Born in Damascus, Syria, on January 1st, 1979, Wael Al-Masri moved with his family at the age of 3 to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where he grew up to study aerospace engineering at the Dubai Aviation College, yet he had great passion for the audio-visual world, and therefore he began to teach himself the tools of the trade in the 1990s and gradually began landing freelance jobs for well-known local clients.

This strong passion grew into a profession when, in 1998, he joined one of the UAE’s oldest production houses as a director’s assistant and began honing his editing and directing skills, which led him to swiftly becoming an assistant director with an opportunity to shine by producing and directing various radio and television productions in the form of commercials and corporate videos.

As the UAE’s media scene was growing during the 2000s, Wael piqued the interest of international broadcasters who needed help building and structuring their new media content and creative departments, and thus he joined CNBC Arabiya in 2002 with the task of training news reporters on how to build a proper structured video report (in terms of video structure and editing guidelines, not news content), with the focus on creating a unified style and outstanding quality.

In addition to many other responsibilities related to creating structures for new shows and directing side corporate projects, he was assigned the task of establishing a unique video editing department, which rapidly became one of the top service providers in the region; he was also a member of the TV channel’s special projects team, which was tasked with creating and producing programs, promotions, and corporate videos for major CNBC Arabiya projects (such as CNBC Africa and CNBC Pakistan).

In 2007, a new opportunity arises as Wael was offered to join Arab Media Group with the task of heading and restructuring the newly formed editing department of the Arab Television Network (the television broadcasting arm of Arab Media Group), a department that provides creative video editing services to various international and local television franchises owned by Arab Television Network, such as MTV Arabia, Nickelodeon Arabia, Seen TV, Noor Dubai TV, and others, in addition to supporting Arab Media Group’s side projects production, such as producing and directing special videos and corporate videos of the group’s strategic partners.

When Arab Media Group’s strategic plan shifted as a result of the global economic crisis, Wael decided to take on a new challenge, accepting a project offered by Al Dafrah TV channel in 2009 with the task of improving the content and production of various TV programs, and therefore, he restructured, produced, and directed the first few episodes of the channel’s main programs, some of which were as unique as “Al Jaywan”, which was a documentary-style series that generally showcases the UAE’s sea life and highlights the marine sports achievements of the UAE, and was presented by the Emirati marine sports champion Mr. Arif Al Zafeen, winner of many international powerboat championships (Victory Team).