From, In and Around the Middle East The "It" List continued...

Power Lists Are So Over

#5 Angelina Jolie

We remember working with the publicists after the 2006 Lebanon-Israel conflict, war, or whatever they were calling it. We were brainstorming on which celebrities to approach to help raise funds for victims of the fighting. The first thing we were told was that in the world of entertainment, for those who would help such a cause, it could be the equivalent of career suicide. We were stopped at many levels but rolled on. All of us watched Angelina Jolie move forward as few leaders would, as a United Nations goodwill ambassador, traveling the world (over 20 countries) to help refugees.

This is the same Angelina Jolie who has won an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. The same actress married to hunky Brad Pitt and hounded by paparazzi, reporters and probably stalkers on a daily basis.

Ten years from now, she’ll probably be the first star from today’s current crop of actors that pops into your head. Why? Because in the grand scheme of life, when she had to choose between helping those who need it and worrying about the perception of the media and people at large, Jolie choose humanity, career suicide be damned.

According to Angelina

There’s lots of goodwill and lots of discussion, but there seems to be just a lot of talk at the moment. What happens in Iraq and how Iraq settles in the years to come is going to affect the entire Middle East. And a big part of what it’s going to affect, how it settles, is how these people are returned and settled into their homes and their communities and brought back together and whether they can live together and what their communities look like.

—Excerpt from an Angelina Jolie interview aired on CNN.

#6 Chris Nassif, Hollywood Talent Executive

His is the one name on our list almost guaranteed not to have any Q Score in the general public, but behind the scenes, the name Chris Nassif opens doors.

Nassif’s Diverse Talent Agency, with clients like Ricky Martin (“La Vida Loca”), Delta Burke (“Designing Women”) and Josh Holloway (“Lost”), has just been ranked #8 in the “Los Angeles Business Journal’s” list of talent providers.

Twenty-seven years ago, Nassif was a USC graduate with no money and a lot of ambition. “There were a lot of people betting on me to fail,” he says. “I learned quickly to believe in myself, find my staying power and never give up.”

Convincing former Sony boss Tommy Mottola to take notice and crossover Ricky Martin to the American mainstream made Nassif the industry’s most unstoppable big man, but he refused to let it go to his head, breaking the mold of the nasty cutthroat agent (ala Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold character on “Entourage”). “Some agents have such a large emotional deficit that they try to use threats to get their way. That’s not me,” he explains.

It’s hard to imagine any agent giving away secrets, but Nassif says there’s a formula for actors that really sizzle over the long haul: “There are actors who act because they love it and money is not important. They do it for the passion and art. They aren’t looking for fame. Then there are actors who seek adornments and money to satisfy some void they have inside. I’ll take the one who loves the art any day.”

One thing’s for sure, if you have the talent, Nassif’s going to get you your props.

#7 Nakheel Corporation, The Quiet Giant

Did you know, Nakheel

• is the world’s largest developer of privately held real estate, including the mind-boggling Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Deira and the World Islands?

• has more than $30 billion’s worth of projects spread over more than 2 billion sq. ft. of land that will provide residence for a population of approximately 2.5 million under their umbrella?

• has launched a division to develop golf courses that are eco-friendly and follow environmentally sensitive principles and practices, using only water desalinated from the sea that will not affect local consumption?

And by the way, say your country’s ruler throws out some high level ideas like: “Let’s do some building. I have in mind a trilogy of man-made islands that take the shape of a cultural icon (the Palm Jumeirah) and a collection of private islands that form a map of the continents of the world (top, right) and while we are at it, throw in the world’s largest waterfront development (Dubai waterfront). It’s going to add over 1,000 kilometers of beach to our coastline. Can you do it?” How would you go about doing it?

Well, Nakheel did it, and those imaginative accountant’s dream numbers don’t even begin to interpret their general impact on Dubai’s vision for the twenty-first century—to create a world-class destination for business and tourism.

In a matter of a decade, Nakheel became a true superstar who sells out developments in days.

#8 Middle Eastern Entertainment
Amr Diab, Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram

It wasn’t long ago that the only thing you heard on radios throughout the Middle East was heart-wrenching ballads by famed crooners Fairouz and Oum Kalthoum. Today is different. The music of Nancy Ajram, Haifa Wehbe, Amr Diab and Elissa is everywhere. Three channels on the Dish, DJ mixes at New York’s biggest American nightclubs, multi-million dollar concert grosses in Las Vegas, mega deals with Pepsi and Coca- Cola, even Jay-Z’s controversial sampling of Abdel Halim Hafez’s song “Khosara.”

In person, their stage skills, interaction with frenzied multi-national crowds and incredible looks stand out to the point that any non-Arabic music fan could watch them for 10 minutes and realize how special they are.

Can American radio be far behind? Bet on it.

#9 Tiger Woods

Long before Dubai became the Disneyland of architecture and a place tourists and business leaders circled on the map as a must see, Woods was there showcasing his world-class skills at the Dubai Desert Classic and giving it the credibility of a top notch tournament. Now instead of sportswriters and fans asking where it is, they are asking, “When can I go?”

How many personalities can do that? Keep thinking, though the list has only one name on it.

This champ’s dominance of the golf world lends credibility to virtually everything he touches, including The Tiger Woods Dubai—a private residential community and resort that will include the world’s first golf course designed by Woods himself.

Woods’s take on this exclusive community, scheduled for completion in late 2009 and located over an area of 55 million sq. ft., is decidedly understated: “This community will be a genuine oasis for those lucky enough to live or stay within its spectacular grounds.” His groundbreaking creation includes the centerpiece golf course Al Ruwaya, a destination spa, a professionally staffed golf academy and a boutique hotel, along with 22 palaces, 75 mansions and 100 luxury villas.

Golf’s most memorable star is determined to make a bigger name for himself in specialty real estate with a kicker: he chose the Middle East to do it in. We need more Tigers in the world.

#10 Zaha Hadid, Architect and Interior Designer

After hundreds of competitions, projects and exhibitions from Chicago to Copenhagen to Hong Kong and back to London logged on her odometer, London-based, Baghdad-born architect Zaha Hadid is just hitting her stride as a visionary who always seems to push the blueprint of architecture and urban design.

Spurred by winning the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize—the first woman to do so—her spatial concepts with intense urban landscapes are more and more making everyone’s must have list. What’s her secret? Is she smarter than other designers, or maybe she’s a better leader? She’s insanely competitive and knows how to pick her spots to create some of the most unexpectedly entertaining projects. Nobody captures the attention of the art and architecture world as well as she does, nobody commands more respect and you’ll never forget her design. There’s not another architect quite like her. Even the Guggenheim Museum in New York loves her and gave her a 2006 retrospective spanning her entire work.

 

 

 

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