Areej Alhouli is a PhD Candidate in Marketing at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Her research focuses on the presentation of self in everyday consumption. She holds an MBA and a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Kuwait University. Before transitioning into academia, Areej worked for nearly a decade as an industrial engineer at Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works. Her research has been published in Rutgers Business Review and the Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, and she has presented at international conferences on consumer behavior, cross-cultural marketing, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Fluent in Arabic and English, she explores how cultural and social contexts shape consumption practices.