Today's Edition
BATOOL GHAITH (ABU DHABI)
For Sara Satari, Abu Dhabi has always been home, but after spending several years abroad and returning, she began to see the city differently.
She came back to a city that had grown more global, cultural and creative, while still retaining the familiarity and values she remembered growing up, which inspired her to create the women’s community she founded around books, art, wellness, culture and shared experiences across the capital.
“I wanted to create something that felt like Abu Dhabi itself, warm, diverse, curious and welcoming,” Satari told Aletihad.
The People community is one of a growing number of women-led groups in the capital using the city’s parks, cultural spaces, cafés, walking routes and wellness infrastructure not simply as places to visit, but as settings where friendships and a stronger sense of belonging can develop.
At the community gatherings, Satari said women from different nationalities, generations, professions and life experiences regularly find themselves sharing the same table.
“To me, that is one of the most beautiful things about growing up here. Diversity has always felt normal. Abu Dhabi teaches you very early that people can come from completely different places and still feel at home in the same one,” she said.
Satari said she created The People because she wanted women to have a space that was not built around one particular interest or one type of person. “Someone might attend because she likes books, art or wellness, or simply because she wants to try something new, but the real experience is often the people she meets along the way,” Satari added.
The People community has grown to include more than 2,000 women, according to Satari, and women who first met through the community now meet for coffee, attend exhibitions together or explore other parts of Abu Dhabi.
A City Built for Different Ways of Connecting
For Satari, one of Abu Dhabi’s strengths is the variety of experiences available within the city, a weekend can involve literature, art, heritage, wellness, the sea, food or discovering a new part of the capital.
The People has held gatherings around books, art, coffee and creativity, including at Manarat Al Saadiyat and Etihad Modern Art Gallery. Satari said cultural spaces are particularly effective because they naturally encourage curiosity and conversation.
“It is an ambitious global city, but it still gives you room for a slower morning, a long conversation and genuine human connection,” she said.
Walking the City and Building a Support Network
For Lydia Lowe, founder of Sun and Stomp ladies walking club and community, said her move to Abu Dhabi three years ago was made easier by how welcoming people were, while working closely with more than 10 nationalities every day also reinforced the city’s diversity.
Her experience of moving to a new country, however, also showed her how demanding that transition can be. “Moving to a new country alone is exhausting and nerve-wracking,” Lowe told Aletihad, which led her to create a women-only space where people from different backgrounds could meet without judgement and build connections locally.
For Lowe, Abu Dhabi’s physical environment makes that easier, as she described the capital as a city designed around wellness and community, pointing to its walkways, beaches and cultural activities.
Sun and Stomp travels across the city, with members walking in different neighbourhoods each month, and afterwards, cafes often become the place where the group sits together and shares life experiences and lessons, she noted.
She also said that even in hotter months, Abu Dhabi offers dedicated spaces to maintain active lifestyles, such as the air-conditioned walking areas, Abu Dhabi Summer Sports and activities in malls, which allow people to continue staying active throughout the year.
When Liveability Becomes Personal
Both founders said community becomes particularly important for people living away from established family or friendship networks.
“People need the everyday relationships that make a city feel secure and familiar, someone who can be a local emergency contact or simply someone available for coffee after a difficult workday. Sun and Stomp has given these to people, for which I am grateful,” Lowe said.
The women joining the community have also taught her about the bravery and courage as they want to make the most of their lives in the capital by stepping out of their comfort zone.
For both founders, the city provides the infrastructure and experiences, but communities give those places another layer of meaning. “Abu Dhabi creates the spaces and experiences, people fill them with stories,” Satari said.
