My Guest and beautiful friend Houda Echouafni describes herself as a human, mother, actor and everything in between. Born to a Moroccan mother and an Egyptian father who died when she was young, she moved to England when she was eleven years old and had to learn English to cope in a London secondary school.

She then discovered drama and a love for Shakespeare and decided to train as an actor.

Houda started out as a presenter with MBC and worked in film, TV and was in a production with the Royal Shakespeare company until the outbreak of the Covid virus brought a lot of stress and change. Not long after, Houda discovered she was losing hair very quickly and is now learning to live with Alopecia as she continues to raise and homeschool her four children.

This episode will discuss :

Houda's childhood memories of her life in Morocco where she was raised by her grandmother (1:10)

The challenges of moving to England (age 11), managing in an Inner city secondary school in London without speaking English (3:30)

Finding expression outside of language in drama class was a revelation (10:20)

Drama school adventures (13:00)

Discovering hair loss and learning about the autoimmune disease Alopecia (17:00)

Wigs and an empowering moment (28:00)

How finding a tribe and community for support and solutions was vital (29:00)

Questions about choice, hair and hijab (35:00)

Connect with Houda:

https://www.instagram.com/houdaechouafni/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1445342/