Journalist/Editor

Layelle has a demonstrated ability to write and edit smart content across various fields of expertise and subject matters. As a native English speaker, she can adapt her writing style to any particular style or format depending on the intended audience. Please see her writing/editing/video portfolio below:

Freelance services include:

Writing

Rewriting

Editing

Storytelling through video

Dynamic envoys lead UAE soft power projection

I have been able to conduct interviews with senior government officials.
Here is one piece where I interviewed the UAE ambassadors to the US and Germany about how they are working to promote UAE soft power in the West.

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The faces of Syria’s disappeared

I was particularly proud of covering the devastating issue of forced disappearances in Syria, putting it into context with the worldwide phenomenon, while personalising it with some testimonials from family members and how they were affected by it.

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Exasperated by their leaders, Lebanese find hope in a dog named Flash

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Focused topics

The politics of reconstruction in Syria

This piece on the cost of reconstructing Syria took a lot of research, sifting through data, facts and figures and tying it all together with some analyst quotes.

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Iraqis and Lebanese in showdown with their governments. Who will blink first?

This is a slightly more conversational style of writing aimed at explaining a complex topic for someone who knows practically nothing about the issue — breaking it down into questions and answers.

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Tourism

Outside of my role covering regional politics, I was able to cover tourism stories from time to time, during press trips. Some of the places I’ve visited were Monte Carlo, Arbil, Iraq and Chengdu, China. Below are two examples:

Monte Carlo becomes favourite destination for Gulf tourism

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Arbil aspires to be a regional hub

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Video Projects

In the first video, I spoke to Palestinian youth living in diaspora about their feelings of being Palestinian and not being able to visit their homeland. This was done as a supplement to coverage in our newspaper and on our website, for the 50-year anniversary of Israeli occupation of the West Bank. I like this piece because it puts a human face on a political issue that has ravaged the region for decades.

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In the second video, I spoke to Kurdish youth about their traumatic and devastating experiences living under Saddam Hussein in Iraq. This was done as a supplement to our coverage in the newspaper and on our website about the historic Kurdish referendum in 2017 which voted for Kurdish independence from Iraq. I like this piece because, again, it humanises a complex political issue in the region.
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Writing/Editing Portfolio

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