Dounia Maakor, Entrepreneur

Moroccan-Dutch Dounia Maakor is an award-winning social entrepreneur. She stands for diversity & inclusion and speaks on the topics such as labour law discrimination, equality of opportunity and social impact. Dounia is the founder of Your Tone of Voice and gives workshops and keynotes around personal development, especially young talent development. Previously she worked as a recruiter and focused on writing articles and making podcasts about personal development.

It’s the beginning of a new year, so many people have made New Year’s resolutions. But research says that 80% of our New Year resolutions will fail by February. Why do you think that New Year resolutions fail this quickly?

I really do not believe in New Year's resolutions. Why wait until a specific moment to make changes, start something new or work on your personal development? There's never a perfect moment, and I think that many fail New Year’s resolutions because these resolutions put a lot of pressure on us. We think because it's 12 o'clock, it’s a new year, a new me. People expect everything to change within a day, but why wait until January 1st to start something? Why not start immediately? 

How can we ensure that when we start something, we commit to it?

I have two tips. First one: as easy as this sounds, just do it. When I was working on my personal development, I was stuck for years. I was thinking all sorts of things, like ‘What if I fail’? ‘What if people won’t see my talent?’ But this way, I will never reach my goals, and I would spend years just thinking about failing instead of just doing it. And then one day, I was like, okay, I'm just going to do it. I'm going to start that podcast. I'm going to write that book. A lot of people think about what other people think of them. And I really pushed everything that people could or would think about me away. I brushed that off, and I know it sounds very easy, but it's not. 

But when I did that, great things happened. When I did that podcast, a famous magazine made a publication about it, and when I wrote that book, I got an award for that. With no network around me or support system. I just did it. 

I believed in myself, what I had to offer, and what I had to say. And what you do will eventually, if you stick to it and be consistent, will always benefit you in one way or another. 

Second tip: especially for young talents and young creatives. You need to focus on one speciality when you are at the beginning stage of developing yourself. You have to be aware of your qualities and your strengths. If you want to build something, you must build it on steady ground. 

You have to have a steady base, which begins with discovering your qualities and building your confidence. It’s now trending to be multidisciplinary, but it’s not always a good thing because, this way, it will take longer to become good at one specific thing.

Speaking of the young generation, what do they struggle with most in terms of themselves and their career?

The main thing I've noticed when I talk to young talents is that they struggle with their identity. When you're young, a lot happens within yourself. You are developing as a person and starting to think about things like ‘What is my purpose within this world?’ ‘What do I want to achieve?’ ‘What impact do I want to make?’

It’s already a struggle for young people to discover themselves as individuals, let alone to discover themselves when it comes to qualities, work, and career. So that’s why when I give workshops, I always begin with it the questions, ‘Who are you?’ ‘What is your identity? ‘What are your core values?’ ‘What things are important to you?’

“I also work with young people that have, for example, two backgrounds. I am Moroccan, but I was born and raised in the Netherlands, and I’ve struggled with my sense of belonging too. It’s like having to pick a side: am I Moroccan or Dutch?”

So that's what I see and focus on when helping young talents; acknowledging people with different backgrounds, helping them embrace theirs, and use it as a power to stand out.

So you're saying that understanding yourself, where you come from, forming your own identity, and being able to tell about yourself will lead to eventually understanding which career you want to follow. In your workshops, how do you help young professionals do that?

When it comes to discovering themselves, I teach them to understand their qualities. I do a reversed practice where I ask questions such as: ‘Which specific task in your work or project do you get the most energy from?’ Because oftentimes, those are the things you are good at, and you can turn these into qualities.

How can having a passion project help discover your qualities?

Through a passion project, you learn to develop your talent and skills by doing. Often young people don’t have work experience, and they have an idea of what they want to become, for example, an art director, but after being hired and doing this job, they realise that it’s different from what they thought it would be. 

“Starting a passion project will help you not only showcase your talent and build a portfolio but also get to know your qualities that will help you in your personal development and career.”

How can a passion project show your true creativity?

