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For most of her life, Sarah Lindsay was known for one thing. Olympian.
Three times over.

But when her athletic career ended, she did something unexpected. She stopped talking about it altogether. She didn’t introduce herself as an Olympian. She didn’t use it in business. She didn’t even want to be associated with it. What the outside world saw as success, she carried as shame.

In this episode of The Brand of YOU, Sarah Lindsay, 3x Olympian and Founder of ROAR, opens up to Robyn Abou Chedid about the identity shift that followed elite sport and the quiet emotional fallout no one prepares you for when the competitions stop.

Sarah talks about:
↳ Growing up believing the Olympics were “normal” and what happens when that world ends.
↳ The emotional reality of retiring from elite sport and grieving an identity.
↳ Why she didn’t want to be known as an Olympian while building her business.
↳ How mindset, not talent or hard work, separates the best at world level.
↳ Turning personal disappointment into the foundation of a powerful personal brand.
↳ What elite sport taught her about discipline, resilience, and entrepreneurship.
↳ Why she chose to speak openly about IVF, identity, and the pressure placed on women as life stages evolve.

This is not a story about medals or winning. It is about identity, reinvention, and learning how to own your story, even when it does not end the way you planned. This conversation is a must listen.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The 3x Olympian Who Felt Like She Failed
• 00:04:00 The Psychology of Winning: Why Mindset Beats Hard Work
• 00:05:14 The Retirement Crisis: Losing Your Identity After the Olympics
• 00:07:25 Bringing the Olympian Back to Life: When Business Needs Your Story
• 00:08:34 Building ROAR: From London Celebrity to Dubai Expansion
• 00:10:10 The Walking Billboard: Pressure, Physique, and Eating Cake
• 00:14:10 Performance Over Aesthetics: The ROAR Philosophy
• 00:19:43 The IVF Journey: Five Years of Trying and What She Wishes She Knew
• 00:24:08 Identity Beyond Motherhood: Finding Pride in ROAR
• 00:25:57 The Secret Behind ROAR: Positivity, No Ego, and the Comeback Story

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-lindsay-oly-06561984/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roarfitnessgirl/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@roarfitnessdubai

Website: https://www.roar-fitness.com/

Follow Our Host - Robyn Abou Chedid: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynabouchedid/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlnamedrobyn/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@girlnamedrobyn

She was kidnapped as a child. When she returned, everything had changed. The world she came back to no longer felt familiar, and she struggled with a deep sense of not belonging, even among her own family. That feeling stayed with her, shaping her independence, her mindset, and her drive to carve out her own place through her career.

In this episode of Above C-Level, Axis Communications Executive Leader and Judge of The Final Pitch Loubna Imenchal shares a raw and deeply personal conversation about how those early experiences became the foundation of her mindset. She reflects on how feeling rejected and out of place pushed her to build certainty, structure, and purpose through her work, long before leadership titles followed.

Loubna opens up about how these experiences shaped the way she approaches life, career, and responsibility today. What once made her feel like an outsider became the foundation of a mindset built on resilience, solutions, and self-belief.

She talks about:
↳ Being kidnapped and the emotional reality of returning to a life that felt changed.
↳ Feeling like she did not belong, and how that shaped her independence and work ethic.
↳ The mindset that fuelled her career progression and leadership journey.
↳ Operating at C-level in male-dominated industries where trust and credibility must be earned.
↳ Why she hires for mindset over experience and looks beyond perfect CVs.
↳ How personal adversity shapes the way she builds trust, teams, and leaders.

This is not a story about moving on. It is about surviving adversity without letting it close you off. If you have ever felt like you had something to prove, this episode offers a powerful perspective on how lived experience can shape exceptional leadership.

