The Women’s World Car of the Year Awards recently selected Shereen Shabnamfrom Dubai as a jury to represent the Middle East for the prestigious WWCOTY awards. Shereen is the Editor-in-Chief of the Millennium Millionairemagazine, a role she has held for the past 16 years.

In addition to that, she is a prolific luxury and lifestyle motoring writer for various publications around the world, writes for leading regional (GCC) agencies and contributes Motoring articles toExecutive Women,Capital Business, 800 Lifestyle, Trending Business Insights and MADAME magazine.

Shereen is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in Spain but is originally from the Coral Coast in the Fiji Islands.  She has a Bachelor of Mass Communications (BA), a second Bachelor in Human Sciences degree and her Masters in World Literature.

Shereen has considerable experience with women’s business groups and is the only female jury member for the Middle East Car of the Year awards (MECOTY). Her interest in cars was generated by her family where she grew up surrounded by family members entrenched in all things automotive. Her brother still delves into opening up old cars and making them road worthy again – His latest project was a Land Rover Defender.

“My brother used to draw intricate posters of race cars as well, so our room was full of cars while our yard was filled with car parts,” she says.

Shereen is married to a British University Lecturer, Eric Dury, who is also a stage actor with multiple theatre groups in the UAE.  They have a 18-year-old daughter, Natasha Dury who is an aspiring actress and a Distinction Drama Student with London Trinity College.

In motoring terms, she is a pioneer in her region:

“The UAE area is going through a change after Saudi Arabia announced women will be able to drive soon and the dynamics are changing rapidly for the automotive industry with this announcement. We find more female car enthusiasts among the younger generation than ever before.”

“This helped to be accepted into MECOTY after 19 years of driving with male automotive media and after breaking glass ceilings in the region by convincing manufacturers that women drivers count.”

She says being on an international panel like Women’s World Car of the Year further cements the message that women in motoring are important not just as drivers for personal cars but as decision makers for family cars as well.

“I felt very limited in providing a women’s perspective on cars before, so being on this panel gives me access to a wider audience and connects me to like-minded women in other parts of the world.”

Shereen is also on the Editorial Board of various intrenational magazines and is a Board member of Corvette UAE Club.  She loves writing, hence her high-volume output – as well as travelling, yachting, racing, and going for road trips in her Porsche Cayenne Turbo.