We connected a year before we actually met.

Same as a lot of you in Dubai, it wasn't because we didn't want to be friends. We were both busy. We finally arranged something, and rescheduled 3 times. Life kept getting in the way.

Thankfully, we didn't give up. That's why féminité exists today.

When we finally met, we instantly connected. We laughed a lot. We started traveling together. Very soon, we had the same group of friends. Today, we're on each other's emergency contacts.

It took time, of course. That's why we created the féminité Friendship Process, because we want you to have it too.

We both came to Dubai from somewhere else. Ankie from Hong Kong, Salma from Spain.

Dubai is generous with almost everything. Beautiful places, endless things to do, women from every corner of the world. What it does not hand you easily is genuine friendship. There are rooms full of people, and very few of them go anywhere.

So we decided to host something ourselves. A handful of women, a tennis court, a matcha ceremony, a pilates class, a Saturday morning. We thought people would play for an hour and leave. They stayed all morning, swapped numbers, and asked when the next one was.

That was the beginning.

féminité is what grew out of it. A community for women in Dubai who want more than a busy calendar. We gather every month, in beautiful places, in small enough numbers that conversations actually go somewhere.

Some women come once. Many come back. A few have found the friendships they were quietly hoping for when they first landed here.

That is the whole point. If you're looking for the same, we'd love for you to join us.

Ankie and Salma