• 00:00:00 Opening: Kidnapped at Six Months - The Childhood That Shaped a C-Level Leader
• 00:05:22 The Labeling Years: From Street Kid to French-Speaking Family
• 00:09:43 Stop Being the Victim: The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
• 00:12:15 Breaking Into FedEx: When Mindset Beats Experience Every Time
• 00:13:04 The French Company Warning: Predicting Nokia's Fall Before Apple Arrived
• 00:15:08 People Buy From People: The Iraq War Pitch That Won Honeywell
• 00:19:33 The Honeywell Gamble: When Everyone Voted No Except One Leader
• 00:28:22 Logitech and COVID: Doubling Growth When Offices Were Closing
• 00:32:10 The Female Leadership Reality: 0% to 7% in Two Decades
• 00:37:49 The Education Gap: Why Men Think They're Perfect and Women Never Feel Enough
• 00:40:27 Connect to Elevate: Building a Free Platform for Women in Tech
• 00:45:20 Hiring for Leadership: Why Technical Skills Don't Matter in Her Interviews
• 00:48:08 The Authenticity Test: Reading Between the Lines in Leadership Hiring
• 00:52:05 Gen Z Won't Adapt: Why Companies Must Change or Die
• 00:56:47 The Lost Generation: Teaching Gen Z What They're Missing

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loubnaimenchal/

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Mohammad Osama: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-osama-8395b88/

Hiring for diversity is often misunderstood. It’s not about ticking boxes or lowering standards. It’s about building a fair process that still hires the best person for the job.

In this episode of Out of Office, Jihan ElSaghir, Regional HRBP - Bayer Middle East, shares an honest perspective on how diversity and inclusion actually play out in hiring decisions across the Middle East. From unconscious bias and skills-based hiring to why structure matters more than good intentions, Jihan breaks down what fair hiring really looks like and where organisations often get it wrong.

Mark and Jihan talk about:

↳ Why fair and inclusive hiring is harder than most organisations admit

↳ How bias shows up long before candidates even reach interview stage

↳ Why HR insists on diverse shortlists and panel interviews

↳ The tension between diversity targets and hiring quality

↳ Why “gut feel” is one of the most expensive hiring tools

↳ The interview question candidates struggle with most and why honesty matters

If you’ve ever questioned why you didn’t make it past an interview or wondered whether you were being considered as a diversity quota, this conversation will change how you think about hiring in the Middle East.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The Skills Revolution - How Middle East Hiring Escaped Stereotypes
• 00:04:00 The DNI Evolution: From Gender Quotas to Industry Diversity
• 00:06:20 The Diversified Pool Mandate: Starting Right to End Right
• 00:10:17 Beyond the CV: The Three-Person Panel That Eliminates Bias
• 00:14:22 The I vs We Problem: When Team Players Can't Show Individual Value
• 00:16:34 The New Skills Checklist: AI Fluency and Change Resilience
• 00:18:16 The Compromise Trap: When Desperation Leads to Bad Hires
• 00:19:11 AI in Recruitment: Human Judgment Over Robotic Screening
• 00:21:07 The Gen Z Challenge: Purpose, Flexibility, and 10,000 Euro Education Budgets
• 00:25:26 Closing: The Professionalism Surprise - When Gen Z Outperforms Millennials

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jihan-elsaghir-76a40139/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jihan_elsaghir/

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Mark Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktimmsgrg/

Some people build success once. Others have to rebuild themselves along the way, shaped by circumstances that force them to grow up early and carry weight long before they are ready.

This conversation with Dariush Soudi is about the second path. 

Long before founding the Gladiator Summit, becoming an investor, author, and speaker, Dariush’s life was shaped by loss, responsibility, and the instinct to survive. Those early experiences created the drive that would later fuel his career, but also laid the foundation for challenges he would have to confront much later in life.

In this episode of The Brand of YOU, Dariush sits down with Robyn Abou Chedid for a deeply honest conversation that goes beyond entrepreneurship and public success, and instead explores the experiences, pressures, and decisions that shaped who he became as a man and a leader.

They talk about:
↳ Becoming the man of the house at just four years old and how carrying responsibility so early shaped his mindset and resilience.
↳ How desperation, rather than confidence or education, led him into sales and became the catalyst for his career.
↳ The heart attacks that forced him to confront the physical cost of sustained high performance.
↳ The gladiator mindset, and what discipline, values, and commitment really look like in modern careers and long-term leadership.
↳ Why trust, not pitching, is what ultimately makes people want to work with you and build lasting business relationships.

This episode looks past surface-level success and into the realities of building a life and career through pressure, ambition, and repeated reinvention, offering a more grounded perspective on what it actually takes to sustain success over time.

