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    Nisreen Shocair on her pioneering vision and amplifying the brands of tomorrow

    Life

    by Camille Macawili
    3 hours ago

    A combination of remarkable leadership history, razor-sharp instincts, and exceptional vision make Nisreen Shocair an unstoppable force in the luxury, tech, and entertainment industries.
    Here, Shocair gives insight into her success, touches on her time at NET-A-PORTER, and shares how she’s amplifying the brands of the future.
    What do the first 30 minutes of your day look like, your morning routine?
    Of course, life is not static, so every day is very different. What doesn’t change is getting up with the light as it’s the calmest and most beautiful time of the day. I have my morning playlist on, no social channels for me in the morning as it’s a brain and time drain. I read and then get the kids off to school, walk the dogs, and I’m off to work.
    You’ve had a prolific multi-hyphen career built around the fashion, retail, entertainment, and technology industries. Talk us through your career journey.
    I started in the music industry in New York City because it was the 90s. It was the era when you could walk into a tiny club on the Lower East Side and listen to the best band you’ve ever come across that you’d sign up months later and the rest is history. But then the internet era came, and change was difficult. With a sense of responsibility towards the artists, a lot of work was put into protecting their rights which led to digitizing their content and giving them rights to them. Those who embraced it became acclaimed designers and creators in their own right and used technology to amplify their reach. A fashion show is about the music as much as the fashion. A designer is a musician as streetwear is an extension of a genre of music. Artists are followed as much for their music as for their sense of style. Technology is simply an enabler for them to do as much or as little as they want to reach a larger audience. AI and metaverse is the now. Imagine what the future holds. I cannot wait.
    Common theme: embrace change and work your hardest in what you love and bring purpose and love into it – and you’re all set.

    “I hope to show that you can be a person (male or female) from the Middle East who can make it globally if you choose to accept the challenge.”

    What has been the most pivotal moment of your career to date and how has it shaped your understanding of success?
    Success: Having to shut down a bad business taught me how to build a good business.
    Abundance: Starting my own business taught me financial management more than my MBA ever did.
    Joy: Going through a divorce forced me to find my way to happiness and love.
    Peace: Having a very clear sense of purpose in my personal and professional life gives me inner peace.
    Tell us about the businesses you’re involved in.
    In tech, Beyond One is a phenomenal business that I’m very excited to be a part of. The team is brilliant. We are a digital platform that offers community-led products and services. In fashion, Shocase is close to what I was doing at NET-A-PORTER. Launching brands globally and putting all the pieces together to ensure the success of the business for both the designer and buyer. In art, Art of Rare & Vintage is a circularity concept built around a concierge service for the collectors in the region. We’ve built the concept around events with exclusive access.
    As a female in the tech industry, what have been the challenges you’ve encountered and how did you overcome them?
    Beyond One is an incredibly empowering culture where over 30% of our C-suite are female, but the ecosystem around us is not the same. Does it matter? It does when you’re not being heard. Overcoming it by starting internally first with our own organization was important. We consciously hired females in key positions. Sponsoring companies and startups and pitches that are female-led, hosting events that openly discuss the topics we’re facing all help. But there’s a lot more we can do as the gap is wide and widens at the top.
    How do you aim to amplify and shape the future of women in tech in the region?
    Mentorship. Sponsorship. Returnships. Funds for females in tech are important. Training programmes to allow more women to cross over from other industries into tech. Lastly, programmes that actively maintain females in middle management, so they make it to the top.
    What does innovation look like for you these days?
    It is endless. We’re doing it with the tech platform, the content, the campaign creation, the compensation, and the way brands are being presented. We are building solutions around problems, and we’re doing it in a fun, young, and creative way that allows our users to benefit from the growth of the brand they choose to buy into.
    What did you learn during your time at NET-A-PORTER?
    We are a region with great talent and taste. We are influencers in our own right. We are major players in the global market if we choose to be. We need someone to open doors for our great talented designers, artists, and musicians as our market is too small to sustain them and allow them to grow. The next generation of artists has finally arrived, and I am so excited to see what they’re going to do with that talent that merges art, music fashion, and tech.
    This is The Trailblazers Issue – how do you hope to support future trailblazers?
    I hope to show that you can be a person (male or female) from the Middle East who can make it globally if you choose to accept the challenge. I hope to be a mentor and a sponsor to businesses, so they don’t suffer the pitfalls and lose faith in themselves or their ideas. I want to attract capital and good ideas to the region and from the region. And we need more vocational training opportunities to give every person with potential the opportunity to grow by learning and training.
    September – The Trailblazers Issue with Amira Sajwani – Download Now
    – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
    Images: Supplied More

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    The Best Life Lessons ‘Ted Lasso’ Taught Me

