Unlimited Seating

Join me, your host, Sanila Samuel on an insightful episode of Unlimited Seating. This time, I had the pleasure and honor of hosting Keren Rambow, a leader I had heard a lot about and was excited to have as a guest. 

Keren is Vice President of Sales for the Americas region at GE Aerospace Commercial Engines. In this role, she manages customer relationships and deal strategies in North and South America and is responsible for retaining and winning new business and partnering for the success of our customers.

Keren joined GE Aviation in 2016 as a Commercial Engines Sales Director and was promoted to General Manager of GE Aviation for Australia and New Zealand and Regional General Manager for South Asia Pacific Commercial Engines Sales. She recently supported the GE Aviation Services business as the Services Marketing Executive based in Cincinnati.

A graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy, Keren served 15 years in the Royal Australian Air Force as an Avionics Engineer on the F/A-18 Hornet. After leaving the RAAF in 2004, she co-founded a military aerospace company, Pacific Aerospace Consulting, that specializes in military avionics engineering services for the US Department of Defense and the Australian Defence Force. 

Keren holds a Bachelor of Science, an Honors degree in High Energy Astro-Physics, a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) degree and an MBA (Technology).

Keren was candid and humble as she walked through her journey towards gaining a diverse set of experiences - from being an engineer in the Australian Air Force to setting up and running her own business to joining a multinational organization like GE and growing in the business. She shared her reflections from her earlier working years and how that has shaped the leader she is today.

Her persistence, hard work and willingness to listen and learn took her through her early career to when she had to juggle family and a professional life.

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel in a candid conversation with Amita Karadkhedkar. Amita describes herself as a Techno - Functional Leader, Learner from Life, Public Speaker and a Visible Role Model. 

She is a true change agent and through her advocacy on prestigious platforms such as TedX, NASSCOM, SHRM and many Multi-National Corporations and various Educational Institutions, hopes to  lead not just individual changes in terms of behaviors and attitudes but also lay the foundation for systemic changes that need to happen in society. 

I saw a post by Amita on LinkedIn and reached out to Amita to ask if she would be wiling to share her story on Unlimimted Seating. So glad she agreed – I am left inspired by her courage, conviction and confidence and persevere.

We talked about her childhood, the process of realization of what society considers ‘normal’ and how it was hard to understand why she didn’t fit into the ‘box’, how she dealt with some low points and worked through her transition journey – all while continuing her education and growing her career.  

Thank you Amita for being a role model and sharing your story. 

Learn more about Amita at https://amitakaradkhedkar.com/

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join me, your host, Sanila Samuel on yet another engaging and interesting conversation. This time, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sumathi Chari – we were at school together! 

Sumathi is Director & Senior Partner at PRHUB. A Brand consultant & integrated communication specialist with close to two decades of experience, Sumathi works  with senior leadership at organisations across diverse domains, to help them devise their brand building strategy and execution roadmap. She has led award winning campaigns across areas of communication including PR, marcomm, internal communication and influencer outreach. She leads client delivery, marketing and branding and talent development at PRHUB, besides closely working on the firm's future direction and growth. She was recognised as among the top 50 women leaders in Sales & Marketing by the Vedica Women's Alliance- V (WA) 50 in 2022. Sumathi has also been part of the Emerging Leaders' Commitee at IPREX (third largest global body of independent PR firms across countries) as part of which, she collaborated with agency leaders across regions to put together a holistic and unique curriculum for IPREX Academy, designed to enable agencies groom future business leaders for the industry. 

Sumathi is a strong advocate and an active voice for retaining women in the workforce and growing in their careers. She has been working towards enabling women return back to work or continue to work and grow to senior and leadership roles at PRHUB. She believes losing quality women talent to personal reasons, is a key challenge in the PR and communication industry, that thrives on a large number of them at entry and junior-mid levels. Being a brand and communications specialist, she is also working on changing the narratives and the brand building approach that women professionals and business leaders take.She is part of leading communities working in the area of empowering and equipping women.

We talked about Sumathi’s career journey, her interest in advertising and PR from a young age inspired by her mother and how she was determined to grow her career in an area she is truly passionate about. I learnt much more about PR and brand building than I ever knew about. 

 Sumathi drew some interesting parallels between her work in brand building for companies which involves building the right narrative. Her point about needing to re-write the narrative around women in the workplace struck home – too often we get caught up in the ‘supermom’ and ‘multi-taster’ tag which adds a ton of stress.   

 She also brought up a great point about how important it will be to recognize what each of your team members need to stay engaged at work instead of standardizing options for flexibility. 

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel on a candid conversation with Ula Bieganska.

Ula is a passionate marketeer with 15+ years experience across Europe, Middle East and Africa. She started her career in P&G, where she spent 6 years in various global and local roles. She then moved to the LEGO Group, the most admired toy producer in the world, where she started in a regional Eastern Europe role in Prague. She moved to LEGO HQ in Denmark. For the past four years she supported the opening of a new office for Middle East and Africa in Dubai and took over role of Head of Marketing. She is insights-driven and believes that modern marketing is a balanced mix of analytics and art.

I enjoyed listening to Ula talk about her time growing up in Poland during a period of great transformation in the country and how she wanted to travel and see the world. Ula talked a lot about her marketing experience and learnings and offered good insights for anyone considering a future in marketing. I loved how she talked about finding her own voice and her own leadership style and how important it is for her to give back. 

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel on a candid conversation with Yosr Hamza - lawyer, mentor, DEI champion and special needs parent. We dove right into talking about Yosr's experience starting out as a young female lawyer in the Middle East to finding her space as Legal Director at Gartner to getting life changing news about her few months old son and her journey of acceptance. 

