I’m a beauty therapist from Eritrea, and I have been working as a self-employed beautician in London since 2018. I left Eritrea when I was 14 due to the country’s unsafe circumstances at the time, travelling through Sudan and the Sinai Desert for 5 months before I lived in Israel for 5 years. In Israel I qualified as a beauty therapist before coming to the UK. I chose to qualify in beauty as I didn’t have the chance to access formal education when I was young. My brand name Mazal means ‘lucky’, and reflects my feelings on surviving my journey and arriving in the UK – I feel so lucky to be here as a beauty therapist and to be able to provide treatments as well as friendship for my clients.

In my spare time I love to listen to jazz music and my favourite singers are Jacques Brel, Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse. I’m inspired by the writing of Rhonda Byrne, especially her self-reflection book “The Secret”.