    Well, friends, the time we’ve all been dreading has finally arrived. The series finale of Ted Lasso has aired and I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t really know what to do with myself now. This show, quite literally, became one of my absolute favorite pieces of media the moment I watched the first episode. If you’ve been following The Everygirl for a while, you might already know this about me—I wrote this article in 2021 practically begging you all to watch the show.
    Since then, Ted Lasso has garnered quite a fanbase. But it’s not just your average TV viewers who can’t get enough, Ted Lasso is also critically acclaimed, having won eight Emmy awards with more certain to come this year. What is it about the show that’s so universally compelling? If you ask me, it comes down to one thing and one thing only: its heart.
    Yes, Ted Lasso is a comedy. But even though it has its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments (maybe even more than its fair share if I’m being honest), the show is really about redemption, growth, what it means to be human, and, in the end, the power of kindness. That sentence, in any other context, would be entirely eye-roll-inducing, but when it comes to Ted Lasso, it’s true and somehow not a total cringefest.
    With season three now behind us and the future of Ted Lasso uncertain at best (I’m holding out for a spinoff, OK?) and nonexistent at worst, I’m looking back at the best life lessons I learned along the way that are certain to stick with me for the rest of my life.
    Note: spoilers for the whole series ahead. 

    1. Forgiveness is freeing
    Forgiveness is the driving force of season three’s penultimate episode, “Mom City.” In it, Ted encourages Jamie (who feels as if he’s “lost his Red Bull wings”) to forgive his dad when he reveals that being angry at him is no longer a sufficient motivator. When Jamie replies that forgiveness is the last thing he wants to give his father (which is fair given their history), Ted replies, “No, you ain’t giving him anything. When you choose to do that, you’re giving that to yourself.”
    Jamie, feeling freer than he has all episode, goes on to have a phenomenal game, helping lift Richmond to victory. That win is great and all, but it’s not what I’m going to remember. Instead, I’m going to remember this lesson on forgiveness. Anger can only take you so far, but forgiveness can set you free.

    2. Be curious, not judgemental
    “Be curious, not judgemental” quickly became one of the show’s most memorable lines back in season one. The scene in which it was said is also one for the history books. In it, Ted and Rupert, the ex-husband Rebecca is hell-bent on getting revenge on in the first season, place a bet over a game of darts. The details of the bet aren’t important, what is important is the lesson Ted weaves into his final throw of the game.
    Rupert views the game of darts as an easy way to get what he wants and asks Ted only one question before agreeing to the deal, “Have you played a lot of darts, Ted?” If Rupert had paused for a moment and been curious rather than judgemental, he might have asked better questions and realized playing darts with Ted was never going to go his way as Ted has been playing darts for his entire life. Instead, Rupert believes he has Ted completely figured out, which is an experience Ted reveals he is all too familiar with.
    During the scene, Ted reveals that when he came across the quote, “Be curious, not judgemental,” something clicked for him. The guys that used to bully him never learned the importance of curiosity and instead judged everything and everyone. In Ted’s case, his bullies, and later Rupert, underestimated him, believed they had him all figured out, and judged him based on that perception. In life, being curious allows you to get to know someone for who they really are while being judgmental holds you back from making real connections.

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    3. We should care
    In season three, Colin comes out to the team and truthfully, it goes as well as a person could want. Instantly, the Richmond team tells Colin that his sexuality doesn’t matter to them, that they don’t care, and that they still love and respect him. Sounds great, right? Ted then steps in and announces that actually, no, they do care.
    In true Ted fashion, he then launches into a personal analogy that only Americans can truly get, but his point is clear: We should care about our friends, their identities, and the things they care about. Ted says, “The point is Colin, We don’t not care. We care very much. We care about who you are and what you must’ve been going through. But hey, from now on, you don’t have to go through it all by yourself.” Offering support in this manner not only validates a person’s experience but also is a marker of true friendship.

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    4. Revenge isn’t the answer
    I’ve been a Rebecca apologist from day one, but in the spirit of the show, I have to admit: Her revenge mission was never going to be as personally satisfying as she hoped it would be. Sabotaging Richmond, the “one thing” Rupert really loved, would have brought Rebecca a brief feeling of triumph, but along the way, she had to hurt and use a bunch of people who were just trying to do some good for the team. When Rebecca finally comes clean, it’s clear the guilt from following through with her plan would have eaten her alive.
    So while getting revenge may seem like the only way to make yourself feel better after you’ve been hurt (we’ve all been there), the high will always be short-lived. Truly, moving on and healing on your own time to the point where the person who hurt you no longer holds power over you is more powerful than revenge will ever be. If I wasn’t trying to apply this show’s life lessons to real life, though, you better believe I’d be rooting for Rebecca to take Rupert for every single thing he has.

    5. Everyone can benefit from therapy
    In season two, Ted Lasso introduces sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone to Richmond. Throughout the season, Dr. Sharon meets with the players and helps them work through their off-the-field stuff so that they can be better players on the field (and, you know, have better mental health all around). Somewhat uncharacteristically, Ted is the one who is most reluctant to visit Dr. Sharon. He’d much rather talk to the people that really know him (like friends) when he needs advice. Suddenly, the Diamond Dogs start to make a whole lot more sense.
    However, the lesson Ted learns, which I believe many can take away from the show, is that, no matter how much you think it won’t work for you, therapy could be exactly what you need to finally work through and heal from the things that life has thrown your way.
    Later in season two, we learn that Ted’s dad committed suicide when he was 16, and Ted has thus far coped by focusing all of his attention on others, spreading positivity left and right, and burying his own emotions. When Ted finally seeks Dr. Sharon’s help, therapy proves to be the thing that finally helps him confront the deeply rooted issues he’s spent the better part of his life pretending don’t exist. While Ted works tirelessly to help everyone around him become the best version of themselves, therapy helps him finally do the same for himself.

