HELLO! INTERVIEWS THE BEAUTY WITH BRAINS; ‘ZARA NAEEM DAR’
Born into a military family, Zara Dar knew from a very young age that her interest lies in the business industry or accountancy. 'I had always set a high standard for myself; be it quality of Education or anything in life'. Hello! had a quick chat with the brilliant student as she spoke about her ACCA journey, aspiration, and of course, the challenges!
Among 527,000 students who undertook the Financial Reporting exam from 179 countries, Zara Naeem Dar was declared a global prizewinner - as she secured the highest marks in an ACCA exam conducted in December 2020. Dar has credited the success to her father, who always encouraged Zara to pursue her dreams.
'I don't think you can ever drive something good out of making a comparison between two people or two things, said Zara, as she talked about, how social media has its ways of spreading information, and she is not in favour of the negativity spread on social media by people who compared Dar’s achievement with Dananeer Mobeen’s 'Pawri’ video.
Zara Naeem Dar is also a makeup enthusiast and has her Instagram account where she flaunts her makeup skills and shares skincare tutorials with her fans.
Tell Hello! About yourself and your journey to success?
My name is Zara. I started my journey with ACCA about two years ago, and I've completed nine out of 13 exams so far.
What first got you into getting enrolled in ACCA? What was your original goal?
The reason why I chose ACCA in the first place was because I had set a goal for myself that I wanted to get into the business industry or accountancy. And what better choice would I have other than ACCA because it offers Global Mobility to all of its members.
Did you initially set a high standard for yourself? And now, with the fame and all, what are your hopes for the future?
Yes! I had always set a high standard for myself, be it quality of Education or anything in life. I had always aimed very high, and I continue to do so and, even with all this fame, I'm going to take the most out of it, stay positive, and give back to the people that are loving me and supporting me as much as I can.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
I am inspired by my father and my uncle Aleem Dar, I've always looked up to both of these people. They've been a source of motivation for me because I've always wanted to be where they are, do as good as they did in their respective fields. So yes, they're my inspiration.
If you weren’t an ACCA topper, what field would you have chosen to explore?
If I wasn't a global prizewinner/ ACCA topper, I would have still been studying accountancy or finance, or I would have been studying business because that was my initial aim.
Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict with yourself preparing for ACCA. How did you handle that?
There were times in ACCA when I saw the guys in my class performing really well in certain subjects, and us girls wouldn't be as good as them. That's when I used to think that maybe ACCA is actually not made for me or made for women, but I had to fight that, and I had to prove myself wrong there. And what I did was I just challenged myself that okay. If someone else can do it, why can't you so, that's how I overcame that conflict with myself.
What was the last good book you read?
There are hardly any books that I've read - I'm not a book reader. I do read the books that are part of my syllabus of course. However, there was this one book that a friend suggested about a year ago, and I started that recently like three months back. It was 'The Power of your subconscious mind' book by Joseph Murphy, and I think I read a few pages from that book, but that was about it.
Apart from this ACCA fame, you are also a beauty blogger, tell us a little about that?
Beauty blogging that I do was initially because I used to like doing makeup. I used to love arts. And I had that skill since I was a little kid I used to love art class, but eventually, I took it on as a hobby and as a side profession. I take out the time whenever I can and do makeup on clients, and when I don't have clients, I do it on myself - you know, to get my head clear.
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What would you say to the masses who are applauding your achievement?
Everyone that's applauding my achievement - I want to say a huge thanks, and I really pray from my heart for everyone, who's wishing me well. And I just pray for the girls, especially in Pakistan that, they do wonders in what they're trying to do and prove to be an asset for Pakistan.