The LUMS Alumni Relations Office organised a session with LUMS alumnus, Hissan-Ur-Rehman, BSc 2007, and prominent sports journalist Zainab Abbas, on the evening of Thursday, May 4, 2017 for the students and alumni community.
Rehman, who currently works in Game Development for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), spoke to the attendees about his journey after LUMS, and how he came to work for the PCB. He addressed the contrast that he felt from being an undergraduate student at LUMS to working at one of the country’s most renowned government organisations.
“LUMS is a bubble of a perfect world where everything exists in the relationship of cause and effect,” he said. “The outside world, especially PCB, is not like that, and staying motivated can be a challenge in itself.”
He shared that what keeps him motivated to keep working in the cricket industry is bringing betterment to society and trying to improve the system. While Rehman shared details about working behind the scenes in the cricket industry, Zainab Abbas, who is one of the nation’s most popular sports’ journalist, and currently anchors the show Cricket Dewangi on Dunya News, chose to share insights on her life in front of the camera. Abbas rose to fame after covering the hugely popular and widely viewed Pakistan Super League (PSL), and is a true trailblazer in light of the fact that she is the first female anchor to gain such popularity in such a heavily male-dominated field: sports journalism.
On describing her journey to becoming a sports anchor, Abbas said that as cliché as it may sound, cricket is her “passion”, and that her foray into this field was accidental and based completely on her sheer love for the sport. After completing her Master’s degrees in Marketing and Strategy from Warwick University, UK, and foraying into a business-related job, Abbas realized that she wasn’t happy in her career.
“I realized early on that I’m not really cut out for the corporate setup, and that I’ve always had a creative flair,” she said.
Her personal enthusiasm for the sport, combined with her belief that “cricket is one of the few things that unites Pakistan”, pushed Abbas to try out for a World Cup cricket panel show, which went on to be a success and ultimately led her to hosting her own cricketing show.
Shedding light on the experience she’s had being a female in such a male-dominated world, and that too in the public eye, Abbas expressed that society is always more critical of women, passing judgment on everything from how she’s dressed to the way she interviews a guest.
Her takeaway message for the audience was that the only way to live through such adversities is to filter it all out, “stop thinking about what every third person is saying”, and focus on the positivity your work brings to your life.
“There are no shortcuts in life, but if you’re prepared to work hard and overcome challenges, you will get there,” she said.
The evening ended with an interactive Q&A session.
