Christine Rizzato

Nationality: French
Job Title: Managing Director, 1Step Properties

I have lived in Dubai for six years. My main responsibility at 1Step Properties is to establish and maintain close working relations with those real estate agencies with whom we organise home searches for our clients in Dubai.

I am living in Dubai with my fantastic husband, Anthony, and our black cat, Ninja, that we rescued two years ago. She is our baby! Our first child is due in September so I imagine that he will attend the AFLEC School where his father is a teacher. They can go to school together! I first came to Dubai on holiday to visit my two French friends, I then returned with Anthony and we decided that this is where we wanted to live. We recently moved from Bur Dubai to The Greens and just love the area and our new apartment has amazing views. In my spare time I enjoy meeting up with friends. When we arrived in Dubai we wanted to make friends of all nationalities but as it turns out about 98% of our friends are French.

Whenever I have visitors, I make them put on weight, a minimum of 5kgs. Each night we take them to a different nationality restaurant. We visit Burj Khalifa to give them vertigo, followed by the fountain in front of Dubai Mall - but we don’t tell them about the show so that they get a surprise. My favourite restaurant in Dubai is The Tajine in the Royal Mirage, for its atmosphere, food, service, everything - it is just a dream, I love it!

In the next year I would like to uphold a value I have had my whole life, that is, to be happy, healthy and proud about what I have done up to now. When I think of my home country, I miss drinks on the terrace and a sunny afternoon spent in “Le Vieux Port” in Marseille.