Hayla TV (Hala Ziyad Ghazal) is a Youtuber, Social Media Influencer, and Social Activist. She is one of the ”Ambassadors of the Change Program” of the United Nations for Sustainable Development. Hayla has been on the list of the 100 most influential people under the age of 40 in the Arab world by Arabian Business. She was also selected by Forbes Middle East as Among the ten most influential Arab women on the Internet in 2017. She has won the ‘Women of the Year Awards in 2016’ and the ‘Most Inspirational Woman Award in 2017’.
Early Life
Hayla was born on July 24, 1995, and her birthplace is in Dubai, U.A.E. but her origins go back to the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Her father is the Syrian engineer Ziad Ghazal, who settled in Dubai after leaving Syria nearly 25 years ago.
Her father married businesswoman Lina Ghazal, who is of Palestinian origin, and the family settles permanently in Dubai.
Hayla completed her academic studies at the American University in Dubai and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Marketing.
She also got a certificate in the ”iNews News System” in the field of journalism and prepared a program under the supervision of the Jordanian journalist, Jalal Al-Khawaldeh.
Her passion for fashion prompted her to launch her brand ”Hila Couture” for wedding and party dresses in the city of Dubai in Jumeirah.
Career
Hayla started her professional career at the age of fifteen and she suffered from the problem of shyness during the period.
She worked for an English Language magazine and then worked for three months with a filming and directing company that presented them with a set of videos related to the city of Dubai.
She presented a number of commercial advertisements for Burger King, Baskin & Robbins, Sonashi Household Appliances, and Colgate Palmolive.
She created her Youtube channel on Jun 25, 2013, and started posting teen-oriented content including styling tips, cosmetics, food, cooking, acting, vlogging, challenges, and pranks.
At first, she did achieve great notability due to its content presented in English but later she decided to release its content in Arabic.
After that, she started gaining some momentum and it was the beginning of its fame at the level of the Arab world and North Africa.
Within two years, she gained more than 100 million viewers and more than 700,000 subscribers.
In 2016, she released her first comic series entitled ”Diaries of a Teenager” consisting of 8 episodes.
Next year, the series ”Hila and Essam” consisted of 16 episodes and a series of solo sketches, entitled Hila and the Family.
International Presence
The United Nations Organization for Sustainable Development and Gender Equality as part of a joint collaborative campaign with YouTube in the Ambassadors of Change Program.
In March 2016, coinciding with International Women’s Day, where Hayla was chosen with 7 ambassadors of Internet activists from six different countries.
Hayla was chosen by Unilever in cooperation with YouTube within the ”United Nations” project on sustainable development to participate in the Forsati Program to discover Arab talents on YouTube.
The campaign’s objective was to support women’s issues in their local community by creating videos that raise awareness and focus on the issue of gender equality.
In 2016, the event ”First Content Creator’s Forum in Pope Francis” dialogue was held in the Vatican State in the presence of 10 famous YouTubers around the world.
Hala Arabia is the only Arab participant in the forum and the official representative of the UAE.
The forum discussed the difficulties faced by young people in adolescence and developing respect for religions and peoples among people.
The conference witnessed the presence of international personalities like George Clooney, and Salma Hayek, and the ceremony ended with a photo shoot with Pope Francis.
