About Jody Shield Jody Shield is a visionary entrepreneur, business mentor, and global thought leader in energetic intelligence and conscious leadership. With a background in corporate advertising, where she worked with global brands such as Nike, Lululemon, and Sony Ericsson, Jody made a bold and unexpected leap in 2013 when she walked away from her high-flying career to follow an inner calling. Originally from Liverpool and now based in Lisbon, with expansion underway in Dubai, Jody...

About Amrit Dhaliwal Amrit Dhaliwal is the CEO and founder of Walfinch, one of the UK’s fastest-growing home care franchise networks. His journey into social care didn’t start in a boardroom but behind the counter of an Italian deli and inside a Mary Antoinette–style tea room he built from scratch. After studying economics and history, Amrit quickly realised corporate life wasn’t for him and threw himself into entrepreneurship, learning business the hard way through hospitality, long ...

About Leena Magdi Born in Sudan, raised in California, and now living in Egypt, Leena Magdi writes about grief, love, and healing with disarming honesty. After losing her 21-year-old brother in August 2022, Leena turned to the page as her only safe place to feel. Her debut book, Mourning Air, published in April 2025, blends poetry, prose, and narrative to trace the non-linear terrain of loss; shock, acceptance, anger, guilt, longing, and the slow work of integration. Grounded in her maste...

About Victoria Myers Victoria Myers is the founder of the Small Retailer Network, the UAE’s leading membership community for product-based business owners. With a two-decade career in the UK retail industry, she worked her way up from the shop floor to managing 13 stores across Scotland and Northern England for major fashion and accessories brands, including Radley and Karen Millen. Her experience spans customer experience, trading cycles, sales leadership, store operations, and head-office s...

About Ayah Yahia AlRashdan Ayah Yahia AlRashdan is a marketing strategist and leader who blends engineering-level analytical thinking with a deep understanding of culture, people, and place. Born in Jordan and raised in Qatar, she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering before pivoting into marketing through an MBA in Malaysia, where she also landed her first role in the industry. Over the past 15 years, Ayah has worked across government, private sector, startups, and SMEs, bui...

About Arno Gazo Arno Gazo is a French-born explorer, mindfulness practitioner, and the founder of Away Expedition, a platform dedicated to helping people reconnect with their inner truth through nature-based experiences. After building a financially successful real estate business in the UAE, Arno chose to step away from achievement-driven living and immerse himself in silence, nature, and self-discovery. His work revolves around immersive 24-hour desert journeys, silent walking practices, a...

About Georgina Pereira Georgina Pereira is the Manager of Species Survival at Expo City Dubai, where she plays a leading role in establishing the world’s first IUCN Center for Species Survival dedicated to fungi. Georgina blends a deep love for biodiversity with a mission to elevate one of the planet’s most overlooked kingdoms. Her path to conservation was anything but ordinary. Georgina trained as a lawyer before realizing the career she had pursued for years no longer aligned with h...

About Brittany Garth Freeman Brittany Garth Freeman is a digital marketing entrepreneur, business coach, and global speaker focused on women-centric brands. After starting in social work, she pivoted in 2014 and built Pinq Inc. into a multi-location agency with offices in Atlanta, Miami, and London. Her work and story have been featured on stages including TEDx, Amazon Prime’s The Blocks, the Women’s Economic Forum, and Cornell University. She is a Forbes Coaches Council member and th...

About Sacha Christe Sacha Christe is the founder and head of growth at Emirates Graphic, a Dubai-based digital agency that has grown from a solo bootstrapped venture into a 36-member global team across three countries. Originally from Switzerland, Sacha moved to Dubai at 17 to pursue entrepreneurship and has since built a career defined by resilience, execution, and mission-driven innovation. Over the past 12 years, he has delivered more than 400 digital products, co-founded seven startups,...

About Gary Young Gary Young is the founder and CEO of Avela Global, a multinational sourcing and manufacturing firm established in 2002. With over two decades of experience across Asia, Gary has built a company that bridges creativity, craftsmanship, and commerce. From his roots in advertising and commercial photography to leading operations across China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and now Dubai, he has redefined how businesses source, design, and deliver products globally. A storytelle...