If you’ve ever felt driven yet quietly questioned the cost of always pushing forward, this conversation will feel familiar.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The Master of Selling Who Doesn't Feel Successful
• 00:05:42 Childhood Trauma: When Your Mum Says You're Not Good Enough
• 00:06:51 The Vacuum Cleaner Years: Learning Sales in the Rain
• 00:09:12 Top to Bottom: Why You Should Never Start with the Gatekeeper
• 00:11:12 The Entitlement Problem: Why Dubai's Job Market Is Broken
• 00:12:11 Uncertainty and Risk: The Real Quality of Life Formula
• 00:04:28 Two Heart Attacks and the Stress That Nearly Killed Him
• 00:15:41 Building Your Value System: The Six Principles That Define You
• 00:26:23 Sales Is Not a Dirty Word: Redefining What It Means to Sell
• 00:29:32 The Closing Technique: Investment, Not Expense
• 00:17:23 Happy Money: The Passive Income Lesson from Ken Honda
• 00:23:40 Pain vs Pleasure: Why Avoiding Pain Is a Stronger Motivator Than Goals
• 00:38:50 Rejection Is Never Personal: The Model Casting Mindset
• 00:41:29 The Gladiator Philosophy: Dying with an Open Heart

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariushsoudi/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dariushsoudiofficial/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DariushSoudi

Website: https://dariushsoudi.com/

Follow Our Host - Robyn Abou Chedid: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynabouchedid/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlnamedrobyn/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@girlnamedrobyn

Being confident isn’t what’s getting leaders hired anymore. In fact, it might be doing the opposite.

In this episode of Out of Office, Fareeseh Chaudhry, HR Business Lead at Haleon, gets real about how leadership hiring really works in the Middle East, and why polished CVs, big titles, and scripted answers are no longer enough. 

We talk about:
↳ Why leadership hiring in the Middle East feels harder and more unforgiving than ever
↳ The real reason internal talent keeps losing out to external hires in Dubai jobs
↳ When “fresh perspective” becomes a lazy hiring shortcut
↳ The red flags HR notices immediately when interviewing leaders
↳ Why vulnerability and self-awareness are becoming hiring advantages
↳ How overselling confidence can stall your career without you realising

If you’re wondering why doing everything “right” still isn’t working, this episode will make you rethink what success in hiring actually looks like in 2026.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The High Stakes of Leadership Hiring - Why One Mistake Costs Years
• 00:00:59 The Middle East Job Market Paradox: Aspirational Yet Saturated
• 00:02:40 Internal Mobility vs External Talent: The Strategic Balance
• 00:05:56 The Leadership Skills Evolution: From Command to Flexibility
• 00:09:12 Beyond the CV: Reading Between the Lines in Interviews
• 00:11:21 The Middle East Vulnerability Problem: Cultural Barriers to Self-Awareness
• 00:12:45 Survival Mode: The Transient Nature of Middle East Careers
• 00:14:31 AI in Recruitment: Automation vs The Human Touch
• 00:18:03 The Four-Hour X-Ray: Leadership Assessment That Sees Everything
• 00:23:11 The Inverted Triangle: Why Dubai Lacks Junior Talent and What It Costs

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Connect with Fareeseh: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fareeseh-chaudhry/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fareesehchaudhry/

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Mark Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktimmsgrg/

James Lafferty did not reach the top by blending in. As a 4x Forbes CEO and Powerlifting Olympian, he learned early that the gap between the top 1% and everyone else has very little to do with talent and everything to do with how you train, think, and show up under pressure.

In the first episode of Above C-Level, James sits down with Mohammad Osama for a honest conversation on why the best CEOs think like athletes. From boardrooms to the weight room, this episode looks at the habits, discipline, and mental standards that separate high performers from those who never quite make it past potential.

He talks about:

↳ How sport and powerlifting transformed his confidence, mindset, and leadership style.
↳ Why desire, discipline, and persistence matter more than talent in business and life.
↳ What getting fired as a CEO revealed about leadership and integrity.
↳ Why hunger matters more than polish when hiring.
↳ How the athlete mindset changes how you lead, perform, and stay in the game

If you lead at the top, or are working towards it, this conversation will challenge how you think about ambition, leadership, and what it really takes to stay there.

If you’re serious about reaching the top in your career and achieving the ultimate success, this conversation is a must listen.

