The Unstoppable 5%

Welcome to another episode of The Unstoppable 5%

Robyn coaches some of the UAE's most senior leaders to speak with clarity, and she built that business after losing a university teaching award she had earned to a colleague who simply asked for it.

In this conversation with Laurie Drummond she also reads aloud, word for word, the note she wrote to herself that ended 3 years of restarting the same drinking cycle. You leave with Robyn's EDGE framework for constructive feedback, her 3 habits for speaking with presence, the reason she ranks her marriage above her children, how a single message to a stranger became her mentor and her business, and the walking group that filled her silent phone within a month.

About the Guest Robyn, communication coach to senior leaders in the UAE and board member of the Canadian Business Council.

Connect with Robyn Albers: Instagram: @clearspeakgcc LinkedIn: robynalbers

Connect with me: Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/ Book a Clarity Call: laurie-drummond.com Big dreams, small steps… let's get moving ✨ Subscribe for stories from the unstoppable 5%

Charis Marr spent years running advertising for some of the biggest banks in Australia and the UK, then lost her brother, her father and later her mother, each without warning. What made the final loss bearable was a phrase her mother lived by: dying tidily. Watch to hear how she stepped in to run an offshore shipbroking business the day after her father died, why she believes bank marketing struggles to educate anyone, and why she rejects both FIRE and YOLO. You will leave knowing why so many UAE expats go home with less than they came with, what the Prosperity Power 5 covers, and the one baseline exercise to do this week. About the Guest Charis Marr, former head of advertising at HSBC UK and founder of In Good Wealth. Connect with Charis Marr: Instagram: @charismarr.official LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/charismarr Connect with me: Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/ Book a Clarity Call: laurie-drummond.com Big dreams, small steps… let's get moving

Welcome to another episode of The Unstoppable 5%

Tara Rose arrived in the UAE 17 years ago with £200, no grades and no plan, and has since built four company owned salons, the Tara Rose Academy and a first franchise in Bahrain with no outside backing.

She tells Laurie how scaling 50% three years ago nearly cost her everything, and why she has now moved her family into a one-bed apartment.

You will hear the conference moment she realised she was the problem, the upgrade every founder needs before the next expansion, why her newest franchise runs simpler than her original salons, and what two family holidays in 10 years taught her about freedom.

You will also hear what she would tell her younger self: life owes you nothing.

About the Guest Tara Rose, founder of Tara Rose salons and the Tara Rose Academy, Abu Dhabi.

Connect with Tara Rose: Instagram: @tararosekidd | @tararosesalon | @tararoseacademy LinkedIn: Tara Rose Kidd

Connect with me: Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/ Book a Clarity Call: laurie-drummond.com

Big dreams, small steps… let's get moving

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Nadia launched Hello&Goodbuy, a pre-loved boutique in Abu Dhabi, after replying to a stranger's Facebook comment with a promise she hadn't built yet. Since January 2022 it has saved roughly 20,000 pieces of clothing, shoes and accessories from potential landfill, and it still nearly closed. You'll hear how she started with 2,000 dirhams, why 65% of her stock is donated and its proceeds fund girls' education in Uganda, what 250 free tickets taught her about no-shows, why she barely uses AI, and the March that left her with 1 booking days after paying a full year's rent. It is an honest look at what a mission costs when the numbers get tight. This episode covers sustainable fashion, pre-loved clothing in Abu Dhabi, social enterprise, bootstrapping a small business and women founders in the UAE. About Guest: Nadia, founder of Hello&Goodbuy (HGB), a by-appointment pre-loved boutique in Abu Dhabi. Connect with Nadia: Instagram: @helloandgoodbuy.uae | @nadia.al.sh LinkedIn: Nadia Al Shimmari Website: https://hgb.earth/ Connect with me: Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/ Book a Clarity Call: laurie-drummond.com Big dreams, small steps… let's get moving

Lynsay Kilbane spent 15 years inside some of the most elite households on the planet. Royal families. UHNW principals. People whose names you'll never see in a Google search. She was trusted with everything and nobody knew who she was.

Then she lost her brother. And everything changed.

In this episode Lynsay shares the traffic light moment in Abu Dhabi that cracked her open, the Kenya retreat that made her dare to dream, and how she went from nanny to founder of The Private Standard, one of the most discreet and sought after household staffing and consultancy businesses in the UAE and beyond.

No university degree. No roadmap. Just messy, imperfect action and an unshakeable belief that she had more to give.

This one is raw, real and genuinely fascinating. If you've ever talked yourself out of something big, this episode is for you.

Connect with Lynsay: Instagram: @theprivatestandard_ Website: the-private-standard.com

Connect with Laurie: Instagram: @the_unstoppable_five Website: laurie-drummond.com

Shelley Bosworth spent 25 years in corporate. Big brands, big teams, big budgets. KFC, Tesco, Starbucks. She was the person organisations called when things got hard.

And then life got hard for her.

In 2019, after personal loss, a health scare and a growing feeling that none of it made sense anymore, she walked away from everything she'd built. Three months later, the world went into lockdown. Most people would have gone back. She didn't.

