WORDS: OLIVIA MORRIS
ENTREPRENEUR From there I put my love for writing into Velvet, a luxury lifestyle magazine that came about in 2009. My most recent project is a restaurant that newly launched this March in Downtown Dubai, called Heart in a Box. I’m also a Professor at the American University of Dubai teaching a course on social innovation and entrepreneurship. As a fragrance expert, what is your advice for someone selecting a fragrance? A scent is a silent, unspoken language between you and the person you are with. Perfume is a deeper sense of self exploration. It is an identity. A captured dream that you wear every day reminding you and those around you of who you are, what you are and what you want. We wear perfume to freshen up when we first wake up, to live in our daily ritual of self-love, to arouse our feelings of sexuality, of our confidence of who we are and allow us to exude the power we are brimming with. So, I would say you need to feel what speaks to you and brings you to a state of elation. Perfumes are different from oil-based scents, but they say the best use of perfume is when you apply it on a natural fabric. However, if you wear it on your skin you should wear it on your wrist and your pulse areas, which are your neck think working around the world gives you the ability to comuand chest. Some people back in the day used nicate with a wide range of people. I think when you’ve been exto put perfume on a handkerchief and place posed to many business cultures and people nothing scares you it in their bag, and wipe their hands with it, anymore, you become more adaptable and flexible. That in itself so the perfume would stay on their hand and is a gift. Ink on paper doesn’t teach you that, you have to dig the whenever they were arriving, everyone could ground with your nails; it’s blood sweat and tears and not my smell the evident scent. degrees that got me where I am today. Can you talk us through the career hurdles How do aim to inspire others and where do you get your inspiyou’ve experienced? My career hurdles didn’t ration from? We all need inspiration, motivation, and someone or people to carry us through the journey of life at some feel like hurdles, I chose to live my life like a point or another. I derived my greatest inspiration from my river; whenever I reached a rock on the road, grandmother who only taught herself how to read and write I either went around or over it but I acclimawhen I was 10-years-old. That always stuck with me that tize myself. I don’t believe we should survive, you are never too old to achieve what you put your mind to, rather we should thrive. When you go above that hard work and determination crowned with the best inthe wave, it means you’ve outdone yourself. tentions lead you to the path you want paved on your way to I’m very proud of my perfume and I’m not destiny. And I hope to carry on my grandmother’s legacy to ashamed of my accomplishments. A lot of inspire others the same way she inspired me. people say that I have enough with whatever I’ve done. But I think God gave us this unsaThis is ‘The Fragrance Issue’ – what is your signature scent? It all tiable ambition to keep going on. depends on the mood, if I’m going for a dinner, I will wear the red fragrance which is the Oud Rose. When I go to a meeting, I like What have been the key career milestones to to wear my blue scent because I feel powerful and confident. This date? I used to work with my family and also scent is authoritative, it’s like an instant energy boost for me, it worked in Qatar in investments, I also did demands respect. If I’m relaxing, I wear my green perfume. some work in Malaysia, India, and China. I
“Creativity is selection. Selecting what makes your heart sing, what provokes the sweet memories, what calms your mind and what refreshes and energizes you.” F E AT U R E
EW_052021_P96-97_HH Sheikha Hend.indd 97
emirateswoman.com 97
4/29/21 12:59 PM
