In this episode of Leadership Kitchen, I sit down with Mayada Fahim, Head of Engineering at JOIN, to talk about her journey from software engineer to leading an engineering organization of around 50 people, building high-performing teams, hiring for culture, women in engineering, and what great engineering leadership really looks like.

Mayada grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, and knew from a very young age that she wanted to become an engineer. After starting her career as a software engineer in Egypt, she moved to Berlin looking for a new challenge and an opportunity to learn in a more international environment. Eight years later, she is still at JOIN, having grown from software engineer to Head of Engineering.

Together we explore:

• Why Mayada left Egypt for Berlin and what she learned from starting over in a new country

• How she went from software engineer to Head of Engineering by taking initiative and solving problems beyond her role

• Why great teams start with hiring for culture and mindset, not just technical skills

• The surprising reality of becoming a manager and why leadership results can take months to show

• Why engineering leaders need to stay hands-on, especially in the age of AI

• Women in engineering, imposter syndrome, and the problem with being treated as a diversity token

• Why new managers shouldn't rush to change everything in their first 90 days

• How great leaders build trust, stay close to their teams, and create a culture where people want to perform

And of course, Mayada shares her Leadership Recipe:

🥄 Stay close to your team

🥄 Stay hands-on and understand what your people are experiencing

🥄 Build the environment and tools that enable people to deliver

Because leadership isn't about changing everything the moment you become a manager. It's about understanding your people, earning their trust, creating the right culture, and giving them the environment to do their best work.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Leadership Kitchen

00:40 From Alexandria to engineering and moving to Berlin

02:28 Finding an engineering role in a new country

03:48 Why Mayada chose JOIN

05:15 Becoming an engineer and the influence of childhood

06:38 How we can encourage more women into engineering

07:30 Mayada's favorite food and Egyptian cooking

09:07 From software engineer to engineering leader

10:40 Building a new team and hiring different profiles

12:50 Taking initiative and earning your leadership role

14:12 The surprising reality of becoming a manager

16:00 Why great teams start with hiring

18:09 Do engineering managers still need to be technical?

19:27 How AI is changing engineering leadership

20:25 Supporting women in engineering

22:13 Imposter syndrome and proving yourself

24:58 Advice for new engineering managers: the first 90 days

28:10 What makes a great engineering leader?

29:46 Mayada's Leadership Recipe

30:37 Final reflections and closing

The conversation covers engineering leadership, career growth, hiring, culture, AI, women in tech, imposter syndrome, change management, and why great leaders stay close enough to their teams to understand what is really happening.

Connect with Mayada Fahim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayada-fahim/

Connect with Renita Käsper:

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

Follow Leadership Kitchen for more conversations on leadership, AI, hiring, founder journeys, and building teams across cultures and borders:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadership-kitchen/

In this episode of Leadership Kitchen, I sit down with Liina Laas, co-founder and CEO of Knowzilla, to talk about building an AI startup, scaling sales teams, fundraising, and what leadership really looks like when you're building a company from scratch.

Liina has spent her career helping startups grow, from early-stage ventures to scaling Deel from around 100 employees to more than 7,000 globally. Today she's building Knowzilla, an AI-powered revenue intelligence platform that helps sales teams learn faster, perform better, and turn knowledge into results.

Together we explore:

• Why Liina left one of Europe's fastest-growing companies to build her own startup

• How Knowzilla was born from a real customer problem• Finding technical co-founders and why networking still beats waiting

• Building AI products when even engineers sometimes ask, "Why does it work?"

• Why talking to customers should shape every product decision

• Raising venture capital and the fundraising lessons every founder should know

• The biggest mistakes startups make when hiring their first salespeople

• Why onboarding, culture, and compensation matter more than hiring "rockstars"

• Sales myths, commission structures, and why capped bonuses hurt performance

• Leadership without ego, understanding people, and building teams that solve problems together

• Advice for women founders who are still waiting for the "right moment" to start

And of course, Liina shares her Leadership Recipe:

🥄 Trust your people to solve problems

🥄 Stay curious and keep learning

🥄 Ask anyway, because if you don't ask, you already have a no

Because leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about building an environment where great people can find them together.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Leadership Kitchen

00:40 Meet Liina Laas and the story behind Knowzilla

02:11 Leadership, predictability and caring less about others' opinions

04:44 Cooking as therapy and founder recipes

07:10 Why Liina left Deel after scaling from 100 to 7,000 employees

09:51 When startups need processes to scale

11:41 What Liina misses about Deel

12:39 Finding technical co-founders and building Knowzilla

15:16 The biggest challenges of building an AI startup

17:51 Communication between founders, product and engineering

18:36 Is startup life really as hard as people say?

