Can you give us your elevator pitch?
My business Visit Baladi pty ltd. it started last year, coming from a passion to show Australians my network, my hometown, my country. So Baladi, it’s an Arabic word, it means my hometown. So that’s where the name came from, visit Baladi. Last year I went after 10 years of not going back home to Jordan, and I spent 5 weeks as a tourist, taking photos and sharing to my social media, the beautiful places, the history and the experiences I had over there. I was overwhelmed and excited by the amount of messages from my network asking me about Jordan, about those places, and they were surprised in terms of what you can do and what the cultures like over there and they were saying, I want to go to Jordan, and that’s where the business idea came from, and I decided to launch my own business to take people back home, and for me to host those tours as a guest, as a host, and I have tour guides over there.

30% of business owning women in Australia are have migrant backgrounds which speaks beautifully to the story you're just sharing there about your business. I suppose in a way you have answered a bit of this but what do you think coming from another country has brought to this business that you're building?

I came to Australia 17 years ago, I didn’t speak English very well, I knew no one here. I came with my husband who unfortunately passed away from cancer when the kids were 9 & 5 years old. And the journey hasn’t been easy at all. But it has been very rewarding and enjoyable. I don’t regret it at all. If I can demonstrate that life can be very harsh on us sometimes, and brings a lot of adversity, but it you can really look at what’s possible and why you’re doing it, and what you can achieve is limitless. Coming as an immigrant and having that background automatically adds a sense of resilience, you know to start a business and start something new, and jump in and take a leap of faith. Coming from a different country, you have that in you, you decided to leave the familiar, decided to leave what you're comfortable with, and start something new. So I feel like that translated as well, in that experience of jumping in, put the fear aside, and give it a good crack, believing you want to create something new and amazing, and bring other people with you on the journey.  

Hannah, my last question for you is all about a word that we use a lot here at Mums & Co which is harmony, which is the word we use to describe a triangle of our ambition, livelihood and wellbeing. Can you describe what the shape of a great life looks like for you?

I love the word harmony and I journal often and , I remember a couple of years ago , I wrote in one of my journals that what I want to achieve in my life is harmony, which means I look at life as a wheel - you then you have your family, you have your own love relationships, you have friends, you have work, money and wellbeing. So to achieve harmony, it's you want to fill the wheel from all aspects.

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