• 00:00:00 Opening: From Bullied Kid to Four-Time Forbes CEO - The Transformation Story
• 00:01:02 The Defining Moments at Age 13: When Everything Changed
• 00:07:40 The Power of Persistence: Why Last Man Standing Wins
• 00:11:32 Success Isn't Perfect: Getting Fired from P&G After 25 Years
• 00:15:19 The Three Guiding Principles: Doing Right, Consumer Value, and People First
• 00:19:25 The Fitness Center Philosophy: Creating Environments People Love to Join and Hate to Leave
• 00:20:51 Strategy vs Execution: Why Chief Strategy Officers Miss the Point
• 00:25:05 The Single Mom Secret: Why 16% of His Organization Were Superhuman
• 00:24:39 The Only Thing You Can't Coach: Interviewing for Desire Over Credentials
• 00:43:23 Running From vs Running To: The Career Decision Framework
• 00:28:23 The Generational Debate is BS: Why Gen Z Isn't That Different
• 00:33:15 Why Senior Executives Get Fired: The Sisyphus Principle
• 00:40:08 The Gaza Entrepreneur Who Defines Best of Humanity
• 00:47:24 AI Revolution: Embracing Change Like the Dot-Com Era

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-michael-lafferty-2737071/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesmichaellafferty/

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Mohammad Osama: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-osama-8395b88/

Hip hop, basketball, and fatherhood shaped Big Hass in ways he never saw coming. What began as a young love for music eventually led him to become one of the most recognisable voices in Arabic Hip Hop in Saudi Arabia, yet the story behind that journey is far more personal than many realise.

In this episode of The Brand of YOU, Big Hass sits down with Robyn for a conversation filled with honesty. Their shared experiences give him the space to open up about the moments that shaped him long before his career took off.

They talk about:
↳ How basketball and Shaquille O’Neal influenced his mindset, work ethic, and love for hip hop.
↳ How hip hop taught him more than just music, and why it became his way of understanding the world.
↳ The bold move that started with a blog and grew into Saudi Arabia’s first hip hop radio show.
↳ His complicated relationship with personal branding and why success sometimes feels heavier than it looks.
↳ His journey as an Autism Dad and how fatherhood redefined his purpose and identity.

Tune in to catch a glimpse into the man behind the mic and get ready for a vulnerable and touching chat that you will not want to miss.

• 00:00:00 Opening: From Basketball Courts to Hip-Hop Radio - The Big House Origin Story
• 00:09:05 The Birth of Arabic Hip-Hop Radio: Fighting for a Voice in Saudi Arabia
• 00:14:20 Hip-Hop as Cultural Export: Why Arabic Artists Need This American Blueprint
• 00:16:12 The Consistency Paradox: Why Success Metrics Miss What Really Matters
• 00:20:20 The Business vs. Culture Dilemma: When Money Threatens the Art
• 00:16:06 Wishing for a Bigger Movement: The Struggle of Building Alone
• 00:25:30 Ahmad: The Autism Journey That Changed Everything
• 00:29:02 Breaking Middle Eastern Taboos: From Changing Diapers to Running in Malls
• 00:29:41 Autism Isn't a Disease: Love, Community, and Giving Them a Platform
• 00:31:41 The Real Big House: Autism Dad Above All Else

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Connect with Big Hass: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/big_hass/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/bighass

Follow Our Host - Robyn Abou Chedid: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynabouchedid/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlnamedrobyn/ 

On paper, the GCC looks like a job seeker’s paradise. In reality, some roles attract 1500 applicants or more, turning hiring into a crowded, confusing maze for both companies and candidates.

In this episode of Out of Office, Iyas Seidan, Managing Partner at Ember Enablement, takes us inside the real hiring world that candidates never get to see. He lifts the lid on what happens when HR is buried under thousands of CVs, why great talent still gets overlooked, and how companies really make decisions.

We talk about:
↳ Why too much choice is making hiring harder, not easier, for companies in the GCC

↳ How outdated assessments and rigid processes can push strong candidates out of the running