22:10 Raising venture capital and learning how much money to ask for

27:10 Hiring great salespeople and common recruitment mistakes

31:05 Enterprise sales versus startup sales

33:08 Red flags when hiring salespeople

35:16 Building motivating sales compensation plans

41:07 Why capped commissions don't work

43:06 Liina's leadership philosophy

44:57 Leadership stereotypes and women in leadership

47:42 Advice for women founders ready to build something new

49:47 Final reflections and closing

The conversation covers startup building, AI product development, fundraising, sales leadership, hiring, and why the best founders stay close to their customers while creating cultures where people can do their best work.

Connect with Liina Laas:

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

Connect with Renita Käsper:

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

Follow Leadership Kitchen for more conversations on leadership, AI, hiring, founder journeys, and building teams across cultures and borders:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadership-kitchen/

In this episode of Leadership Kitchen, I sit down with Gina Schinkel, founder of Driftawave, startup advisor, speaker, and former LinkedIn Talent Solutions leader, to talk about founder journeys, remote work, and building something before you feel ready.

Gina's career path has taken her from hospitality and tourism across the world to tech sales and entrepreneurship. Today she helps distributed teams create meaningful in-person experiences through retreats, workations, and offsites.

Together we explore:

• What it really feels like to leave a stable corporate job and become a founder
• The reality of imposter syndrome and building confidence as you go
• Why mentors, communities, and founder networks matter
• How to measure the impact of retreats and offsites in remote companies
• What remote teams still get wrong about connection and trust
• Supporting neurodivergent employees in distributed workplaces
• Why building a founder brand can open unexpected doors
• The small wins, setbacks, and celebrations that come with building a business

And of course, Gina shares her Leadership Recipe:

🥄 Belief
🥄 Energy
🥄 A hack-the-game mentality

Because leadership isn't built from perfect recipes. It's built through experimentation, difficult decisions, and learning as you go.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Leadership Kitchen
00:16 Meet Gina Schinkel and her unconventional career journey
02:03 Measuring the value of in-person connection in remote work
03:12 The Greek recipe and the power of shared meals
06:44 From Australia to Aruba: building a global life and career
11:09 Leaving LinkedIn to become a founder
14:36 Fear, imposter syndrome and making the jump
18:09 Family doubts and finding support as an entrepreneur
25:36 Why Gina built Driftawave
27:10 How often remote teams should meet in person
28:53 Measuring ROI from retreats and workations
30:14 Offsites as rewards, culture builders and employer branding
33:38 Gina's hardest leadership lesson
35:34 Leadership, AI and managing teams in startups
40:13 The missing ingredient in remote work: trust and respect
42:02 Supporting neurodivergent employees at company retreats
46:27 Advice for women founders struggling with confidence
47:41 When do you finally feel like a founder?
51:39 Gina's Leadership Recipe
54:30 Final reflections and outro

The conversation covers Gina's journey from global travel and hospitality to entrepreneurship, the realities of startup life, and the evolving role of human connection in distributed work.

Connect with Gina Schinkel:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginaschinkel/

Connect with Renita Käsper:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakasper/

Follow Leadership Kitchen for more conversations on leadership, hiring, founder journeys, and building teams across cultures and borders:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadership-kitchen/

What happens when your co-founder leaves, your product isn't ready, the money is running out, and you still decide to keep building?

In the first episode of Leadership Kitchen, I sit down with Alisher Jafarov, founder and CEO of Avery, to talk about startup reality, hiring, leadership under pressure, trusting your gut, and why honesty might be the most underrated leadership skill.

We discuss:

• Building a startup when everything goes wrong

• Why hiring managers own hiring success

• The role of AI in recruitment

• Founder loneliness and resilience

• Leadership lessons from the kitchen

Leadership isn't built from perfect recipes. It's built through experimentation, difficult decisions, and learning as you go.

And don't leave the kitchen too early. At the end of the episode, Alisher shares his Leadership Recipe, the ingredients that have shaped his leadership journey. 🍳