Yosr is a bilingual multi award-winning and commended experienced tech legal director with both a private practice and in-house background.
Yosr has more than a decade of legal experience. She is well respected amongst her peers and professional community. During her career, she held various positions allowing her to gain significant experience in executive negotiations, legal risk management, corporate governance and compliance, crisis management and acting as a trusted business advisor to the C-Suite and top management. She moved in-house and played a key part in establishing and managing the legal, data protection, ethical, compliance & ombuds team supporting the Middle East region in Gartner.
Yosr is a known champion of DEI, women empowerment, and creating opportunities for others who come from under-represented backgrounds (especially for those who are most marginalized and cast aside) to thrive throughout their career journey through mentorship, sponsorship and authentic storytelling.
She co-established and leads Gartner Legal DEI Council. She currently serves on Gartner’s Gulf CSR Board Committee, the Board of Mosaic at Gartner ERG and Women at Gartner ERG. She is on the advisory board of the In-House Community. She serves on the leadership of ACC Small Law Departments Network, New to In-House Network, International Legal Affairs Network, and Women in the House Network. She co-established “Your Mentor from MPL” in collaboration with MPL Legal Academy in Egypt. She also serves as a mentor with several organizations and initiatives to contribute to the efforts to enhance levels of DEI and gender equity within the legal profession in the Middle East.
Yosr is also a dedicated special needs and rare disease parent, a caregiver, and a vocal advocate to her Lissencephaly and cerebral palsy warrior who wows the world with his own superpowers. Because a disability is not an inability, and a diagnosis is not a definer.

#specialneedsmother #specialneedsparenting #workingmom #womeninleadership #womeninlaw

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel in a candid conversation with Natalie Stone as they talk about career choices, leveraging the power of connections and evolving your personal brand and leadership style. 

Natalie has been with GE Aviation for 22 years with leadership roles in Engineering, Supply Chain MRO, and Commercial Engines. She is currently the product management leader of Legacy Propulsion widebody products, which involves product strategy, upgrades, and keeping the fleet of ~10,000 engines she watches over safely flying! Natalie has also served as the Engine Alliance Vice President for 3 years, ensuring that GP powered A380’s continue to get the customer and fleet support needed as they return to the skies. She enjoys spending time with her 2 beautiful children, Kate and Jack, along with daily walks & yoga in the precious time she has outside of work!

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel on a candid conversation with Dinkle Shah. Dinkle is consultant at Deloitte and while she is early in her career, what makes Dinkle a role model is the way she proves her moxie time after time despite multiple challenges that come her way as someone with a permanent disability. 

Dinkle shares advice on how to approach people with disabilities -  Avoid the sympathy and be empathetic but just be as you would with anyone! See the person and not the wheelchair or any other support the person is using. 

I love Dinkle's personal motto of striving to be better today than she was yesterday and how she talks about the benefits of having a diverse team that can help make the workplace truly inclusive for all.

Listen now to learn more! 

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel on a candid conversation with Balkiz Sarihan. In this episode, Balkiz shares her journey that is greatly inspired by her entrepreneur mum and walks us through how she learned to tell her story and build on the power of connections to learn, grow and inspire teams as an Intrapeneur. 

Balkiz Sarihan is Head of UAM Strategy Execution & Partnerships at Airbus. Balkiz joined the leadership team of Urban Air Mobility at Airbus to focus on the industry, business and service ecosystem of urban mobility through strategic partnerships and investments.  Balkiz combines elements from a diverse career in Programs, Operational, Business and Strategic roles in both North America and Europe; with the ability to translate vision into a shared path of execution.  With a customer-centric focus, she is a believer in business with a purpose, a creator of connections, and a constant collaborator.   Balkiz is a proven business builder with previous successes in setting up and leading green field ventures from concept to delivery. 

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel in a candid conversation with Leila Rezaiguia as she shares her career journey starting from how she realized what she is passionate about and the risk of leaving a well paying corporate job to start her own firm. 

Leila is a highly sought-after multilingual Executive and Systemic Team Coach. She is renowned for her high energy, enthusiasm, passion, fun-loving nature, and her love for empowering, connecting and working with people from diverse cultures. 

For 23 years, Leila has worked with leading organisations and individuals to enhance productivity, maximise performance, and accelerate growth. As an ICF Professional Certified Coach, Facilitator, ICF Mentor Coach and Mentor, Leila integrates cutting-edge learning techniques to deliver the most effective evidence-based solutions to her clients. She strives to help her clients from graduate to c-suite levels reach higher performance personally and professionally.

Leila is passionate about Coaching, Mentoring, Women in Leadership and Leadership Development and has created successful performance, coaching and mentoring cultures across different industries.

She is based in Dubai, UAE and leads both Kompass Consultancy & AoEC UAE.

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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Join your host Sanila Samuel on an upbeat and insightful conversation with Fatima Tomoum as she talks about her journey spanning countries where she learnt by immersing herself in the local culture and language and used her various experiences as an interpreter as well to develop a passion for creating excellent customer experiences, whatever the industry.

Fatima Tomoum is a seasoned and passionate CX professional who firmly believes that listening to customers is the key for companies’ success.  She has experience across the globe from Japan to the Middle East, in a range of different industries (from software to real estate), and has spent the last 16 years working with large blue-chip and semi-government organisations to transform their customer experiences.  Having implemented massive tech and process transformations, she still claims her greatest success in life is navigating the challenging role of raising triplets whilst maintaining a sliver of sanity!

Please subscribe and feedback on our podcast series!

#powerwomen #womeninleadership #womenempoweringwomen #diversity #diversityandinclusion #equalopportunities #leadership #leadershiplessons #career #opportunity #leader #globalleader #interview

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