This Bride Doesn’t Play Games: In Conversation With Sarah Abouelkhair

Originally Published October 1, 2024

Sarah Abouelkhair does not merely play games.

She invents them, thoughtfully crafting their intricacies, only to later disrupt them with a playful flick of her hand.

For Sarah, life is a joke best told with impeccable timing. She doesn’t follow any influencer script; her world is an ever-shifting mix of cities, characters, and cups of ‘shay b laban.’ In the intricate board game of existence, Sarah plays with precision. As co-founder of 2oolameme, Egypt’s fastest-growing social gaming company, she’s not just a player - she’s rewriting the rules.

“Young Sarah is no different to what you see today,” she says. You can picture her, even then - restless, brilliant, working not with the static lines of an architect’s blueprint but with the fluid, unpredictable code of social media. AutoCAD might have been her formal training, but it’s the pliability of the digital world that truly captured her. There, she could twist the algorithm to her will, bending it into something that felt less like engineering and more like art. Her playfulness wasn’t just a quirk; it was a method - virality as an organic byproduct, not something sought or forced.

In November 2018, the world stumbled into one of her jokes. A prank that only the internet could bring to life: Sarah crafted a fake chat with NASA, pitching an utterly absurd idea - a BBQ powered by rocket launch fumes. The punchline was too good to ignore. NASA’s response? She calls it “quote-un-quote enthusiasm.” But the real noise came from everywhere else: ‘The Egyptian girl who secured a NASA BBQ.’ The phrase took on a life of its own - both ridiculous and perfect, the kind of moment the internet was built to canonise.

But if you follow Sarah’s personal timeline, it’s a different story. While her online persona spun in NASA BBQ memes, the real Sarah was methodically mapping her way to a Master’s in Advanced Architectural Engineering at Columbia. 2oolameme, the viral platform, wasn’t just a side project - it was a compass. A hustle that edged her closer to higher studies and quietly set the stage for her business ventures to come.

As her entrepreneurial star began its steady rise, the rumour mill, ever insistent, began to churn. Fans grew curious, speculating about her personal life with the voracity only the internet can muster. But Sarah held her cards close, guarding her private life with a subtle grace, including her partnership with her now-fiancé, Abdelrahman Selim. In December 2023, she finally let the world in, confirming what many had long suspected: she was getting married. But this wasn’t just a romantic proclamation. It was the revelation of a partnership that had helped create an empire, one move at a time.

Earlier this year, caught up in my own curiosity, I reached out to Sarah. I proposed an editorial shoot to mark her upcoming ‘aroosa’ era, imagining something playful yet profound. It had to capture her essence, her humour, her refusal to be boxed into tradition. No princess gowns, no velvet chaises. That would be too easy, too false. Instead, I wanted something alive, something that could hold the contradictions she carries so effortlessly.

Ahmed Sorour, art director and stylist, caught my drift immediately. In a matter of days, he had breathed life into the visual narrative I titled ‘This Bride Doesn’t Play Games.’ With designs from Egypt’s finest - Shahira Lasheen with her ethereal cape/coat hybrid, Muhannad Kojak playing with the symbolism of marriage in multiple, nuanced looks - the aesthetic felt more like an avant-garde statement than a bridal shoot. For more playful touches, Sorour called upon Naila Marei of Stamped by Kangaroo and florist Yasmine Fahmy’s to create alternative pieces and cast flowers in plaster. Painting the portrait of Sarah the ‘Aroosa’ was Cairo/Dubai-based makeup artist Agnieszka Hoscilo as the shoot itself unfolded in a baroque-inspired castle just outside Cairo, aptly named El Castillo.

But the photos only told part of the story. I needed to hear Sarah’s voice, to delve into the mind that had so cleverly balanced her personal life and career. In our conversation, she began to unravel her understanding of partnership, piecing together the fragments of love and ambition into something seamless.

“For me, love and work aren’t at odds,” she says, her tone direct but warm. “I’ve always seen my relationship and career as these two things that stand side by side. I’m deeply committed to my family, and marriage, having kids - that’s at the centre of my life. More important, in fact, than my career, though people might not think so.”

For years, she and Abdelrahman had worked in quiet tandem. “We’ve known each other forever. At university, we’d enter entrepreneurship competitions together. We’ve been working side by side for eight years - before we even started dating,” she shares. “We never made a big deal about it on social media, but we were always close friends, always building something.”

Then, 2020 came along and turned the world upside down. While most were reeling, Sarah and Abdelrahman saw an opening. “We realised there weren’t any Egyptian-made games - everything was imported,” she explains, as though the solution had always been there, waiting for someone to notice. “So, we put something together.” In a matter of days, 2oolameme was born, and its impact was immediate. It sold out quickly, capturing the spirit of Egypt in a way no other game had managed to. Sarah’s quirky, offbeat creativity found a home in it, and Egypt embraced it wholeheartedly.

The secret to their partnership? Balance, but not in the neatly packaged way we’re so often sold. “We’re complete opposites,” Sarah says with a smile. “I run the creative side of things, and he handles operations. We don’t try to force each other’s approach. There’s friction, sure, but it’s productive. In the end, our differences make the whole thing work.”

And as for work-life balance, Sarah didn’t sugarcoat it. “We bring work home sometimes,” she admits. “People talk about keeping these things separate, but I don’t think that’s real. For me, work and life are tangled up, and that’s fine. It’s like raising a child - there’s no clean division. It’s all part of the same mess, and it works.”

Their daily work dynamic is surprisingly independent. “We don’t cross paths much at work,” she explains. “I have my own office, my own team, and he has his. We check in maybe once or twice a week to make sure we’re on track. That’s it.” It’s this space - this trust in one another’s abilities - that makes their partnership thrive. When they do come together, it’s for the big-picture stuff, for the decisions that matter most.

So, what’s next? Sarah’s wedding is on the horizon, but don’t expect a major shift in her focus. “Honestly, I don’t think much will change after we’re married,” she says, laughing. “The wedding planning has been a huge distraction. I’m just looking forward to getting back to work, refreshed after the honeymoon, ready to keep building.”

As we wrapped up our conversation, it struck me that Sarah’s life, much like the games she creates, is an artful balance of strategy and spontaneity. She’s a woman who moves through the world with purpose, making bold decisions while leaving just enough room for surprise. Marriage, career, family - it’s all part of a larger mosaic she’s carefully constructing, piece by piece, with no need for tidy borders or clear-cut rules. In Sarah’s world, success isn’t about playing the game perfectly, but about playing it on her own terms, with humour, heart, and the quiet confidence that she’s already won.

Produced by: Scene Styled, MO4 Network

SceneStyled Managing Editor: Farida El Shafie

Creative Direction & Styling: Ahmed Sorour

Creative Producer: Nariman El Bakry  

Photography: Faris Zaitoon

Editorial Design: Habiba Amr

Makeup: Agnieszka Hoscilo

Wardrobe: Shahira Lasheen, Muhannad Kojak, Stamped by Kangaroo & Ahmed Sorour

Prop Master: Maria Saba 

Assistant Styling: Yahia El Banan

Florist: Awan El Ward, Yasmine Fahmy

Agency Producer: Hesham Baghdady

Gaffer: Ahmed Gamal

Location: El Castillo Events