About Rajender Prasad Rajender Prasad is the founder and managing director of Money Maestro, a UAE-based mortgage advisory firm transforming how people approach home finance. With over 25 years in banking and finance, including two decades in the UAE, Raj built his career with leading institutions such as ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered, Mashreq, and NBAD before launching his own venture in 2020. Frustrated by the limitations of traditional banking and driven by a desire to prioritize clients’...

About Jazzmarr Ferguson Jazzmarr Ferguson is a Louisville-born pro basketball player whose 15-year career has taken him across Italy, France, Australia, and now the Middle East. On the court, he’s known for leadership, resilience, and a team-first mindset. Off the court, he’s the founder of Reps with Jazz, a mentorship and coaching platform that helps student-athletes, young leaders, and executives build confidence, discipline, and clarity. Raised in a tough inner-city environment an...

About Ramki Jayaraman Ramki Jayaraman is the Managing Director of Synarchy Consulting, with more than two decades of experience guiding organizations through leadership challenges, strategy execution, and large-scale transformations. From his early roots in India to his professional journey in Dubai and across Africa, Ramki has built a career helping corporates, governments, and entrepreneurs navigate complexity with clarity. His approach blends strategic foresight with a human-centered per...

About Peter Goodwin Peter Goodwin is a British entrepreneur and longtime UAE resident whose career began in the fine art industry and evolved into building ventures that help others launch theirs. After two decades working with founders—and founding companies himself—Peter created idea-L (Idea-Live), a “co-founder in your pocket” that blends AI guidance with human support to help anyone, anywhere, take an idea from spark to launch. A believer that entrepreneurs are made (not born), Peter c...

About Etelle Higonnet Etelle Higonnet is a Yale-trained lawyer, environmental advocate, and human rights defender whose career spans war zones, rainforests, courtrooms, and global campaigns. She has worked with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Mighty Earth, and the National Wildlife Federation, leading initiatives that tackle deforestation, climate change, and modern slavery. Fluent in multiple languages and honored by the French government, Etelle brings a rare ...

About Caroline Leon Caroline Leon is an Australian-born transpersonal psychologist, mental health advocate, and adventurer who has turned unimaginable adversity into extraordinary triumph. After a near-fatal rock-climbing accident in 2015 left her facing the prospect of never walking again, Caroline endured 14 surgeries and two years of grueling rehabilitation. Not only did she walk again, but she went on to make history as the first woman to solo summit all the mountains in the Middle East...

About Hernando Planells Hernando Planells, also known as Coach H, is a multifaceted leader who brings dynamic energy to every room he walks into. A seasoned coach, actor, speaker, and culture builder, Hernando has worked with elite athletes, choreographed for major productions, and now serves as the Technical Director at the NBA Basketball School in the UAE. His past roles include coaching in the NBA G League, serving as an assistant coach at Duke University, and acting as Coach Derek...

About Sara Beattie Sara Beattie is a UAE-based positive psychology practitioner, menopause coach, and educator with a rich background in teaching across Asia, the UK, and the Middle East. With a master's in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, Sara brings together emotional well-being, education, and creativity in her approach to supporting women in midlife. She is the co-author of two impactful research studies—From Isolation to Agency and The Age of Renewal—which explore t...

About Abhishek Dadlani Abhishek Dadlani is the visionary founder of Lush Escapes, a bespoke travel brand that designs emotionally rich, transformational journeys for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. With roots in banking, Abhishek’s passion for geography and personal exploration led him to create a travel company that goes far beyond luxury—it curates meaning. Through carefully crafted experiences, from private island buyouts to silent retreats and generational legacy journeys, Lush ...

About Jessica Hollander-Torres Jessica Hollander-Torres is the Global Chief Commercial Officer at A1RWATER, where she leads brand evolution, drives revenue growth, and expands international market reach. Recognized as one of the Top 40 Under 40 and a founding member of Chief, Jessica is a dynamic leader whose career spans transformational roles across multiple industries. Her leadership style is defined by a human-centric approach, innovation, and a strong commitment to empowering others. Bey...