Shona Vertue is a personal trainer and yoga teacher whose clients include David Beckham. She has over 300,000 followers on Instagram and one of the most popular YouTube yoga channels in the UK. Shona was a trainer on the cast of Warner Brother’s Wonder Woman 2, scheduled for release this autumn. She spends her time between London and Sydney where she surfs and skateboards - and I think Shona is one of the funniest people on Instagram! Her program, “The Vertue Method”, combines resistance trainin...
Jan 06, 2019•37 min•Season 2Ep. 14
The When Women Win Podcast has featured over 40 boss ladies and we've covered everything about them and their lives. In this episode, however, we are going to do something different. I've asked someone very special to take over the podcast: Hala Gorani. Hala needs no introduction - she is the legendary anchor on CNN, where she has her own nightly news show, Hala Gorani Tonight. She was also the final guest on Season 1 of When Women Win. And on this episode, Hala will be interviewing... ME. A lit...
Dec 29, 2018•58 min•Season 2Ep. 13
A working mum, Amira felt like there were not enough hours in the day - and grocery shopping was the last thing she wanted to do in her precious time. So she built an online platform to order groceries in bulk. Prior to starting BulkWhiz, Amira had 25 years’ experience in leadership, strategy, operations and marketing across a variety of sectors - having worked at Yahoo, Pepsico and Booz Allen. Most recently she was the Head of Brand for Facebook Middle East & North Africa. Amira is a Harvar...
Dec 17, 2018•35 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Claude Silver is the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia the advertising company co-founded by Gary Vaynerchuk in 2009. Prior to joining GaryVee , Claude spent 20 years in the top tiers of the advertising world, working for Publicis and J Walter Thompson, building global brand strategies for Fortune 50 companies. Her current role is to connect with every employee at Vayner Media, inspire, mentor and lead the team, and infuse the company with empathy. We started our chat with Claude's move from ad...
Dec 10, 2018•40 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Viktoriya Tigipko is a hugely successful venture capitalist from the Ukraine. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of TA Ventures, an international early-stage VC fund primarily focusing on Transportation and Digital Health. A Tech Crunch report put TA Ventures in the top 4 of European funds – they currently have 135 investments in their portfolio and have already had 45 exits. Viktoriya also founded iClub, an angel investing network, and started Code Club UA, an initiative that uses gamifica...
Dec 03, 2018•31 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Rozan Ahmed is a “multi-potentialite” – someone who has multiple passions and takes pride in working across all of them, rather than having a single track. She is known affectionately as “Renaissance Woman” and her vision is to solve world problems through a combination of entrepreneurial, philanthropic and curatorial activity. Rozan is a champion of the arts for social exchange, youth development, and mental well-being, and believes that local creativity is the currency which will spur Africa’s...
Nov 26, 2018•33 min•Season 2Ep. 9
My guest on today’s show has one of the most fast-paced jobs on the planet. Leslie Berland is both the Chief Marketing Officer and the Head of People at Twitter, known affectionately in the company as "tweeps". She joined the company in 2016 amid a huge drive to sustain existing followers and attract new ones. Prior to joining Twitter, Leslie was Executive Vice President of Global Advertising, Marketing & Digital Partnerships at American Express. Having joined American Express in 2005, Lesli...
Nov 19, 2018•36 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Cheryl Strayed is the award-winning author of Wild , the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon. Cheryl has written several New York Times bestsellers and her books have been translated into forty languages around the world. Her memoir Wild chronicled her 1,100 mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, the despair that drove her to it, the challenges she faced along the way and the profound reset that ensued. Cheryl's essays...
Nov 12, 2018•40 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Parkour is "the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing." Amal Murad spent her childhood barefoot, jumping up walls, climbing trees and running around outdoors. She didn’t realise at the time that she was in training to become the first female Emirati to coach and compete in parkour. After university, Amal got a design job that had her sitting at a desk for twelve hours a day. In her mid-twent...
Nov 05, 2018•45 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Michelle Peluso is the Chief Marketing Officer at IBM, a 107 year-old company that employs over 380,000 people. Michelle reports to Ginni Rometty, the Chairman and CEO, and oversees the company's global marketing and brand initiatives, strategy and execution. She also runs IBM's global women's network. All this and a long-term commitment to leaving the office at 5pm. Michelle has had an illustrious career with entrepreneurial beginnings and a history of working at the very top of large corporati...
Oct 29, 2018•33 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Caroline Miller is one of the world’s leading experts on the science of goal setting and grit. She’s spent more than 30 years helping individuals, leaders and companies to cultivate grit to achieve their goals and find personal and professional success. Caroline is the author of six books, including Getting Grit and Creating Your Best Life. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC and CNN. During our chat we discussed the two kinds of goals – learning goals and ...
Oct 14, 2018•43 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Sara Al Madani is a well-known Emirati fashion designer, partner in a tech company and owner of a creative consultancy. She is the youngest board member at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry and also sits on the board of the UAE SME Council. Sara has won numerous awards and is a passionate advocate for women in business. We met at Dubai’s bustling Youth Hub for this recording. Sara started her first business at the age of 15 after declaring financial independence from her bewildered ...
Oct 08, 2018•38 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 2 of When Women Win Podcast! Before we dive in, I would like to take a moment and acknowledge you for making When Women Win the number 1 podcast in the Middle East. To all of you who subscribed and listened to the podcast, to all who reviewed and shared it... A million thanks. For the opening episode of Season 2 we are fortunate to have an international powerhouse in the world of marketing. Beth Comstock spent 25 years at GE where she led efforts to accelerate new growth and wa...
Oct 01, 2018•48 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Today’s special guest is one of CNN’s most experienced journalists. She anchors HALA GORANI TONIGHT, a show that brings viewers into the heart of CNN's International operation and immerses them in the latest stories of the day. In addition to her anchoring duties, Hala often goes into the field to report on major breaking news stories like the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon in 2014 and the 2012 Egyptian Elections. We had a wide ranging discussion about careers, politics, and social norms. We t...
Jun 25, 2018•56 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Kristy is responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing professional women with a global community to lean on and learn from. Kristy is also host of the Ellevate Podcast. We dived deep into the power of networking – and how to network effectively. Your tribe, your squad! We discussed the concept of a personal brand and how important it is to cultivate one intentionally, noting that one’s brand must change over time. I asked Kris...
Jun 12, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This episode is packed full of actionable tips and truth bombs. Marshall has coached over 150 major CEOs, is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers and has decades of experience helping men and women win. Marshall is the first male guest on When Women Win! He has recently co-written with Sally Helgesen an incredibly powerful book called "How Women Rise", which breaks down the 12 habits holding professional women back in the workplace. While structural and systemic changes must be made...
Jun 05, 2018•43 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Helen McGuire launched Hopscotch in March 2016 whilst seven months pregnant with a mission to enable professional women to play a part in the workplace in the Middle East, no matter what their personal commitments. The company now employs a strong team across its three tenets of Work, Learn and Connect; has grown a community of over 50,000 women in the region and works with multinationals to SMEs in order to spearhead initiatives, skills sessions, events and training for women and companies. Hel...
May 30, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 27
We got into Karen's life story and her fascinating journey to this point. She also shared some great advice for anyone interested in growing their social media presence. As a result, this episode is a little longer than usual. Karen is a fashion, beauty and lifestyle influencer whose followers are mostly women aged 18-34 located in the USA, UAE and KSA. She has worked with numerous, diverse brands including Dior Beauty, Louis Vuitton, Apple, Jo Malone and Cadillac. Karen is busy! She has a husba...
May 22, 2018•45 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Since leaving her native Ireland, Dawn Metcalfe has worked in seven countries including China and Japan, and now calls Dubai her home. Known for her straight-talking truth-telling and powerful insights, Dawn has worked with leaders around the world to change their perspective, their behavior and their impact on others. Dawn’s inspiration behind the book was being hired on eight different occasions to tell an employee that they smelt bad! We discussed how to approach difficult conversations in ev...
May 15, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 25
A talented speaker herself and a trainer of public speakers, Saana’s core business is managing over 200 speakers globally and matching them to the right events. Her clients include Ericsson, Spotify, and Del Monte as well as numerous royals and dignitaries. Trained by international journalists and media experts from CNBC and MBC amongst others, Saana has undertaken public speaking assignments in Europe on leadership and leading Generation Y. She was recognized as one of Sweden’s 101 Super talent...
May 08, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Lily Kandalaft is the founder of Malaak Mama & Baby Care, the UAE’s first maternity focused childcare agency providing prenatal classes, maternity nurses, babysitters, sleep trainers, breastfeeding support as well as other pre- and postnatal services to support families in the UAE. A passionate supporter of working moms, Lily tries to be for others what she needed herself. In our conversation Lily shared valuable lessons she learned in the corporate world that have served her well in entrepr...
May 01, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Muna sits on too many boards to list here so I’ll just mention a few: Along with her two sisters, Muna sits on the board of the family business founded by their father; she is the Chair of ìYoung Arab Leaders – a non-profit organisation that promotes education, entrepreneurship and youth development; and she is a founding board member and Co-Chair of Endeavor UAE, a non-profit organisation that promotes high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging and growth markets. Her first seat on a board of dir...
Apr 26, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Sikhism is a Punjabi (Indian) religion that goes back some 500 years, and as a devotional singer/ songwriter Manika's goal is to modernize the context and of the old religious texts so that young Sikhs all over the world can connect to and benefit from their messages. Manika won the 2016 Sikh Award for Sikhs in Entertainment and has amassed over 10,000,000 views on YouTube. Manika's other passion is her philanthropic work. She tirelessly campaigns for the eradication of poverty in rural Punjab v...
Apr 11, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Mona Ataya founded Mumzworld in 2011 to fill a void for mothers that she herself faced twice: firstly while preparing to become a mother of twins and couldn't find local resources, and then later in trying to buy her children quality, affordable toys. Prior to Mumzworld, Mona co-founded Bayt, the first online search engine for jobs in the Middle East. Mona actually started out in the corporate world and spent 10 years working for FMCG giants Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. We dis...
Apr 04, 2018•41 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Elizabeth MacBride is a freelance writer, editor and media consultant. She is an entrepreneur who writes about entrepreneurs and her expertise lie in business, finance and technology. Elizabeth's clients include Abigail Disney and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. We had a wide-ranging conversation that covered everything from entrepreneurship in Gaza's fisherwoman to actionable tips for investing your wealth. We discussed how to be a good interviewer, the power of vulnerability a...
Mar 26, 2018•34 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Donna Benton started the Entertainer in Dubai in 2001 after identifying a market gap in both providing consumers with dining incentives and enabling restaurants to reach new customers. Starting with just $3,000 Donna built the business alone from the ground up, from set-up legalities to eventually selling half the company to Abraaj, a private equity firm. Today, the Entertainer offers 38 products across 15 countries, and has over 10,000 merchant partners globally. We talked about the challenges ...
Mar 19, 2018•35 min•Season 1Ep. 18
During our conversation, we discussed Maysoun's attitude towards diversity, which includes looking well beyond gender, to age, expertise, ethnicity and also ability. I was keen to learn how she went about hiring a lady with a disability onto her team and what the impact on the organization was. We talked about the biggest challenge she faced in life, and how she overcame it. And we also discussed the many exciting people-facing jobs that exist for women who study science subjects. I enjoyed list...
Mar 12, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 17
We talked about Myrna's interest in art, how it was born and what it has taught her about history. We discussed Dubai's young art scene, how it came about and why it's grown so fast. She also gave an interesting perspective on the word pairs: writer vs journalist, collector vs patron. I asked Myrna how to buy art , which for many people is a really intimidating process. Finally, Myrna gave us the scoop on Art Dubai 2018, which is happening March 21-24. Lots of exciting new things are planned thi...
Mar 05, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Afra Atiq was named Best Performer for 2015-16 by Rooftop Rhythms, and won the 2017 ADMAF Creativity Awards. She proudly gives back to her community through mentorships and workshops with Untitled Chapters (a thriving hub for Emirati women writers). As a scholar, Afra has recently been published in the International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences and conducted social research pertaining to literature and education. During our conversation we discussed the challenges of pub...
Feb 26, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Isobel Abuhoul left Cambridge for Dubai in 1968 and has been here ever since. In 1975, Isobel set up Al Ittehad Private School and Magrudy's bookshop - both of which are still thriving today. In 2008 Isobel founded the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Arab Worldís largest celebration of the written and spoken word, bringing people of all ages together with authors from across the world to promote education, debate and reading. The festival won the Best Festival title at the Middle Ea...
Feb 19, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 14
