Get to Know Hesna Al Ghaoui '96

Hesna Al Ghaoui '96 is an award-winning television journalist, filmmaker, former war correspondent, and author of four books, with a special interest in human behavior, fear, and resilience. Born in Hungary from a Syrian father and a Hungarian mother, she gained her doctoral JD degree at the ELTE University of Budapest, Faculty of Law. She has worked as a documentary filmmaker and foreign affairs correspondent, reporting from many countries, including conflict zones in Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Lebanon, Western-Sahara, and the Gaza strip.

What elements of your experience at OES did you take into your current career/project? How would you say OES helped you get to where you are?

I spent one school year at OES as a foreign exchange student from Hungary, and it was one of the most determining years of my life. Not only because the whole school, all the teachers, dorm parents and students were so welcoming and friendly, but also because thanks to the creative atmosphere of the school I got a chance to try myself out in totally new areas, too. I will never forget Jack O’Brien’s art and acting classes (I even played a very memorable role in one of the plays), and it seems like my OES literature class actually put me on a path that really determined the rest of my life. This is what happened: one day in class our teacher asked us to choose a painting from the walls of the classroom and write a short story about it. I still remember how confused I got: I am 16 years old, I am not a writer, how could I write a short story?! But I tried anyway and, by the end of the class, I realized how amazing it is to make up stories when there are no limits to our imagination, and that we can really create entire new worlds on a piece of paper. 

So I started writing short stories in my free time – and I kept on doing this even after I returned home, following the scholarship. This is how I walked into one of the leading newspapers in Hungary with a bunch of my short stories, and some years later I got hired there as a journalist, eventually becoming a foreign affairs editor. Which led my path to the public TV, becoming a foreign affairs reporter, and started working also as a war correspondent and documentary filmmaker for many years. Currently I am working on my fourth book, lately with a special interest in human behavior and psychology, and I have been researching the emotion of fear in the past 5 years. This is how I ended up at UC Berkeley for this academic year, as a Fulbright fellow! So here I am again, not even that far from Oregon!

What's your favorite part about doing what you do?

Although fear seems like a negative topic, I totally disagree. I really enjoy the fact that learning more and more about this emotion and how it affects our thinking and decision-making can bring us to very important realizations in life. Fear is a subject that concerns all of us, and it doesn’t matter what kind of background we are coming from or what goals we are heading towards, we all carry stories, memories, experiences with elements of fear, and this emotion can be an important signal about where we still have some inner work to do. According to my experience it is a revelation for most people to hear that it is OK to be afraid, and we don’t have to be ashamed about it! What matters is how we deal with this emotion, and if we can learn how to use it as a fuel – as fear is one of the most important emotions that helps us stay alive and solve situations.

Based on her experiences on the frontline and numerous interviews, Al Ghaoui researches and writes about the emotion of fear, how it affects our decisions, acts and choices. Her book “Fear Bravely” (2017) explores the power of fear from historical, physiological, social, and psychological angles. She argues that though fears shape our modern societies on many levels, nevertheless, fear can also be a blessing and serve as fuel to reveal our true capabilities and reach our goals. The book includes many real life stories and was published in Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. She is currently researching post-traumatic growth as a Fulbright fellow at UC Berkeley.