↳ Why some companies already know who they want before a job post even goes live

↳ How Gen Z is reshaping expectations around the modern workplace

↳ What AI and automation are really doing to your chances when you hit apply

If you want to understand what HR is really thinking and how to stand out in a market where 1500 people are applying alongside you, this is a must listen.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The Middle East Hiring Paradox - High Competition, Low Opportunity
• 00:10:38 The Hidden Truth: 80% of Jobs Already Have Internal Candidates
• 00:12:32 AI in Recruitment: Are We Ready or Just Pretending to Be Experts?
• 00:14:43 The Dating Analogy: Why Automation Might Actually Improve Candidate Experience
• 00:06:02 Beyond the CV: The Seven to Eight Box Matrix for Leadership Hiring
• 00:08:11 The Assessment Trap: Case Studies and the Talent You're Losing
• 00:18:14 Gen Z Will Change Everything: The Attestation Generation
• 00:22:43 The Career Pivot Challenge: Moving from Software Engineering to HR
• 00:24:17 Who You Know vs What You Know: The Networking Reality
• 00:16:15 The Ethical Dilemma: Damaging Your Brand by Posting Fake Roles

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Connect with Iyas: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iyas-seidan/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iyas_seidan/

Follow Our Host:

Mark Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktimmsgrg/

Hiring in the Middle East is changing fast, and as Kirsty points out, the real story sits somewhere between the rise of AI and the power of genuine human connection.

In this episode of Out of Office, Kirsty Koen, Group CHRO at IDS Borjomi International, talks through the unwritten rules of hiring in the region, why some candidates move forward easily, and why others fall out of the process without ever understanding what went wrong.

We reveal:
↳ Why soft skills and relational intelligence now outweigh technical ability in today’s job market.
↳ How candidates can structure the perfect interview answer and show real value beyond the job description.
↳ What hiring managers get wrong about Gen Z
↳ Why AI and ATS systems are disrupting recruitment and how candidates can navigate the shift.
↳ The hidden expectations candidates never ask about but absolutely should.

If you want to stop guessing what HR wants and to start landing opportunities in the Middle East, this is the episode to listen to.

• 00:00:00 Opening: The AI Hype and Middle East Hiring Reality
• 00:01:17 Understanding the Middle East's Familial Culture
• 00:03:14 The Three Dimensions of Hiring: Technical, Soft Skills, and Networking
• 00:04:46 Common Hiring Manager Mistakes
• 00:08:39 Red Flags: When Candidates Just Want Dubai
• 00:09:49 The Art of Asking Questions in Interviews
• 00:11:09 Quality Over Quantity: The Talent Abundance Myth
• 00:14:25 The Gen Z Question: Are We Overthinking It?
• 00:13:34 Career Longevity vs Job Hopping: The Complete Cycle
• 00:18:16 AI in Recruitment: The Black Box Interview Disaster
• 00:22:30 The Hunger Games: Competing in Dubai's Job Market

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Connect with Kirsty: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstykoen/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kewwiggs/

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Mark Timms: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktimmsgrg/

Public speaking is something we all do, but for Saana Azzam, it became a business, a career, and a way to reshape how an entire region finds its voice. She built a platform that turns people’s stories, ideas, and expertise into paid opportunities and meaningful impact.

In this episode of The Brand of You, Saana Azzam, Founder of MENA Speakers, joins us to uncover the craft behind speaking, and how to build a career from it.

We chat about:

↳ How Saana went from economist to one of the Middle East’s most in-demand speaker coaches.

↳ What separates a good speaker from an impactful one.

↳ Why so many people still speak for free and how to start charging for your voice.

↳ The inner critic, stage anxiety, and the surprising mindset shift that changed her approach to confidence.

↳ How personal branding shapes every opportunity on and off the stage.

If you want to learn how to step onto any stage with clarity, own your message, and get paid for the value you bring, tune into this episode now!

• 00:00:00 Opening: The ,000 Speaking Fee Reality
• 00:01:00 From Finance to Founding MENA Speakers
• 00:02:06 Why Events Need Great Speakers
• 00:02:59 The Speaker Pyramid: From Educational to Transformational
• 00:04:49 The Three Pillars: Narrative, Delivery, and Personal Brand
• 00:07:33 Stop Speaking for Free: Understanding Speaker Rates
• 00:09:36 The First Paid Gig: From Student to Paid Speaker at 20
• 00:13:05 Battling the Inner Critic: Finding Your Power on Stage
• 00:17:31 Stage Presence: Why Standing Changes Everything
• 00:26:49 First Impressions and What You Wear Matters

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Connect with Saana: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saanaazzam/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saanaazzam/ 

MENA Speakers: 

Website: https://mena-speakers.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menaspeakers/ 

Follow Our Host - Robyn Abou Chedid: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynabouchedid/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlnamedrobyn/