I was born into a tight-knit family in Kuwait City. Ever since I remember, goal-setting has played a significant role in my life. Starting with simple things like tieing my own shoelaces, my life progressed as a series of targets I set and met, targets that grew in complexity and difficulty.
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By the time I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Construction Management from Kuwait University, I was working on multiple big goals simultaneously. As I discovered the various departments in my family’s construction & engineering company, I started understanding the importance of learning the trade from those with experience and knowledge. After goal-setting, this was my second excellent life lesson - understand a subject matter as thoroughly as possible if you aim to become an expert on it. All the while, educational pursuits increased as my professional life developed. I went on to receive a Master's from the University of Southern California, then an Executive MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management at the University of Arizona, and finally achieved another personal goal when I became an alumni of Harvard University after completing the Harvard Kennedy Business School Program.
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2017 was a seminal year in my life. First, the World Economic Forum selected me to join its Young Global Leaders program consisting of a five-year leadership journey to find solutions for the world’s economic challenges. Then, I was appointed a member of Kuwait’s Supreme Council for Planning and Development, effectively given a voice in shaping national policies. Applying my life lessons, I set goals on the impact I intended to make and learned as much as possible about the organizations and my roles within each. Successfully managing my multi-faceted life won me accolades, including being listed among the most influential Arab women by Arabian Business Magazine and Forbes. I’m incredibly proud of these as I’ve always been a champion of female empowerment in the Middle East and globally.
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As my whirlwind life took me from one amazing moment to the next, the three years post-2017 passed by in the blink of an eye. Then, a third life lesson manifested. The arrival of Covid-19 led to a stark reminder that unpredictability is the essential nature of life. Everything changed rapidly. In every aspect of my professional and private life, priorities shifted, industries were shaken, and survival and safety became the main goals of businesses, families, and individuals. People worldwide experienced a growing feeling of vulnerability and powerlessness as the pandemic forced distancing, isolation, and fear of human contact. I, too, faced the consequences of Covid-19, with added intensity owing to other challenges I encountered. From the depth of this low after soaring at incredible heights, a fourth and possibly most crucial life lesson manifested almost all my life. I discovered that I could survive, evolve, and thrive under any circumstance with the right mindset, discipline, and simply not giving up when the going gets tough. This past year has been the most enlightening of my life. It has led to this place I find myself today, with you.
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So, welcome to my world. I hope you’ll stay. And let’s grow together with others who form our tribe, a global community of like-minded striving for human excellence through shared empowerment and a desire to live excellently.