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    6. Be a goldfish
    Shortly after Sam Obisanya makes a mistake during a training session, Jamie relentlessly mocks him (this was pre-redemption arc, mind you). While Roy takes a more confrontational approach and shoves Jamie away from Sam, Ted pulls Sam aside and tells him to “be a goldfish” as their short-term memory makes them the happiest animal on the planet. Though Sam looks baffled by Ted (again, this was early days before Ted’s philosophy fully made sense to everyone), the message is clear: Don’t dwell on mistakes. Instead, be a goldfish, forget about them, and move on. Keep this in mind next time you fail to catch a typo in an important email.

    7. Don’t judge someone by their lowest moment
    I’ve gone back and forth on whether this one should really be “everyone deserves a second chance.” There are a whole lot of second chances in Ted Lasso; Rebecca, Jamie, and Nate all receive second chances from Ted. And it’s a valuable lesson to keep in mind—second chances should be given, but I don’t believe that rule is as universal as this one (Rupert, I’m looking at you). Instead, I believe the lesson about second chances really has to do with judgment, when you pass it, and how you decide whether someone is deserving of that second chance.
    This comes into play in Ted Lasso when Ted shares the full video of Nate destroying the team’s “Believe” sign. As with many of Ted’s analogies, it’s not clear where he’s going, but at the end of his speech he tells Beard, “I hope that either all of us or none of us are judged by the actions we take in our weakest moments, but rather for the strength we show if and when we’re given a second chance.” We later learn that Ted gave Beard a second chance many years ago, and now it’s Beard’s turn to extend that courtesy.
    This is why I think the overall lesson Ted Lasso is trying to teach us isn’t that everyone deserves a second chance, it’s that we shouldn’t judge a person by the things they do when they’re at their lowest. Instead, give them grace, maybe a little forgiveness, and offer a second chance from there… unless they’re Rupert. More

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    This Self-Help Book Is Going Viral–Here Are the 6 Takeaways That Changed My Life

    If you read one book in your life, make it The Myth of Normal. That’s what I started telling people after I devoured the 500+ page book in under a week. The author, Gabor Maté, is a Canadian physician who specializes in covering addiction, stress, and childhood development. He’s written multiple bestselling books on these topics, but his new title has even captured the attention of the TikTok universe. So what’s so special about this book?
    In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté addresses society’s newfound obsession with wellness, but then questions whether we as a society are, in fact, well. Because while it’s easy to spend money on the latest health trends, are they actually helping us become healthier? This book goes on a journey breaking down what we get wrong about wellness and how different factors, such as trauma, society, childhood development, and addiction, all play a role in our overall health. I’ve read a lot of health and wellness books, but I walked away from this book with what felt like never-before-heard insights on how to live a healthier life. In case you don’t want to read all 500 pages, I broke down my biggest takeaways below.

    1. Be your own health advocate
    In the book, Dr. Maté discusses western medical practices and how there can be a “power hierarchy that casts physicians as the exalted experts and patients as the passive recipients of care.” Doctors are experts in their fields for a reason, and we seek specialists out for answers as to why our bodies are sick, but it’s important to remember that no one knows your body better than you do. Doctors are busy people with a full roster of patients, and sometimes all we get is 15 minutes to explain our concerns, which (more often than not) isn’t enough time to consider and discuss all the different factors that may be leading to your symptoms. In my own diagnosis of interstitial cystitis, it took multiple visits to different doctors and many rounds of tests before I was diagnosed, which probably could have been done sooner if I had been a better advocate for my body. The lesson I took away here is that you have to feel comfortable with your diagnosis and care, your body relies on you to speak up for it, and there’s never any harm in seeking a second opinion.

    2. Prioritize healthy relationships
    I’m sure we can all think of someone in our lives who has left us feeling drained, bad about ourselves, or unhappy. On the other hand, there are people in our lives who bring us joy, make us laugh, and lift us up. News flash: Both types of people affect our health. Dr. Maté shares how our emotions have a direct impact on our nervous system, which is especially true for intimate relationships and what’s known as interpersonal biology. Translation: The closer we are to someone, the more our physiology interacts with theirs.
    One study showed that married people have lower rates of mortality than their age-matched single contemporaries. However, unhappily married people were worse off in well-being than unmarried people, according to another study shared. Now should we all be running off to get married for better health? Probably not. What this study brings to light is the effect of positive relationships. It shows why we should prioritize the people in our lives who make us feel good and find ways to let go of the ones who don’t or no longer serve our well-being. 

    3. Learn to regulate your emotions
    No one likes to feel pain if we can help it. For this reason, we often learn to repress emotions or block them out with coping mechanisms, such as work, watching TV, or eating our favorite foods. If you’re like me, you were never taught as a kid how to process emotions in a healthy way. Sadly, it’s just not something that was on the school curriculum. Fortunately, it’s becoming more widely understood that regulating emotions is healthy. Even anger can lead to blind rage or resentment when suppressed. Instead of burying our emotions and carrying them around with us, releasing them through practices such as journaling, therapy, or talking to a trusted friend can help us build a new pathway to better health (both emotional and physical). 