In this episode Shelley and I get into the real story underneath the pivot. What it actually felt like to lose not just a career but an identity. Why confidence comes from evidence, not belief. And why the thing that separates the people who make it from the ones who don't has nothing to do with talent or timing, it's consistency during the boring and brutal times when nobody is watching.

We also talk about building a business from scratch in a pandemic, the move to Dubai, identity mapping, and what Shelley is reverse engineering her entire life toward next.

This one goes deep. I think you're going to love it.

Connect with Shelley: Website: shelleybosworthofficial.com Instagram: @shelleybosworth.official Podcast: She Is Courageous

Episode Description

She spent over a decade doing PR for some of the biggest names in the region. Then she walked away, went boutique, and built NikNak PR on one premise. Less fluff, more impact.

In this episode I sit down with Anika Berger to find out what PR actually does for a founder, why most people are getting it wrong, and what it really takes to build credibility in a market as noisy as Dubai.

We also get into something I didn't expect. Why Dubai, why this city, and what Anika found when she chose to build her life and business here. Spoiler. It's not what most people think.

In This Episode

• What PR actually is and why founders consistently get it wrong
• Why credibility beats fame every time and what the recall effect means for your brand
• The moment she realised she was done building other people's success
• How she doubled year on year with no team and a quiet summer
• Why she turns clients away and what values alignment looks like in practice
• What makes someone truly mediable and why some founders will never get traction no matter how much they spend
• Why Dubai is less smoke and mirrors than you think, and more supportive than most cities in the world

About Anika

Anika Berger is the founder of NikNak PR, a Dubai-based agency specialising in founders and entrepreneurs. With over a decade of experience across top agencies and brands including Netflix and Careem, she helps startups and growing businesses build credibility, visibility, and presence across the GCC. She has called the UAE home since she was eight years old.

Connect with Anika Instagram: @berger_queen4 Website: niknakpr.ae

Connect with Laurie Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: laurie-drummond.com

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The Unstoppable 5%. Stories from the people who kept going.

She had the career. The money. The success.

And it was taking her soul.

Keila Doyle built and sold a tech company in London, then quietly fell apart. The anxiety crept in, the identity started to unravel, and she had to make a call: keep going, or step back and actually take care of herself.

She chose herself.

What came next was a move to Dubai, a golf club in her hands for the first time, and a front-row seat to just how intimidating and exclusionary that world can be for beginners.

So she decided to change it.

This is a conversation about the real cost of success, what it takes to start over, and why sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stop.

Take a listen!

🎙️ The Unstoppable 5%

If you've ever looked at someone who's rebuilt from nothing and wondered what they actually have that you don't, this episode is going to answer that question.

Samantha Williams has had more full-stop moments than most people have excuses. Wall Street trader. UK's first female trampoline park owner. A business that hit $10M in two years, then fell apart. A toxic partnership that forced her out of something she built. Both hips replaced. Perimenopause. A late ADHD diagnosis that reframed her entire life. And through all of it, she kept building.

She's now an EOS Implementer based in Abu Dhabi, one of only two in the UAE, helping entrepreneurial teams get clear on where they're going and how they'll actually get there. And she's starting over again in a new country, in a new market.

This conversation goes deep. We talk about what it felt like to be forced out of a company she founded, why she thinks her ADHD was her superpower before she even knew she had it, and what it means to redefine success when you've already hit the top and watched it disappear.

The question I kept coming back to throughout this episode: what is it in someone that defaults to rebuild instead of retreat? Sam answers it, and she doesn't give you the polished version.

What we cover:

• Navigating Wall Street as the only woman on the floor, and closing a $2 billion deal
• The personal loss that made her walk away from banking
• Building Rush Trampoline Parks to $10M and being forced out by her business partner
• Simultaneous hip replacements, perimenopause, and launching a new brand
• The ADHD diagnosis and why it changed everything
• EOS, Abu Dhabi, and what she's building now
• Her definition of success and why it's completely changed

Connect with Sam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthawilliamsofficial/ Website: https://implementer.eosworldwide.com/samantha-williams/

Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review, it genuinely helps more people find the show.

Follow Laurie: Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/

Why HR Has an Image Problem (And How to Fix It) | Natalie Cairns

Most people think HR is there to protect the company. And that's exactly why it has an image problem.

In this episode of The Unstoppable 5%, I sit down with Natalie Cairns, who's spent over 20 years inside HR… and chose to do it differently.

We talk about the moment that changed everything for her, losing her father, and the one question from her manager that completely reshaped how she saw leadership, work, and people.

From there, we get into what's really going on inside organisations:

Why HR is often seen as the corporate dumping ground, and how to change it What "human first" actually looks like when policy says something else And why doing things differently isn't just a brand, it's a decision you make in real time

This isn't a conversation about policies. It's about how you show up for people when it actually matters.

Natalie Cairns is an HR professional with over 20 years of experience and the founder of HR, Done Different. She's known for challenging traditional approaches to HR and putting people at the centre of decision-making, especially in the moments that matter most.

Instagram: @nataliecairnsdonedifferent Website: https://nataliecairns.com/

Instagram: @laurie__drummond LinkedIn: Laurie Drummond Website: https://laurie-drummond.com/

New episodes every 2 weeks with real conversations, hard-earned lessons, and stories from people who choose to show up differently.