Dubai-it: She came to Dubai with a suitcase, the coffee that was once expensive, couldn’t taste better today

Dubai: Four years ago, Dasha Kulik walked into an ordinary café in Dubai, looked at the menu and burst into tears. Having just arrived from Russia with one suitcase after resigning from her job, affording even an inexpensive cup of coffee felt overwhelming. “I told my husband I had no idea how we were going to manage,” she said. Today, eating at the same café seems completely normal, something that has become symbolic of the way her life has changed since moving to Dubai in July 2022. “Sometimes, growth looks like major achievements. And sometimes, it looks like no longer checking the price of lunch,” she added. From hotel rooms to finding a home But growth isn’t always an easy process, and Kulik spoke about how when she initially moved to Dubai, after her husband received a job offer in the city, she wasn’t sure if she was going to stay for too long. “I started working remotely for a client in Cyprus, so my first year was spent indoors, we spent a couple of months in different hotels as we couldn’t find a home that met our vision and was within our budget, and we didn’t have a car in the beginning, so we had to take a taxi everywhere,” she said. When they finally settled in a building in one of the newer communities in Dubai, while the apartment matched the couple’s vision, the area did not have many buildings except their own. In a little over three years, Kulik has witnessed first-hand the impact of ‘Dubai-it’. Today, her community is one of the bustling new developments in the city, with every amenity she needs. “I honestly feel like it’s the best place to live in Dubai,” she said. A career she never imagined In this time, Kulik also got an offer in Dubai – to work as the Creative Producer at the Theatre of Digital Art (ToDA) in Souk Madinat Jumeirah. The opportunity opened the door to an industry she had never imagined working in. Having previously worked in advertising, community management and artist management, Kulik’s new profile exposed her to the world of event production, where she works with international clients, government departments, artists, musicians and sound engineers. "I would never have imagined doing that in Russia, but here I am doing it,” she said. The job became the turning point for her husband and her. After being laid off at around the same time as when Kulik was offered her new job, her husband has gone on to find a much better work opportunity. And this, to her, is the magic of Dubai. How Dubai changed an introvert “For me, the UAE is a country of opportunities. I see it in my case and my friends' cases as well. They managed to do things here that they couldn't perhaps do anywhere else in the world,” she said. “The ease of breaking down barriers, getting to the right people and networking is the highest in the world,” she added. The city has also helped the self-described introvert find a side to herself that she never knew before. “Because of all the opportunities that are available here, I became super brave. I became someone who was more open to meeting people. Today, I will knock on doors, and I am not hesitant to speak with strangers. I have ideas for initiatives, and I am not afraid to try them because I know this country is ready for new things and is always open to new initiatives,” she said. This confidence eventually led to what Kulik considers her proudest achievement – together with two partners, Kulik helped establish what she describes as the UAE's first independent symphonic orchestra, bringing together around 50 musicians without sponsorship or fundraising. "When I tell my friends and family back home, they are genuinely surprised. We collected an orchestra without sponsors or any funding, which is unbelievable in other countries. But we were able to do it here because people here are enthusiastic and want to build things," she said. But beyond the career opportunities the nation offers, it is the country's diversity that has made the deepest impression on her. "What I like is that there are people from all possible nationalities here, all ethnicities, religions and languages, and everybody coexists with each other beautifully." Four years after arriving in the city with just a suitcase and wondering whether she could afford life in Dubai, Kulik today says she can’t imagine building a life anywhere else. “I definitely want to stay here. Even during the events that happened a few months ago, I always felt like it was the safest country in the world. I know they are going to break through all the challenges, because I can see how new events are still being planned. The UAE has very ambitious plans for the future, I know they’re going to happen and I want to be a part of it,” she said. And she still enjoys that cup of coffee from that same cafe.