    4. Mental health is equally as important as physical health
    The idea that the mind and body are connected is nothing new. However, Dr. Maté points out that society still tends to separate the two. How often does your doctor ask about your childhood traumas, your relationship with your parents, your degree of loneliness, your job satisfaction, and how you feel about yourself when you go in for a check-up? It’s most often believed that you see your therapist for those issues and your doctor only has to do with the body, even though the body and mind are directly linked and directly impact one another. This new study of science is called psychoneuroimmunology, and it maps the pathways of mind-body unity. Taking care of our mental health can often be put on the back burner, but learning to prioritize it in the same way we do our physical health is beneficial to the body as a whole.

    5. Live authentically 
    Dr. Maté defines authenticity as “the quality of being true to oneself, and the capacity to shape one’s own life from a deep knowledge of that self.” In other words, as long as we are consistently expressing our emotions and feel safe when we do, we are living an authentic life. But we struggle to live an authentic life when we choose to repress our emotions and do so often enough that it becomes unrecognizable.
    This book sheds light on how stress, including the stress of self-suppression, may disturb our physiology, including the immune system. If we are repressing our true feelings and emotions, we’re disarming our bodies’ ability to protect us from stress. If you are someone who feels like they struggle to live authentically, working with the help of a professional  like a therapist to pinpoint those moments can be an extremely helpful way to a path of authentic living. 

    6. Find healthy ways to manage stress
    Believe it or not, stress is actually a vital part of our survival, but there are two types of stress: acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is what happens when we feel an immediate threat, maybe when walking home alone at night with a stranger lurking close by. It’s healthy to feel that sort of stress as it alerts the body to keep us safe. But unrelieved stress is ongoing, and unless we find ways to relieve that stress, it can lead to depression, chronic inflammation in the body, an unhealthy immune system, and many other ailments. 
    A 2012 study from Harvard Medical School showed that women with a high job strain were 67% more likely to experience a heart attack than women in less stressful jobs. Dr. Maté has written a whole other book on the effects of stress on the body entitled, “When The Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress,” which emphasizes how if we don’t find healthy ways to manage chronic stress, it can lead to more serious health concerns. Some healthy ways to deal with stress can include exercise, meditation, therapy, connecting with your community, and unwinding with hobbies that bring you joy. 

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    15 Books To Read if You Want To Take Your Career to the Next Level

    Maybe one of your new year’s resolutions for 2023 is to make some big moves in terms of your career, whether it be getting that big promotion you know you deserve, applying for that dream job you’ve always wanted, or even completely changing career paths. Whatever it may be, we love to see it! But, it’s no secret that achieving major career goals is not an easy feat. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal to feel a little overwhelmed in the process. No matter how tough it gets, everything you’re hoping and working for is 100% achievable–especially with some guidance from fellow badass working women to help you along the way.
    So many women, particularly women of color, feel isolated when it comes to excelling in the workplace. But even if you’re not finding a support system in your own office or personal network, there are so many successful women out there that want to see you thrive, and are here to tell you everything they wish they knew when they were in your shoes. If you’re in need of tools that actually work, advice, or words of encouragement to navigate your journey, these guides and memoirs written by women of all different professions and backgrounds are exactly what you’ve been looking for. We leaned on the experts at Goodreads to bring you the best of the best here as you work to take your career to the next level.

    Marshall Goldsmith & Sally Helgesen
    How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job
    Business expert Marshall Goldsmith partnered with his longtime colleague and women’s leadership expert, Sally Helgesen, to create this invaluable handbook for women trying to take the next step in their careers. They know that for women in particular, the same skills and habits that made you successful early in your career could actually be holding you back as you move towards the next stage of your working life, as women oftentimes struggle with habits like reluctance to claim your achievements and the “disease to please”. This book will help you identify specific behaviors that keep you from living to your full potential (no matter what stage you are in your career) and help you identify what needs to change to help you get to where you want to go in the future.

    Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message
    Renowned women’s leadership expert Tara Mohr saw how women were “playing small” in their lives and careers, were frustrated by it, and wanted to “play bigger.” So, she’s taken it upon herself to devise a proven way to achieve your dreams by “playing big” from the inside out. In her tell-all guide, Mohr provides real, practical tools to help rid you of self-doubt, become less attached to praise and criticism, unlearn “good girl” habits, and begin taking bold actions. While not all women aspire to end up in the corner office, every woman aspires to be something. This book isn’t just for corporate women, as it offers tools that help every woman play bigger—whether you’re an executive, volunteer, artist, or anything in between.

    Lauren McGoodwin
    Power Moves: How Women Can Pivot, Reboot, and Build a Career of Purpose
    With this invaluable book, founder of Career Contessa Lauren McGoodwin provides an invaluable career resource for women feeling stuck or unfulfilled by combining actionable advice, learning tools to make impactful life changes, and an in-depth discussion of how to build a meaningful career on your own terms. Drawing on the insights and lessons developed in her own career journey, she offers an essential handbook that helps professional women truly feel understood, so that they can bypass perfection and planning and instead head straight to evolving through addressing young professionals’ main concerns such as career transitions, growth, and how to secure a “dream job” (or more so, how to abandon that elusive idea).

