00:00:02:16 – 00:00:29:18
Sahar
Self-belief is almost evidence based. You know, it’s something that it’s self credibility. So it’s actually genuinely proving to yourself that you can do it. So genuinely pushing the boundary, making yourself do it. And then once you’ve done it, you’re like, oh, I’m capable of that.

00:00:29:20 – 00:00:58:04
Claudia
Welcome back to Shift Happens. My name is Claudia Mahler and I am your host. Today I begin with a call to action by women built by women. Build is a fast growing movement founded three years ago by my guest, Sahar Hashemi OBE. Sahar is an international recognized thought leader on the entrepreneurial mindset. A globally sought after speaker and bestselling author based in London.

00:00:58:06 – 00:01:55:02
Claudia
Sahara’s book about her own entrepreneurial journey, Anyone Can Do It, is the second highest selling book on entrepreneurship after Richard Branson’s with Buy Women Build. Sahar initiated a dynamic movement to fill the 250 billion pound gap in female entrepreneurship in the UK, bringing consumer awareness to brands built by women. Sahar shares with me what she learned from her parents, how she grew, her ability to feel gratitude, that she strongly believes we should never stop dreaming, and the importance of rhythms in the day like ending it with a warm bath.

00:01:55:04 – 00:02:10:04
Claudia
Today I welcome Sir Hashmi OBE and I’m really thrilled because you are already the second woman I have on this podcast that has the honor of being awarded with this title.

00:02:10:05 – 00:02:11:03
Sahar
Yes, exactly.

00:02:11:04 – 00:02:21:15
Claudia
I mean, it’s more than a title. It’s for your outstanding contributions to the British Empire and your colleagues, so to speak. Edwina Dunn has also been on this.

00:02:21:15 – 00:02:23:19
Sahar
Episode, who I admire very much.

00:02:23:20 – 00:02:50:11
Claudia
Oh, yeah. Me too. What an inspiration and trailblazer. Well, reading your CV makes me equally breathless and energized at the same time of what is all possible. You are not only a lawyer, but an entrepreneurial force and successful author of Anyone Can Do It, which I love. And I read that it’s the second highest selling book on entrepreneurship, after Richard Branson’s book.

00:02:50:11 – 00:02:51:03
Sahar
Yes.

00:02:51:05 – 00:03:02:23
Claudia
Which, of course is amazing. Brava! Thank you. And before we get into, you know, the pivotal moment and the turning point, which is what we are talking here on shift happens. I wanted to ask you a few questions.

00:03:03:02 – 00:03:05:06
Sahar
Of course. Please. Clearly.

00:03:05:08 – 00:03:08:23
Claudia
What is your current state of mind?

00:03:09:01 – 00:03:25:10
Sahar
Very, very, Positive, actually. Yeah. I could talk about seasons, but it’s the Christmas season. I absolutely love it. I can’t get enough of it. And I almost wish that they would stop that this time would stop really? Now? Because I just love it too much. I have to say. Yeah.

00:03:25:12 – 00:03:26:14
Claudia
What do you love about it?

00:03:26:16 – 00:03:44:03
Sahar
Oh, I just love the festive season. I love the lights. I love the spirit. I love everything being lit up to its full capacity and just everyone living life to the full capacity. Every restaurant you look in, someone’s celebrating. I was with your friend and she was saying, oh, God, I hate it. And I was like, how can you hate this?

00:03:44:03 – 00:03:52:20
Sahar
What is there to hate? Yes. And as I’m talking to you here, I’m looking at my own Christmas tree, glittering and sparkling. And I wish it was like this every day of the year.

00:03:52:22 – 00:04:01:01
Claudia
Yeah, yeah. Very uplifting, I agree. How would you describe your idea of perfect happiness?

00:04:01:03 – 00:04:25:13
Sahar
Perfect happiness, I suppose, is something I remember. Was my husband telling me, you know, someone to love and something to do. There was a third door, but I forgot what it was. But it is. When you get to have love in your life, I think. And you are fulfilled. And of course, you know, to be said, the gift of health.

00:04:25:13 – 00:04:29:06
Sahar
But, I can’t imagine anything better than that.

00:04:29:08 – 00:04:35:08
Claudia
Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Which living person do you most admire?

00:04:35:10 – 00:04:56:12
Sahar
Gosh, a strange one. Definitely not not not a person. There are little bits of so many people around, that I admire. Just anyone who’s just living life to the full and living fearlessly. And thank also social media, you know, we can sort of get a glimpse about into this. And so I always think kind of, you know, what role models.

