When Women Win Turned 50 - The Celebration

The mystery event had been planned meticulously, if I do say so myself! Abra Cards joined forces with When Women Win to create a 3D invitation from which the woman of the podcast cover pops out to say "hi!" – and these were hand-delivered by Joi along with a bouquet of white roses. All the reader would glean from the card was the why and the when: we were bringing 100 boss ladies and change-makers together to celebrate the mission and accomplishments of When Women Win, and doing it on Wednesday March 27th. Every guest was going to be picked up by a Careem at 6.45pm and taken to the secret venue for a cocktail evening of business and pleasure. The guest list was released via a password-protected website on the day of the event, and the excitement built as everyone realised what a powerful gathering is was going to be.

The Careem Captains had been given a When Women Win compilation to play for the guests when they got into the car, as well as a card that had the QR code to access the guest list and the required password. We were all set.

And then the skies opened. A freak event in Dubai: rain on March 27th! While I had been hoping for rain for days of suffocating sandstorms so that my asthmatic son could breathe easier, I had not intended for my prayers to be answered quite so dramatically – literally washing away my rooftop party dream. The smooth operators at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel moved into crisis management mode and seamlessly set up Plan B: a circular annex where Roger Federer and the rest of the world’s tennis stars had recently celebrated the Dubai tournament.

But that’s not all the rain did. Two hours of rain in Dubai is equivalent to a city-wide power outage: the traffic just stops. As a result, the pick-ups were seriously delayed and the transfers were sure to take much longer than planned. I was in panic mode: everything that could have been managed was done, but freak weather – what was going to happen?! I expected dozens of cancellations and no-shows. But that was not the plan Dubai’s boss ladies had: they were not to be defeated by rain or traffic or delays. 95 women made it. I was humbled and incredulous. One by one and two by two, they showed up in the best of spirits, committed to having a good time, catching up with old friends and making new ones. High-octane conversations were happening all around the fishbowl, on everything from literature to asset finance to asset management to corporate social media to travel plans.

Amid the free-flowing bubbly and canapes, I went on stage to welcome the guests and thank the sponsors. Without the generous contributions of Oliver Wyman, Jumeirah Creekside, and Careem – this event would not have been possible. Each of the Title Sponsors then took the stage and explained what their organisation was doing to help women win, and why they had chosen to support #www50.

I also thanked our Community Partners for coming together to make the event extra special... On their way out, every guest took home a “Boss Lady Survival Kit” that contained gifts from Sephora, Mumzworld, Malaak, Bulkwhiz, Sergio Rossi and SJP.

In my speech I acknowledged the successes of When Women Win – 50 podcast episodes, reaching #1 across the Middle East and being listened to in 144 countries – and shared my plan to grow the impact of When Women Win 100x over the next two years. I also announced some big news: anyone traveling on Emirates Airlines anywhere in the world will be able to access When Women Win through the ICE system from May 19th onwards!

My parting words highlighted that When Women Win is not the end-game, but rather the beginning. The goal is gender parity at all levels - especially at the top. I encouraged the guests to continue to support women directly, to support men who support women, and support companies that support women. We have an individual responsibility to push for cultural, policy and process changes that would enable our organisations to hire more women, sponsor more women, address unconscious bias and casual sexism, foster psychological safety, empower men at home, promote more women, and pay an equal wage for equal work. The crowd comprised of 95 women who go above and beyond their job every day to support other women - and I am super excited about the impact our collective efforts will have… We’re coming.

Rana Nawas. To learn more about the When Women Win podcast, head here on LinkedIn or to the website. #www50 #whenwomenwin