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![\"Taking](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/alhasa-saudi4-A-819x1024.jpg\")
On a brisk morning in February 2020, Doug Barnard \u201918 set out to explore the streets of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With his cell phone, he filmed his excursion through the city\u2019s marketplace\u2014wandering among displays of pots, incense, blankets, swords, and clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To his surprise, a shopkeeper offered him a thobe<\/em>, the traditional ankle-length robe worn by many Saudis. Barnard gratefully accepted the gift, as it provided extra warmth on a cold day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moments later, a street vendor invited him for coffee and introduced him to a man named Sultan and his nine-year-old son. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Barnard didn\u2019t know it then, but Sultan is a social media celebrity, with millions of followers on Snapchat. He invited the Hotelie home for a traditional lamb dinner, served over a bed of rice, on a large platter around which diners gathered to partake by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sultan filmed the meal\u2014and what happened next changed Barnard\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen he tagged my account in the videos, my phone immediately started buzzing and didn\u2019t stop for another 24 hours; overnight, I amassed about 20,000 Saudi followers on Snapchat,\u201d Barnard recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe entire thing was completely surreal. When I began posting my videos on YouTube, I had a significant audience of Saudi followers ready to watch everything I shared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n