From Pro Tennis to Saudi: Alex Tashbaeva on Building a Life She Never Planned

Description

Alex Tashbaeva (@alex_tashbaeva) was raised on a tennis court in Belgium by Uzbek parents who wanted a champion. She got close, full college scholarship in Texas, an offer from the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, before a phone call sent her to Riyadh at nineteen as the only woman on a ten-person coaching team building out Saudi's national tennis programme. This week, the story she doesn't usually tell on TikTok: tennis as a job that started at five, leaving home at sixteen, being asked to lie about her age in her first Saudi role, the Jeddah Yacht Club years, finding her way into events and content, and what shifted in Medina six months ago. Alex is on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat at @alex_tashbaeva. She and Cedric Dahmoun (@cedricsaudi2) are launching a marketing agency and YouTube studio out of Jeddah. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 01:00 Welcome and intro 02:40 Two fires: living with Cedric 05:07 Moving to Saudi: the path through the US and Spain 05:57 Tennis from age five — and an Uzbek-Soviet upbringing 08:16 Leaving home at sixteen 10:38 The phone call: only girl on a ten-person team to Riyadh 11:13 Arriving in Saudi with no expectations 12:42 Coaching the national under-14 boys 14:26 The pivot to hospitality at Jeddah Yacht Club 17:53 Meeting Cedric 18:09 Why she refused to call herself a content creator 20:51 Doing things differently — and earning the space to do them 24:00 Medina, six months ago 26:25 Jeddah vs. Riyadh: pace, traffic, and where you actually live 31:36 What they're building next 34:30 Tips for starting on social in Saudi 42:09 Cultural nuance and the questions Saudi tourism doesn't answer 44:00 Negative comments, keyboard warriors, and adjusting the content 50:51 What's next LINKS Listen on every podcast platform: pod.link/insidesaudi Inside Saudi on Instagram: @insidesaudiarabia Carly: @caroverman Vesna: @vesnapetrovicx #SaudiArabia #Riyadh #Jeddah #Vision2030 #ExpatLife #InsideSaudi #SaudiPodcast