Noor Wafa: ‘I like to think I touched lives’

Posted on 2025 Feb,20

Meet Noor Wafa, Associate Creative Director at VML KSA, and join her in her abstract rambles, as she reveals her empathic side through Ad Close & Personal, ArabAd’s lighthearted and signature questionnaire. Noor is all about cats, very much into family and crazy about her job despite all the pressure and its chaotic side. Tough-minded and tenacious, no amount of defeat can make her quit in general. Just send this daydreamer who is also an overthinker, watch the northern lights somewhere and she’d be a happy woman- but not sure ready to quit adland.

What gets you up in the morning?

My work alarm and my cats nagging for food.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Its unpredictability. No matter how much structure we try to enforce, with all the deadlines and scheduled meetings, it’s still pretty much chaotic and I like that.

Who do you ultimately want to become?

The best, and kindest version of myself. Happy too.

What’s your motto in life?

“What’s meant to be will always find a way” & “fall down seven times, stand up eight”.

What keeps you in the game?

Resilience. No amount of defeat can make me quit. Afterall, a knockdown is not a knockout, right?

What keeps you up at night?

I’m not much of a sleeper anyway so I’m always up, but on a deeper level, overthinking does that to me. I spend my days daydreaming and my nights overthinking.

What would be your worst nightmare?

To fail those closest to me and to feel helpless when they’re in need.

What inspires you most?

At the risk of sounding cliché, people inspire me.

But it’s not their talent or genius I’m inspired by, but their ability to stay kind, be strong and do good for others when in fact, they’re the ones who need it the most.

What music have you been listening to lately?

Pink Floyd always and forever!

What is the gadget you cannot live without?

My cell phone.

What can we find on your phone?

Pictures of family, a million pictures of my cats, failed selfies, screenshots of all the things I want to buy, pictures of things and moments I want to remember, notes of incomplete scripts and ideas, more apps that I’ll ever need or use, more pictures of my cats and cute cats I don’t know.

What quality do you most look up to in a friend?

Someone I can be freely myself around them. They must be kind, funny and calls me out when I’m messing up yet doesn’t judge – someone who’ll always be there. A ride-or-die kind of a person.

Who would you like to sit next to on a seven-hour flight?

Ideally, my sister or my best friend because we’ll never run out of things to talk about. But also, I’d love to sit next to John Lennon to learn more about life and music between London and New York back in the 60’s and 70’s. I’d also ask him about Yoko Ono, I mean, what was that about really!? And if I didn’t enjoy the conversation, I’d make him sing for the rest of the flight till we arrive! So, I win in all cases J

If you could live for one day the life of another person, who would it be?

An astronaut who gets to explore outer space. Or someone from the royal Victorian court.

If you could have dinner with someone, living or dead, who would it be; and what question would you ask him/her?

I’m borderline obsessed with Egyptology, so that would be a chief Engineer from ancient Egypt to ask him how on earth they built the pyramids!

If you were to be reincarnated, what would you like to come back as?

A beautiful, free bird.

If you were to change profession, what would you choose to do?

I’d be the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine in NY.

What do you consider to be the greatest headline of all time?

The Declaration of the Unification of Saudi Arabia.

What business tip would you give the newbies?

To have patience. The new generation of professionals is unbelievably talented and hardworking, but I noticed that many of them lack patience. They want everything all at once and they want it now! They need to trust the process more.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Seeing my loved ones happy – overcoming my own fears – proving to myself that I CAN.

Where can we find you on a Friday night?

Home with my family and cats.

If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why?

The ability to fly.

“If I were to change profession I would be the editor-in chief of a fashion magazine in New York.”

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I’d share it with my family and best friends.

What is the one word you catch yourself saying too often?

‘Alhmdu-lellah’ = Thank You God

What would you like to be doing five years from now?

I’m not one to think “that” far ahead, but whatever I’ll be doing then I hope I’ll be happy and excelling.

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

Watching the northern lights somewhere.

What’s the last book you read or movie you saw?

The book was “Ghassan Kanafani’s letters to Ghadah Al-Samman”, which is a re-read. To me, it’s one of the most beautiful, eloquent, personal declarations of love.

As for the movie, it was “Interstellar”. Do I need to say more?