Getting to Know Zeina Abdalla of Fishfayce

Tell us more about yourself and how you came up with the idea of Fishfayce?

Born in San Francisco, though raised in Sudan, and matured in Vancouver! Mother is Iranian, father is Sudanese. I am 28 years old and I’ve been living in Dubai for the last three years, after finishing university in Montreal, Canada. We first set up the photobooth at our wedding, and after seeing its success and how much my guests enjoyed interacting with it, I knew it was something worth taking further. Our guests must have taken over 1500 photos! We experimented for a while and consulted our IT expert friends to find just the right technology. We originally started using our own equipment before developing a final prototype of the photobooth.

Where does the name come from?

We wanted a catchy name that was fun and memorable and thought this was a perfect fit. Plus, we wanted something that would be unique and easily google-able!

Talk to us more about what Fishfayce consists of...

The fishfayce digital photobooth is essentially a capsule that houses gadgets, gizmos, and software that enable those who interact with it to spontaneously and repetitively photograph themselves and others, on the fly. It is a concept which, let’s say at an event, wedding, or party, preserves the funniest, most impulsively crazy moments bound only by guests’ imaginations. Guests step in front of fishfayce, frame their shot and click the remote. The pictures are stored digitally, and can be instantly projected on to any large surface. They can also be instantly printed as take-away mementos. The great thing about fishfayce for our corporate clients is its ability to seamlessly overlay any type of branding onto the images. We empower the guests to become the artist and photographer. It’s fun to watch guests treat fishfayce as their own personal professional photoshoot. Since they’re the ones controlling fishfayce, they’re more comfortable in exploring their own artistic boundaries. The fishfayce digital photobooth is fully portable; it can travel anywhere, anytime. It has been hired out for events in Spain, Greece, Lebanon and Qatar.

What's next for Fishfayce?

Fishfayce is enjoying this period of exciting growth; we certainly look forward to continued expansion of our geographic footprint.

Three things you can’t live without would be...

1. IT support (i.e. my husband)

2. Blackberry – I don’t know what I’d do without it.

3. Macbook pro

Your favorite quote or motto would be…

The future depends on what we do in the present. – Mahatma Gandhi

What’s the thing you like the most about your work?

Honestly, the highlight of our work is seeing not only the joy on the faces of the people interacting with fishfayce, but the bemused smile on the face of the host, knowing they will walk away with a treasure of funny and memorable moments all caught digitally.

As a creative and young entrepreneur in the Middle East, is there an advice you’d like to give women?

This quote says it perfectly. We are always focused on what won’t work and our fears that we forget about the positives. Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will." ~ Dr. Robert Anthony. Also, do what you love and do it well.

For more information about Fishfayce, log onto www.fishfayce.com