08/16/2022
Our story was well presented by the SOM team:
Free Falafel by Dr. Manaf AlSudaney – his life story:
I was Born in Baghdad in 1984. My passion since childhood was in sports and selling candy and balloons to neighbors. With high scores in High School I automatically went into medical college. However, the sectarian divide in Iraq stopped my career in its tracks in the 4th year, forcing me to become a linguist in the Green Zone. Using fake IDs to leave the GZ and avoiding many indiscriminate explosions on the way to college I graduated in 2008 and at the same time got the special visa to enter the US.
Not having tasted failure at all, I was devastated when I failed the first medical exam in Michigan. That is when I remembered a conversation I had in Iraq with a US officer eating Falafel and loving it and saying “One can make a fortune selling it in the US”.
By 2010, I opened an oven bakery, called it Naba and success came quickly. By 2015 I was not interested in Medicine anymore.
Then our culture stepped back into my life through my parents in Baghdad. Just like most Iraqi parents, a college degree to them meant a lot more than having a successful business!
Of course, I obliged. In 2015 I passed the medical exam but with very low scores making it difficult to find a job. So, I sold Naba Bakery and moved to LA and I am now working with Cedar Sinai's great team of gastroenterologists since 2018.
However, my passion for business remained and when a chance came to open a Falafel place in my current neighborhood, I took it and business flourished.
I love my career in medicine and falafel: both allow me to serve people, satisfy their needs, and with Falafel I spread our culture.
My falafel journey is still in its infancy and I plan to open more falafel places in the near future.
Script by
Moid Mike Roaf