You don't have to listen to anyone when you do a passion project. You can do it however you want; there are no rules, only yours. Whereas if you are working for a company, there could be more rules you have to follow, like brand guidelines or specific client requirements on how something should be or look. 

“Creativity should not be limited, and creative people should not be put in a cage with limitations. Also, creativity is very connected to your identity. And if you’re limited in that, you will never get to showcase your true potential.”

Do you have any advice on overcoming the fear of starting a passion project and committing to it?

Whatever you do will always pay off one way or another. And we tend to think that we are doing this because we want to get noticed or acknowledged. But the main goal should be that you are doing it for yourself and your personal development. Make mistakes and learn from them. This will not only benefit your personal development but also give you extra experience that you can use in your future career.

Many of us have a job and other responsibilities. How do you balance having a regular paid job and your passion project?

Balancing can be very challenging. I've been through that too. I did a lot of passion projects and didn’t get paid for them. And often I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Who am I doing this for?’ But it really got me somewhere; eventually, passion projects will pay off. 

“My advice here would be to dream big, but start small, because you have to learn and discover yourself. You don’t have to have it all figured out beforehand; you don’t need a solid plan. Don’t make it too big in your head because that will stop you from actually doing it.”

We are living in a very overachieving society. Especially now, with social media, you see people being successful at a young age, and you start comparing yourself and what you want. People want to overachieve and prove themselves in a short amount of time. But I don’t believe in quick successes. It should not be a sprint, but a marathon; try to enjoy the process. 

“We tend to think about the end goal or result and forget to enjoy the journey to get there, the journey of creating. And actually, if you are making a video, the making of the video, and editing it, should also bring you joy. The journey toward the end result should be fun.”

Why do you think collaborating is important and can make motivate you?

Collaborating is important because it helps you build a network. You are getting to know new people and helping each other. It's good to be surrounded by like-minded people that will motivate you. But also, try to surround yourself with people who have different perspectives and points of view. 

When talking about diversity, it's scientifically proven that diverse teams deliver better quality work because you don't have only like-minded people. You have people with different perspectives. And that will broaden your perspective on things, you can learn from each other. 

And it’s the same as connecting with other people. Don’t only connect with people similar to you and think in the same way; connect and work with people who also would disagree with you. You will learn a lot when you do that. You will create things beyond your way of thinking, and it’s amazing what you will get out of it, especially in the creative industry. 

Why is building a network important, and how can LinkedIn help?

LinkedIn is a gem, but I think there are not enough creative people on LinkedIn because it has this image of a very businessy platform. People think there's no room for creative people, but that's not true.

When I started using LinkedIn, it brought me a lot in very different ways. I do see that there's a shift, that there are more creatives on LinkedIn now. So if you are a creative and don’t use LinkedIn yet, start using it now because it’s a very good and easy way to connect with a lot of people, you have a great reach in showcasing your work and finding new career opportunities. 

How do you set up a personal & actionable development plan to lead you toward the job of your dreams?

Like I said before, start small. Having a big, unrealistic plan will only demotivate you. It's important to have a direction and to make it practical. If you want a blog, create a WordPress website, and write your first post. If you want to have a podcast, send a message to the person you want to interview, plan that interview, buy the tools you need. Don’t make it too difficult for yourself; just do it.

Do you think your passion projects can eventually become your main job? Do you think when passion projects become successful, you can lose that passion?

I see many people that start a passion project, like doing a short film or documentary, and it becomes very successful. When it comes to making money with your passion projects, you have to be careful not to give your soul away because there will always be something you have to give in return. For example, if you get noticed and someone wants to put money into your work, they will want to have a saying in how it should be or look, so you will always give away a bit of your authenticity. And often, there are rules that are being put on you. 

There is nothing wrong with that, but that is why it's important to put effort into finding yourself and focusing on the journey, on building that confidence, and knowing your talent so that if you come into this type of situation, you won't trade your authenticity for approval.

And when someone wants to finance your project, you will be able to find a balance between staying true to yourself, your own creativity and authenticity, and being a little bit bendable and flexible with the other party. 

Last words of wisdom?

For me it’s my life motto – do good, and good will always come back to you in one way or another.