    Deborah Liu
    Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work
    As a woman in Silicon Valley who worked her way to the top of the corporate ladder, Deborah Liu knows firsthand the challenges and obstacles in the workplace that keep the deck stacked against women—and now knows how to overcome them. For every woman who grew up competing on the uneven playing field, and was told that you’re too aggressive, assertive, dramatic, or emotional, this book is the battle cry you need in order to thrive within the system that exists today. This powerful guide presents both hard data and Liu’s personal experiences from twenty years as a leader in the male-dominated tech industry to help you find your voice, debunk the negative connotations of “power”, and become a great leader without losing yourself in the process—reminding you that even though you can’t make the world fair, you can take your power back.

    Susanne Tedrick
    Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators
    Contrary to popular belief, tech careers are diverse and fun—and they go far beyond just coding. This book will show you that today’s tech careers are incredibly dynamic, and you’ll learn how your soft skills—communication, public speaking, networking—can genuinely help you succeed while also learning how to overcome the obstacles that often prevent women of color from pursuing and staying in tech careers. Guiding you through the process of cultivating strong relationships and building a network that will get you where you want to be, you’ll learn to identify a strong, knowledgeable support system that you can rely on for guidance, which is a crucial step in getting young women of color into tech careers. With practical advice and inspiring stories, you’ll develop both the right tools and the right mindset to set you on the path to success you deserve.

    Daniela Pierre-Bravo
    The Other: How to Own Your Power at Work as a Woman of Color
    You know that feeling of not belonging when you have so much to say at a work meeting? Being the “the other” at work leads to an unyielding need to fit in. This false feeling of inadequacy in traditional workplaces causes you to adapt and develop “a keep your head down” mentality in order to keep the job that you’ve worked so hard to get in the first place. Like many other women of color, immigrants, and children of immigrants, Daniela-Pierre Bravo became an expert shape-shifter in order to make her way around professional environments. Even once she reached the highest success points of her career, she always felt she had to prove her worth as “the other”. Through sharing her journey, this book helps you recognize your power through your own eyes instead of the traditional white gaze in the workplace, and drives you to reshape the way you think about career advancement without losing your sense of identity, and how to use your differences as an advantage.

    Deepa Purushothaman
    The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America
    Women of color comprise one of the fastest-growing segments in the corporate workforce, yet are very often underrepresented. For too long, corporate structures and cultural conditioning have instilled in our society that in order to “fit in” and be successful, you must hide or change who you are. As a former senior partner at a large global services firm, Deepa Purushothaman experienced these feelings of isolation and burnout. She met with other women of color across industries and cultural backgrounds, eager to hear about their unique and shared experiences. In doing so, she came to understand collective both setbacks and the true path forward in achieving your goals. In this deeply personal call to action for women of color to find power from within, you learn to fully realize your own strengths, build collective power, create cultures where belonging is never conditional, and rework corporations to be genuinely inclusive to all.

    Octavia Goredema
    Prep, Push, Pivot: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women
    This wonderfully written book provides an indispensable career coaching guide for underrepresented women in the workplace. Whether you’re looking for a new job, dealing with losing one, pivoting into something new, or returning from time out of the workforce, you’re able to learn something valuable from these strategies to help you advance when you need it the most. Divided into three parts of preparation, pushing forward, and pivotal professional milestones, the overwhelming aspects of taking charge of your career a broken down into understandable, achievable steps to help you find your voice in the most authentic way possible at any stage of your career. Understanding your worth in a workplace that pushes you down is not an easy feat, and Octavia Goredema is here to help you successfully move forward through it all.

    Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, & Laurie Weingart
    The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work
    The No Club started when four women crushed by endless to-do lists banded together to get their work lives under control. Even with their most resilient efforts, they noticed that they very much still trailed behind male colleagues. So, they vowed to say no to requests that pulled them away from the work that mattered most to their careers. This book reveals how their personal journey and subsequent groundbreaking research show that women everywhere are unfairly burdened with non-promotable work, a huge problem we can and must solve. This empowering manifesto walks you through how to change your workload, encourages women to make savvy decisions about the work they take on, and also highlights how organizations can reassess how they assign and reward work to level the playing field. With hard data, personal anecdotes from women of all backgrounds, and innovative advice from the authors’ consulting Fortune 500 companies, this book will forever change the conversation about how we advance women’s careers and achieve equity in the 21st century.

    Julia Boorstin
    When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them
    Julia Boorstin was 13 years old when her mother told her that by the time she grew up, women could be just as powerful as men. A decade later, working at a top business publication and seeing the lack of women in positions of leadership, she simply assumed her mom had been wrong. But over the following two decades as a TV reporter interviewing and studying thousands of executives, she realized that a world of gender equity shouldn’t be a long shot. She found that women she spoke with who thrived in their work environments shared key commonalities that made them uniquely equipped to lead and grow businesses, and were also highly adaptive to change, deeply empathetic in their management style, and much more likely to integrate diverse points of view into their business strategies. Now, Boorstin brings together the stories of over sixty of those female CEOs and leaders to provide a radical blueprint for the future of business, and our world as a whole.

