Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Suzan Dargham, Head of Communications @ UNLOCK Blockchain
How could you describe your career path in a few words?
A journey of discovering, exploring, expanding, growing, and learning that still applies to date. In fact, I have always known what I wanted as a career, which is why I majored in Public Relations. However, I didn’t realize back then that only a few in the MENA region were familiar with what PR truly is. This is when the journey began with all its ups and downs, and if I were to choose again, I would still walk down the same path with minor changes on the personal level, because every pitstop taught me a skill, every person challenged me internally to grow, and every mentor and manager opened my eyes to how one needs to evolve as leader.
Despite the years of experience, it is important to be grounded, to expand one’s knowledge on the daily, and most importantly, to keep a young mind with a mature judgement.
What was your most challenging experience, and has it changed your mindset?
Challenging experiences were mostly on a personal level; I survived two explosions, various other incidents, a pandemic, and I am now fighting for my life due to a life-threatening disease. Nevertheless, each and every one of these situations helped me mold and shape my personality into a person I am today, wiser and resilient when facing hardship.
They all brought me to a conclusion that life is worthless if you are not doing well mentally, physically and spiritually. So, my humble advice to any person out there is to take care of themselves, and the rest will fall into place. Knowing that I was always labelled as the strong, iron woman, I was harsh on myself when dealing with all these incidents. But this is who I truly am because every time I fall, I make sure to pick myself up and move forward, for I believe that everything and anything can be solved. All this has affected me, and yes, I am strong, but I am human too, and every human needs a break from time to time.
When you get surprised by unusual or uncertain context, what do you think?
Stay focused, it is a storm, and it shall pass.
What is important is to let it go through with the least damage possible, learn from it and pass on the learning.
What’s the key success factor for a female entrepreneur in a cross-cultural context based on your experience?
Very simple: be true to who you are, honest with what you want to achieve, and stay focused no matter who or what comes in the way.
Remember how you started so you can be a true leader to your team, and always keep in mind that YOU built yourself, so fight with whatever strength you have to always make her shine.
Based on your experience, what’s the key success factor for a female leader/manager?
A leader should be a human first, lead their team with passion and fairness, always share their knowledge with others, and bring what is best in them for the greater goal, as this is how loyalty is built. Also, celebrate small successes with the team so they celebrate yours in return.
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