Hi, I’m BARA.
Or B.
Or “that person who somehow makes chaos look whimsical.”
Whatever melts the ice. I’m easy.
Born Into
a Plot Twist
was born in Syria — which already tells you my life began with a plot twist.
Honestly, the fact that I navigated a literal war and made it all the way here is still a surprise to me.
That’s why I celebrate every day like it’s a bonus level in a video game.
Because it is.
Learning to
Let Go
The Strange Child I Was
I forgive easily, not because I’m a saint, but because when you grow up hearing explosions in the distance, you realise the end is always nearer than you expect…
and somehow further than you anticipate.
So you let things go.
You breathe.
You keep moving.
Since I was little, I wanted to be someone.
Do something.
Different!!
I behaved like a tiny adult with big existential energy — writing poems, reading philosophy, and trying to impress absolutely no one because I didn’t dress to impress.
I was awkward, dreamy, hungry for meaning, and maybe not living the childhood I imagined for myself… but I had style.
My style.
Music, art, maths, physics, and philosophy were the salt on my food.
And yes, I love salt.
Becoming an Architect
(Instead of the Artist I Wanted to Be)
I wanted to study art, but in Syrian society that made me look clinically insane.
People kept saying:
“Your marks allow you to study engineering… why would you go do art?”
So as the people pleaser I used to be, I studied architecture.
And of course I shined bright like a diamond — top 10 students in year one.
Well technically number 10… but STILL top 10.
I manifested it with everything I had, fuelled by a little book called The Secret.
The War Years
Then the war started.
And everything began to look, smell, and feel different — like living inside a movie I desperately wanted to end.
I lost friends.
I lost a piece of myself.
One of my best friends at uni died in a bombing and that shifted something deep inside me.
Starting Over (Again and Again)
Since childhood I wanted to travel.
But after the war began, I wanted to travel just to be myself again.
To stop answering political questions I never wanted to speak about.
To stop choosing sides I never asked for.
I just wanted to be a normal human living a life.
In the meantime, I moved between cities trying to survive and finish uni.
I fled the city I was born in — not by choice, but because we weren’t wanted there anymore.
I restarted my life in another city with no friends, awful infrastructure, and a broken education system.
But I got through.
Working
Through It All
I nearly gave up on uni completely, so I started taking gigs:
music, painting, advertising jobs, printing, anything.
It wasn’t glamorous, but it kept me afloat.
Then I picked up motion design.
Graphic design.
Little by little I built myself again.
While graduating, I landed online gigs with cool companies — my first taste of digital nomad life.
Which, of course, made the traditional people ask the classic question:
“When are you going to get a real job job?”
Finding UX
(and Myself)
While freelancing in graphics and motion, I started hearing about UX design.
It was 2018.
I had just graduated.
I was READY to conquer the world — just sheer divine timing and stubbornness.
I found amazing courses in UI and UX, and I learned most of it during those one-hour electricity windows — downloading lessons before the power cut, moving between areas that just got electricity back, doing whatever it took to keep learning and working online.
I taught myself UX in the middle of a war zone, with WiFi that tested every layer of my patience and resilience.
Some companies I worked for helped me learn on the job, and I applied everything instantly.
It was chaotic and perfect.
Then something clicked.
Architecture and UX felt like siblings — wireframing, research, methodology, spacing, problem solving.
Both worlds.
One physical.
One digital.
Same brain.
Same soul.
Sydney & New Beginnings
Then I got hired to come to Sydney and help some kickass startups in Australia — one of the greatest honours of my life.
Becoming Who I Am Now
Somewhere along the way, I became a designer, a storyteller, and a musician.
I build worlds — digital and emotional — because it’s how I make sense of everything I lived through.
What I’m Proud Of
And here’s something I’m quietly proud of:
When I love something, I love it with everything I’ve got.
My people.
My projects.
My art.
My future.
I show up again and again — even when life feels like it’s buffering at 1% with bad WiFi.
Why I Create
I create because I love.
It’s that simple.
Love for beauty.
Love for imagination.
Love for the strange softness of being human in a messy world.
If You’re Here… You’re Home
If you’ve ever felt a little lost, a little too curious, a little too alive for the life you were handed —welcome.You’re home.