    Julie Zhuo
    The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You
    After you celebrate the shiny new title of getting promoted to manager, the truth hits you hard: you don’t really know what you’re actually doing. That’s how Julie Zhuo felt when she became a rookie manager at the age of 25 as she stared at a long list of logistics and faced a thousand questions and uncertainties. How was she supposed to spin teamwork into value? What was the secret to leading with confidence in new and unexpected situations? But now that she’s managed dozens of teams of different sizes and styles, she’s learned the biggest lesson of all: great managers are made, not born. Zhuo creates a modern field guide packed with everyday examples and transformative insights regarding building trust, losing faith, and even how to get through an awkward interview. No matter what stage of your career you’re in, this is the handbook to read if you’re looking to be the kind of manager you always wish you had.

    Cecilia Muñoz
    More than Ready: Be Strong and Be You . . . and Other Lessons for Women of Color on the Rise
    Women of color are becoming more visible and more powerful than ever, achieving higher levels of success and blazing new paths for future generations in historically white dominated areas. As the first Latinx to direct national domestic policy issues, Cecilia Muñoz knows the difficulties of getting ahead without having anyone that came before her to follow. In this inspiring book, she offers readers lessons from the challenges she faced and the victories she achieved in the White House, with advice like elevating empathy in the workplace, turning losses into gains, and staying true to yourself. Filled with tons of insights about working through fear and overcoming injustices, you are given the tactical tools women of color need to reach unprecedented levels of power and success without compromising your authentic self.

    Elaine Welteroth
    More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are
    Throughout her life, Elaine Welteroth has climbed the ranks of media and fashion, eventually becoming the revolutionary editor who infused social consciousness into the pages of Teen Vogue. In her incredible memoir-manifesto, the groundbreaking journalist unpacks lessons of race, identity, and success through her own journey, from navigating her way as a fiery child to finding herself on the frontlines of the movement for the next generation of change makers. As a young boss and often the only Black woman in the room, she’s fed up of the world telling her she’s not enough, so she’s learned to rely on herself—and is now here to share how you can do it, too.

    Fran Hauser
    Embrace the Work, Love Your Career: A Guided Workbook for Realizing Your Career Goals with Clarity, Intention, and Confidence
    In this workbook for women who want to get more out of their careers, you’re given a combination of accessible advice, time-tested strategies, creative prompts, and thoughtful exercises that’ll help you both fall in love with your work and design a career action plan grounded in confidence and intentionality. Pulling from her own personal experiences working at some of the biggest publications and corporations around, author Fran Hauser centers her main points of guidance around knowing your value, building your dream team, creating time and space for yourself, and more—all coming together to ultimately help you realize and reach your full potential.

    Emilie Aries
    Bossed Up: A Grown Woman’s Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together
    Young women today face an uncertain job market, the pressure to succeed at all costs, and a fear of burning out. However, the landscape is changing, and women are taking a role in shaping our careers and lives while also investing more into our community of support. In this candid, refreshing guide for young women, Emilie Aries shows you how to own your power, know your worth, and design your career (and life) accordingly. Honing in on important concepts such as breaking free of the “martyrdom mindset”, developing self-advocacy skills, and how to actually (and healthily) avoid burn out, this book will show you how to craft a happy, healthy, and sustainable career path you’ll love.

     

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    What We Can Learn From Keeley’s Career Growth in Ted Lasso

    Ted Lasso‘s Keeley Jones can do no wrong in the worlds of fashion, beauty, relationships, friendships, and career, so obviously, I consider her an icon. She’s a loyal friend and loving girlfriend who has nailed her personal style, prioritizes her self-care (I would kill for a bubble bath like hers), and now, is working her way to the top of her self-started career in public relations. IMO, she has everything going for her, and that’s only going to continue in season three as she takes on her very own PR firm with the help of Bantr, the dating app she successfully promoted while she was the Head of Marketing at AFC Richmond.
    At the end of season two, her career storyline really picks up, but if you think that Keeley’s career growth from influencer and model to CEO happened quickly, you weren’t watching close enough. The slow and steady build of Keeley’s success is directly related to the unwavering determination she’s had since the pilot. There is a lot we can learn from her—aside from her ability to rock a pink power suit and heels and make it look easy. From Keeley’s humble beginning to how she leveraged her connections to become a CEO, here is everything we can learn from Keeley Jones’ career growth:

    1. Doing what you’re passionate about leads to success
    As an influencer and a model, Keeley is naturally savvy when it comes to brand deals, social media, and public relations. She managed her own, helped her ex-boyfriend Jamie with his when they were still together, and even was able to help Ted manage negativity from the media when he first became the football coach. When Keeley was offered the job as Head of Marketing at AFC Richmond, she was able to take a step back from modeling jobs (remember when she was dressed as a lion for a vodka commercial?) and focus her efforts on marketing and public relations, which she is not only naturally good at but that excites her too.
    Finding out what you’re passionate about doesn’t always come easy, but it should happen naturally as it did for Keeley. Think about the things in your job now (or even something you do on the side!) that you are good at or that excite you. Then, ask your manager if you can take on more responsibility in that area or start doing more work on the side to gain more exposure and experience. Little by little, you’ll be in a position where you’re doing more of what you love, and TBH, that’s the key to success.

