I Am Woman

The glitz, the glamour, and the inspirational winners

- Emma Day

She was described on the night as providing a “philanthropic and moral example” to us all. And after dedicating her career to helping provide loving homes for children at risk, Jumana Abu-Hannoud made an incredibly deserving winner of the Emirates Woman, Woman of the Year Awards 2017.

In association with sponsors Tory Burch, 55fifty7, Volvo, Grand Optics, TechnoGym, The Westin Mina Seyahi, African & Eastern, Events Library and Jacobsons Direct Marketing Services, 400 guests gathered on Monday evening to celebrate some of the most inspirational women living and working in the Emirates today.

As the soulful sounds of Dubai-based band Unison welcomed attendees into the grand ballroom, the master of ceremony Mina Liccione kicked off proceedings welcoming surprise guest, Emirates Woman‘s September cover star, Mariah Idrissi to the stage.

Idrissi, the game-changing hijabi model, detailed her astounding rise to fame to a rapt crowd, revealing that just two years ago she only had 200 followers on social media (she now has 60,000).

“I’m trying to simply create inclusivity in this industry and in the entertainment industry as a whole. I’m trying to create more representation for the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world because for so long we have not been represented,” Idrissi said.

After tucking into a sumptuous three-course meal, and one lucky guest from each table discovering they had won a pair of sunglasses from Grand Optics, the long-awaited winners of our five prestigious categories – as voted for by you, our readers – were finally unveiled...

And the winners are...

After months of voting and incredible support between the 25 contestants across five categories, the five well-deserved winners were revealed on the night to rapturous applause