Meet Fatma, an Ice Academy Graduate

September 21, 2018

Here at Ben & Jerry’s, we’re super proud of our Ice Academy – but we’re more proud of our graduates and the awesome things they’re doing. Fatma is one of our graduates from this year – check out her story below!

I normally find it a challenge to introduce myself to others in one or two sentences. That’s mainly because I like so many things and do so many things. I used to think that was an issue until I watched a Ted talk on YouTube that did have a term for people like me. I am a “multi-potentialite”. I see red squiggly lines on a Microsoft Word document because it still doesn’t exist. Oh well! Maybe someday. 

Here’s me giving it a shot. My name is Fatma.  I am a civil servant by day and a food blogger as soon as I’m out of the office. I also enjoy food photography using my humble phone and making videos about food for YouTube. Then comes travel, Netflix, long walks and a bunch of other things. Food is more than just making my tummy happy. To me, every dish has a story of how movement of people from country to country over the centuries has made an impact on what their regional dishes are what they are today. In a way that’s my story too; a refugee looking to contribute to modern British society.

Coming to London made my love for food grow. I’m never seen a city so diverse. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t identify which countries people came from because I wasn’t able to recognise their language. In the midst of this diverse hub, I found little to no representation of Yemen. This made me question what I could do to change that.

Fast forward to the day I got sent a link by a good friend who works closely with refugees in Doncaster. It was an application to the Ice Academy. Timing could not have been better. I’ve always wanted to start my own business. I had plenty of ideas (multi-potentionalite, remember?) and I needed that push to go forward with one of them. Ice Academy helped me get there. The team at TERN inspired me to think like an entrepreneur and pushed me out of my comfort zone. My idea now is to slowly introduce busy Londoners to the Yemeni cuisine starting with a Yemeni doughnut. It’s a popular street food in my country but I plan to introduce it with a twist. My dream is to create a little Yemen away from home and food is my way of making that happen. 

~ Tried and Tested - Fatma’s Yemini Doughnuts. 

This blog post was written by Fatma, a graduate of our 2018 Ice Academy

To find out more about the Ice Academy check out this page or follow @MeetMeAtFatmas

P.S We’ve tried and tested Fatma’s food and can vouch it’s beyond delicious. So, watch this space and remember, you heard about her doughnuts here first.