    2. Small steps yield big results
    When Keeley started at AFC Richmond, there was not a single brand deal in sight for most of the players, so she had to start from scratch. She set up times to talk to each player so she could figure out what would be a good fit for them before reaching out to the companies for deals. With a unicorn notebook in hand, Keeley started small and created opportunities for the club and herself one step at a time. By the end of season two, one of those brands (Bantr) noticed the effect of her efforts and was impressed with her enough to offer to fund a PR firm for her. This is all to say that success doesn’t happen overnight; It’s a slow build. It takes showing up each and every day and chipping away at your goals—even if some of those days turn into late nights (which we saw Keeley working in many episodes). Each step builds off of the next, so even if it doesn’t always feel like you’re making leaps and bounds of progress, your momentum will pick up, and you’ll start to see that the small things add up to be something bigger.

    3. Networking is crucial for career growth
    When Keeley met Rebecca, the owner of AFC Richmond, Keeley was instantly in awe of Rebecca’s success and badass attitude. She learned from Rebecca how to be a strong and accomplished woman in a place of leadership and their mentor-like relationship has significantly contributed to Keeley’s confidence in herself and in her role. And if it weren’t for Rebecca seeing Keeley’s potential, Keeley wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to work with Bantr. Keeley has surrounded herself with people that build her up and create opportunities for her, which is something we should all be doing in our lives and careers. This is the perfect example of how networking and nurturing relationships can change the trajectory of your entire career. After all, she was featured in Vanity Fair as a powerful woman on the rise.

    4. Short-term sacrifices are necessary for long-term gain
    Arguably the biggest cliffhanger at the end of the second season is where Roy and Keeley’s relationship stands. She turns down an opportunity to go on vacation with him in Marbella so she can start her new company and hit the ground running. I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider turning down a vacation with a partner an easy thing to do. But for Keeley, it’s what she has to do to become the kind of CEO she wants to be. Making sacrifices is common and often necessary in these situations, and they can come in all forms. When we are going after something we want, we have to recognize what sacrifices are worth making for our end goal. Maybe that looks like skipping a vacation or working late nights like Keeley, or maybe it means letting go of people in your life that don’t support your goals. Whatever it looks like for you and your career, stand firm in what you want, and don’t let anyone or anything get in the way of following your dreams. It will pay off in the end.

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    Watch: Lebanese dance group Mayyas stun crowds in Saudi Arabia’s capital

    Lifestyle

    by Team Emirates Woman
    3 hours ago

    Lebanese dance group Mayyas is continuing to wow crowds across the Middle East.
    Following their sensational performance in Dubai at the end of last month, the troupe made their way to Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
    In footage obtained by Arab News, the Americas Got Talent winners stunned the audience during a performance in Riyadh which featured theatrics, acrobatics and more.

    #Lebanese dance troupe and @AGT winners @mayyasofficial put on an electrifying show in #SaudiArabia this week at @RiyadhSeason https://t.co/2M7tF6sMuE pic.twitter.com/XL3OBhVP2b
    — Arab News (@arabnews) November 23, 2022

    The dance group’s performance was part of the Riyadh Season zone, Boulevard World.
    How did it all begin?
    The Lebanese dance group won the most recent season of Americas Got Talent after showcasing a series of seamless dance performances, including their finale performance, where the team of 30 women “danced as one” in the words of the actress and judge, Sophia Vergara.
    The female-led dance group took home a $1 million (Dhs3.7 million) grand prize, with a host of congratulatory messages being shared on social media from the likes of celebrities such as Lebanese singer Maya Diab, Egyptian superstar Sherihan and more.
    The performance ended on a joyous note with the audience holding up the Lebanese flag as they cheered for the crew.
    After months of hard work, the group is now known globally with the group now making its mark in the Middle East.
    – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
    Images: Instagram/Twitter  More

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    Dubai-based singer Lisa Scott-Lee on her journey to success

    Lifestyle

    by Sarah Joseph
    1 minute ago

    The British dance-pop group, Steps were formed in May 1997 and Lisa Scott-Lee was a key member of the band.
    Seeing many ups and downs together, the five-member band experienced an unexpected split in 2001, which led each member to pursue their solo careers later on.
    When the pop group reunited after 10 years for a concert they were seen rise up in five separate glass tubes to portray them being awoken after the split, showcasing that their bond in truly unbreakable.
    A few years after the band came back together, Scott-Lee moved to Dubai in 2014 along with her husband and launched the Dubai Performing Arts Academy while balancing parenthood.
    “We decided to give something back to the community, and pass on our wealth of performing experience to budding young performers in the region,” she tells Emirates Woman when asked about her reason for launching the academy.
    Despite years of being in the industry, the band was asked to reunite on stage once again for a prestigious event in the UK and the release of their latest album, ‘The Platinum Collection’.
    To celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary they came together on one of the most important occasions in history for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert “in front of an audience of 10K,” she mentioned.
    For this significant event, the Welsh singer said, “It was wonderful to be a part of the celebrations and see the country come together.”
    As she continues to make a mark in the region and grow her loyal fanbase year after year, Emirates Woman speaks to her about her career and how Dubai has played a vital role in making her dream come true.
    You’ve had an incredible career to date across many facets. Can you walk us through these and how they connect to each other?
    I feel blessed that Steps are celebrating 25 years in the music industry. We are thrilled to have recently received two prestigious awards, an ‘Icon’ award and a Lifetime Achievement award, and we were honoured to perform for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert in the UK. The celebrations continue this summer and a UK Tour and the release of our Greatest Hits album, the ‘Platinum Collection.’ Here in Dubai, we are proud to be the first school to launch BTEC in Performing Arts Diplomas in the Middle East, in affiliation with Pearson and Taaleem. We are thrilled to have received outstanding results for our first BTEC in Performing Arts graduates, our students have all received a 100 per cent distinction and it is proving to be a wonderful and successful year.

