We were lucky to catch up with Barbara El Rassi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Barbara , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Unlike most professional fighters, I didn’t come from a poor uneducated family, or living in a turbulent neighborhood with drugs and alcohol at every door. Fighting was not my way out of all this but rather a choice that put me at big risk.

I come from a normal family where education is a priority and necessity. I was an excellent student, a good kid who excelled in everything she tried at. I graduated with a business management degree and got my masters in sports and olympic event management in the #1 university of that field around Europe. I was a young entrepreneur at a young age as I opened my gym in my early 20s.
I also worked as a reinsurance broker for 3 years in the #1 company in the Middle East landing first in my entrance exam and being the youngest worker in a company of 300+ people.

All this to say that one day, I took the decision to put all of what I could be, all of the “successful life”, all of the money generators, all of the peoples expectations, all of my degrees, all of them aside to fulfill my life long dream of becoming a professional fighter and being able to live out of my sport.

My biggest risk was betting on my self, knowing that scientifically speaking very very few fighters make it to the top, and unfortunately, the rest live a very poor and harsh life and that the way to get there was a lot of sacrifices and definitely not money nor recognition.

Barbara , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Early years After running away from her first ballet class at the age of 8, Barbara looked for her brother who was trying Kungfu classes.
As soon as she went in, the matts became her second home and a weapon to overcome a bullied childhood.

2005-2020
Barbara started competing nationally and internationally representing Lebanon worldwide and securing 18 consecutive times her Lebanese national title. At one point she broke her nose severely and had to operate. This pushed her to start Taichi and become a bronze World medalist a couple of years later.

2020-2021
With a double nationality and the will to find a better future, Barbara moved to Switzerland to pursue a Masters in Sports and Olympic Event Management in parallel to her sports. She competed in Switzerland and became Swiss National champion and integrated their team as well.

2021-2024
Struggling to find work as COVID hit the world, she found her self in isolation and realized that her sports was not only a passion but what she want to call as her profession. She slowly started MMA and is currently training full time to chase her dreams. Fighting in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and soon BJJ, she is building strong weapons to become a complete MMA fighter.

Breaking norms, Barbara was one of the few female fighters leading the industry in Lebanon.
Growing up, she always prioritized sports over the social life of a regular teenager, investing her time in training and competing.

With a Masters in hand, she had to take the tough decision of choosing between a normal well paid job and a unstable professional fighting career.

She chose to follow her heart and dreams facing financial, and social pressure every step of the way..

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The hardest thing to understand in life is the definition of success. What is being successful to you ? The problem is that most of the people define success with a definition they grew up with, their parents point of view on life, the society’s expectation, the newest trend…

And yes this is maybe what can be called a short term success, but how long will this make you feel successful?
an hour ? a day ? a month ? a year ? at this point you would have had a new success in mind.. can we then say that success is a moving state?

Now why is everyone’s success not the same ? because simply it is not ! our definition of success comes of what we lack and how we would want to fill that lack.. Low salary ? promotion. No degree? Diploma. No Love? a partner.

This is why success is a moving state of happiness that requires continuous feeding and a trigger maintained by the lack of what is around you.

And this is the hardest thing to explain now. Can you define a success that is not coming from a lack? Something that just makes you the happiest even when not in your best interest? if you answered this question than this is your true success, a pure one, not something linked to what you have been taught is success. It is just a long term success that do not need to be fed constantly to keep you smiling, it is what your purest you would have chosen when everyone and everything around you didn’t exist.

It took time to realize that my success would not be a highly paid job or a pride of the family or an entrepreneur; my success was doing what I love most even though it made me the poorest I’ve ever been, the ugly duckling, the jobless, the worst decision you could take, and most importantly the most honest successful me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Freedom. Society is trapped in a life culture that normalizes working habits, must do’s, definitions of success, lifestyles, and a bunch of other unnoticed details of life. I literally view it as a donkey chasing a carrot that is being held in front of him by the one riding it. People are in a bubble chasing their next promotion, their end of month salary, their daily to do list.. don’t get me wrong their is nothing wrong with that.. but awareness is key; knowing that the promotion is given by someone higher to push you in doing better, a salary to keep you from leaving, a bunch of tasks to keep you busy and not question your self..

This might sound a bit philosophical but it is unfortunately the case. Every morning, I realize how blessed I am for being free, managing my own life, taking my own decisions, knowing that efforts I do today is an investment in my self and only my self and anything I chose not to do will not impact others.

I can chose to stay home a whole day, to rock another one, to travel without a permission, to work around low days, to do what I love, to chose being around the people I WANT to rather the ones I HAVE to work with, and deal with the consequence of every decision.

Freedom allows you to discover your biggest weaknesses and badass strengths.. because when no one is behind you telling you what to do or how to do things.. this is when you will start discovering who you are, what you like, what you struggle with and this is the biggest guide to success.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: barbaraelrassi
• Facebook: Barbara El Rassi
• Linkedin: Barbara El Rassi
• Other: tiktok: @barb.wire

Image Credits
Imad Diab