RAND AL-HADETHI IS A DUBAI-BASED Freelance WRITER, EDITOR, TRANSLATOR, & RESEARCHER.

Photographed by Dahlia Dandashi

Rand Al-Hadethi is a Dubai-based freelance culture journalist and editor. She began her career in 2020 at GQ Middle East, where she most recently served as Associate Features Editor. In between, she was part of the launch team for KHAMSA, working as Senior Digital Editor, alongside years of freelance work with bylines in Rizzoli's +971, Highsnobiety, PLAYERS, AD Middle East, WIRED Middle East, British Journal of Photography, Whitewall Art Magazine, TYPE01, Azeema, and more.

Her writing includes the GQ Middle East Man of the Year cover story on Lebanese pop icon Haifa Wehbe — Wehbe's first interview in over a decade to reflect at length on her own media narrative and the early-2000s tabloid era.

Rand is the creator of SluggMail, a weekly newsletter of unorthodox dispatches for building a life in writing. 

She is also the founder and editor of HABAYTAT, a platform built on three pillars — the space you live in, the skin you live in, and the environment you coexist in — that encourages reflection on how the spaces we inhabit shape our lifestyle, taste, and sense of self. She also runs Bareed Archive, a visual archive of personally owned stamps from across the region and the world.

Beyond editorial work, Rand has supported multiple coffee table book projects, including Myrna Ayad's +971: Inside the Minds & Workspaces of 50 Emirati Creatives (Rizzoli), as well as ADGM's annual publications and ALCOVE II. She also has a background in production, writing and translating commercial scripts for brands including Clarins, Elemis, and Architectural Digest Middle East.

A: I'm often asked this — and I write primarily about fashion, arts, music, design, books, and social issues, always through a cultural lens. Always asking: what does this reveal about contemporary culture?

FAQ: What’s your niche?