    What inspired you to launch the Dubai Performing Arts Academy in 2014?
    With me being in the International pop group Steps, and my husband, Johnny being from London’s West End, we decided to give something back to the community, and pass on our wealth of performing experience to budding young performers in the region, and hence, DPA was born.
    What have been the biggest challenges to date and how did you overcome them?
    I think the biggest challenge is trying to balance my work in two countries, along with motherhood. I am lucky to have a wonderfully supportive husband and our beautiful children Jaden and Star-Lily. We are fortunate that our children are following in our performing footsteps, and love coming to DPA, which means we can spend a lot of time together. Our son Jaden is currently playing Billy Elliot in the UK musical, which is dream come true for him, after having trained with us at DPA from an early age. We are also lucky to have found a lovely network of friends, who have become our ‘Dubai Family’, and enable us to enjoy so many incredible experiences both in the UK and here.
    What brought you to Dubai and how has your journey evolved to date?
    We originally moved to Dubai as we wanted to buy property on The Palm, I was blown away by the engineering and unique design, and The Palm continues to dazzle me until today. We moved to Dubai in 2011 with two babies, two suitcases, and a two-year plan. We fell in love with Dubai and decided to raise our children in this beautiful, cosmopolitan safe city, which it is very much my home years on. After having been awarded the prestigious Golden Visa in 2021 for our services to Performing Arts, we are here to stay.

    We love the fact that new careers can emerge or reemerge at any age. Do you feel people are having more than one career in their lives these days?
    I think a lot of it comes down to pure hard work and determination. I also think Dubai and the UAE is the land of opportunity, and the rulers and government are very supportive of new setups, which helps incredibly.
    How has the industry changed since you started out and how has the evolvement been throughout?
    The industry has changed massively over my 25-year career span. When Steps launched in 1997, neither the internet nor social media had been invented and so this has brought the biggest change for artists, in terms of streaming and having instant feedback from fans. As we know, there are pros and cons to Social media, but for music artists, it’s a great tool for sharing music and news from around the world.
    You’ve just played at the Queen’s Jubilee in the UK. How did this honour come to fruition?
    Steps were honoured to be asked to close the Queen’s Jubilee Concert filmed in Manchester Arena, in front of an audience of 10K, in the mark of her 70 years of service. London and the UK were decorated with flags and bunting, and it was wonderful to be a part of the celebrations and see the country come together.
    What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
    Listen to your elders. I think with time, you realise how important it is to listen to the advice of those who have experienced life before you, and also to treasure this and loved ones.
    – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
    Images: Supplied & Feature image: Getty More

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    An insight into the rise of cinemas in Saudi Arabia

    Lifestyle

    by Sarah Joseph
    1 minute ago

    Since the 1980s, cinemas had been banned in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the better part of four decades.
    However, this all changed in 2018. It was announced by the General Commission for Audio-visual Media that the ban would be lifted on cinemas in Saudi Arabia and since then the country has embarked on a new mission to promote culture and entertainment.
    Now, four years on, it appears cinema has become a focal entertainment point in the Kingdom. In a recent report published by the Saudi Press Agency, there have been over 30 million ticket sales in cinemas in the last four years, with around 1,144 films shown, including 22 Saudi films across 56 theatres.
    With the news came a larger scope of employment in the country, giving 4,439 young Saudi men and women the opportunity to work in the media market.
    Regarded as “a billion-dollar opportunity”, the 35-year ban uplift came with several perks such as forecasting the Kingdom’s cinema box office market to be USD 950 million in 2030, per PWC.
    The rule change came to be in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 vision: “A strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.”

    As cinemas continue to be an important sector for increasing investment and improving expansion, the country has already established itself as an emerging market to watch. To support the growing industry, the second edition of The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) is set to run from December 1 to 10, 2022 in Jeddah.
    “At Expo 2020 Dubai, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion also celebrated several cultural sectors of the Kingdom. Visitors had an opportunity to watch a number of Saudi films under the cultural program ’16 Windows’ that reflected the country’s creativity and talent in a completely new light,” as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
    With the film industry now booming in the Kingdom, more cinemas are set to open to enhance the Kingdom’s competitiveness on the global map.
    – For more on luxury lifestyle, news, fashion and beauty follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram
    Images: Supplied & Feature Image: Pexels @tima-miroshnichenko More