young Saudi women that contrasted sharply with the image of the country she had previously encountered abroad.<\/p>\n
The experience became even more significant when she met Saudi hiker and archer Nouf Almulaik, a chance encounter that would shape the direction of her work.<\/p>\n Almulaik \u201copened my eyes,\u201d Van Pollaert said, to the determination and fearlessness of Saudi women: \u201cThey\u2019re climbing the mountains. They\u2019re doing the Himalayas\u2026These are such ambitious, intelligent women and they\u2019re going to the next level in whatever they do.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I was thinking, \u2018OK, I need to find a way to connect with more local women in the Middle East in general.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n What began as a friendship quickly evolved into a broader mission. Van Pollaert became increasingly determined to challenge misconceptions about women in the Middle East and share stories that reflected the realities she had witnessed.<\/p>\n \u201cI want other people to think differently about the women here in the region,\u201d she told Arab News.<\/p>\n That desire eventually led to the creation of \u201cMin Al Qalb,\u201d meaning \u201cfrom the heart,\u201d an art and storytelling platform dedicated to celebrating the resilience, individuality and achievements of women across the Middle East and Gulf region.<\/p>\n The project has now come full circle, returning to Saudi Arabia where the idea first took shape through a personal connection that transformed Van Pollaert\u2019s understanding of the region and its people.<\/p>\n Min Al Qalb has so far featured more than 40 inspirational women from 10 countries, including Nada Alrasheed, Saudi Arabia\u2019s first full-time female freediver and a World Championship record holder; Rayyanah Barnawi, the Kingdom\u2019s first female astronaut; and Princess Sarah bint Bandar, executive director of the International Dates Council.<\/p>\n Yet Van Pollaert insists the project is not driven by strategic outreach or large-scale campaigns: \u201cIt grows very organically. It\u2019s always one woman who leads me to another.\u201d<\/p>\n The strength of the platform lies in this personal nature, Van Pollaert believes. Many of the stories begin not with formal interviews or carefully arranged meetings, but everyday interactions, conversations and friendships that gradually develop into something deeper.<\/p>\n \u201cI could easily send an email to 1,000 amazing women \u2014 you can easily find them \u2014 and make a mass production of it,\u201d she said. \u201cBut then it would lose its authenticity \u2026 I am a person (who) lives from the heart; I don\u2019t know any other way.<\/p>\n \u201cI use my voice to spread positivity because this is how I am in life as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The women featured on the platform are not simply accomplished professionals or record-breakers; they are people with whom Van Pollaert has shared meals, prepared traditional qahwa (coffee) and built genuine friendships.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people automatically become like a kind of family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For that reason, she added, the initiative was not designed simply to spotlight achievement. Instead, it seeks to capture something more universal: the humanity behind success and the connections that transcend geography and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most powerful stories are often not the biggest headlines; they are the human stories behind the achievements,\u201d Van Pollaert said.<\/p>\n \u201cMin Al Qalb does not try to explain Saudi women through one narrative, it creates space for individual stories: what drives them, what they protect, what they build, and what they want the world to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n Another factor that shaped the project was her frustration with the gap between her own experiences and prevailing perceptions in Europe. Whenever she returned to Belgium and shared stories about the women she had met in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, she often found little interest among audiences accustomed to a different narrative.<\/p>\n A major reason for this, she believes, was that in the \u201cWestern media, they will only talk about the negative things.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on her own assumptions before visiting Saudi Arabia, she said: \u201cThe misconception I had was the one that Western media gave me that women were not allowed to do almost anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Her first visit to Jeddah quickly challenged that perception. Unable to find European publications interested in publishing her experiences, Van Pollaert eventually decided to tell those stories herself.<\/p>\n Min Al Qalb reaches audiences primarily through Instagram. Each post combines an illustration with a photograph and a quote from the featured woman, while the accompanying caption tells her story. This artistic approach to storytelling has had an unexpected effect on how audiences engage with the content.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I start with the illustration, the first thing people always say is, \u2018That\u2019s cute!\u2019 Always,\u201d Van Pollaert said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, psychologically, there is already serotonin, positivity. It\u2019s physiological, biological or whatever you want to refer to it. It was never my intention. It just happened and I noticed that this was something that people were open (to), and they perceived it in a very positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, for international audiences unfamiliar with the women featured in the project, the illustrations create an emotional entry point before they encounter the story itself.<\/p>\n \u201cI think art has a way of breaking down narratives and misconceptions because of the feeling that comes up with the people who look at it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big difference if I show, for example in Belgium, a picture of a woman that I got to know and that I got to meet and became friends with, or if I show first the illustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n More than four years after their first meeting, Van Pollaert and Almulaik still make time to meet for coffee whenever they find themselves in Riyadh at the same time, a reflection of the type of enduring friendships that have become central to the project.<\/p>\n Those moments of connection, whether around a coffee table or through a social media post viewed thousands of miles away, remain at the very heart of Min Al Qalb.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I do believe is with each story that I share, with each person that I show, with each experience that I talk about, that somewhere, someone out there changes his or her mind,\u201d Van Pollaert said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Cindy](\"https:\/\/assets.maestronewsroom.com\/media\/30f6532d-717b-4366-9158-9c455299fcd9\/1789997984299-64914ab25d8409dc.jpeg\")
![\"Min](\"https:\/\/assets.maestronewsroom.com\/media\/30f6532d-717b-4366-9158-9c455299fcd9\/1789997985194-b81953a72c2ff79d.jpeg\")
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/assets.maestronewsroom.com\/media\/30f6532d-717b-4366-9158-9c455299fcd9\/1789997986204-d8cf75d7251db08a.jpeg\")
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