00:04:56:12 – 00:05:07:06
Sahar
And I always think, you know, I probably have 100 role models and there’s bits of each of them that together make one whole, you know, incredible full force role model for me.

00:05:07:08 – 00:05:13:15
Claudia
Yeah. Well said.

00:05:13:17 – 00:05:45:18
Claudia
So you so busy. You are a serial entrepreneur. You started your first big business together with your brother Coffee Republic, which was the first US style coffee bar in the UK. And only after five years you exceeded all expectations and had about 110 bars and millions and millions and millions, up to 30 million pounds in turnover. And then you founded another brand, skinny Candy, a brand of sugar free candy.

00:05:45:20 – 00:06:10:12
Claudia
So do you just have too much energy or. I mean, this is amazing also because at a time, I mean, if the moment I think we talk a lot about female entrepreneurship, that’s right, about women in finance, about women creating wealth, female financial literacy is worked on. We are all still not at par, but you really were ahead of your time in this business.

00:06:10:14 – 00:06:19:07
Claudia
So how then did you come to embark on this even new thing which you described is your big recent pivot?

00:06:19:09 – 00:06:23:01
Sahar
As you mean a coffee republic or what I’ve done since?

00:06:23:02 – 00:06:24:03
Claudia
No, no, I mean yes.

00:06:24:03 – 00:06:47:13
Sahar
Did I say coffee? But I suppose was was my main pivot from my life as a lawyer into entrepreneurship. And I suppose that leap into entrepreneurship is sort of defined, what I’ve done since it’s been a very long time. So I sometimes feel embarrassed talking about something, which I did, back in the early 90s. So it’s really talking about the past.

00:06:47:15 – 00:07:12:00
Sahar
But in terms of it’s interesting thinking about it, that there weren’t that many women, especially in the UK. You know, I suppose I didn’t really know concept of business women as such, but I think maybe the biggest gift I got was from my parents, and specifically my mother. And maybe we were lucky back then that, you know, there was no social media.

00:07:12:02 – 00:07:51:19
Sahar
And so we weren’t aware of other people’s successes. So we lived a bit more into the tunnel of our own success and our own capacity. And I think the biggest gift I got for my parents from my parents was, the gift of self-belief because, self-belief and confidence is a really interesting thing, I think. And I know as parents, you know, parents struggle with how can I give my child self-belief and confidence was, you know, I don’t believe it’s something that that you can give someone you can’t tell someone they’re brilliant, you know, however much you tell your child how wonderful they are, that’s not going to make them confidence.

00:07:51:21 – 00:08:17:06
Sahar
I think what my parents probably, you know, got very early on, I don’t know how they got that. Was that actually self-belief is almost evidence based. You know, it’s something that it’s self credibility. So it’s actually genuinely proving to yourself that you can do it. So genuinely pushing the boundary, making yourself do it and then once you’ve done it you’re like, oh, I’m capable of that.

00:08:17:07 – 00:08:40:13
Sahar
And slowly you start to sort of chip away at self-doubt and you start growing your bank of sort of belief. And I think that’s really where, when I think of my, you know, 24 year old, 25 year old self that was embarking on entrepreneurship, it is because I had that bank of self-belief. You know, I just remember, you know, and I was not all academically strong in any way.

00:08:40:13 – 00:09:07:10
Sahar
And, you know, my school years weren’t weren’t the success I was kept getting rejected. You know, I would want to go to the best school in the girls school in England. In London. I would get rejected. I would want to, you know, go and study law at Oxford. I got rejected, but in a funny way, doing all of that and even getting rejected and then getting the next best thing, was slowly making me believe in this sort of old tunnel of mind, that I could actually do it.

00:09:07:13 – 00:09:27:20
Sahar
So when I think about it, it’s very interesting. It’s sort of much more myopic at that time because I wasn’t looking at anyone else. There was no one else I was following. I was following my own heart, and I had learned to follow my own heart. So I knew that when I was a lawyer, I wasn’t happy. So I just knew that every day when I went to the office, there was something.

00:09:27:20 – 00:09:55:16
Sahar
It was just like, oh, this just feels dreadful. I’m not using myself and I could see other people doing really well. I could see a lot of my contemporaries signing. And it was terrible feeling like I’m not signing. I’m not thriving as a person. I’m not, you know, I’m not playing to my strengths. So, so it was very, very much quite, quite much more myopic, you know, much more tunnel vision about myself and what my heart needed and what my soul needed for grace.

00:09:55:18 – 00:10:12:15
Sahar
Yeah. And I think we’ve got to be so much more aware of. You know what I mean? It’s just like what the outside world says. But our soul is always yearning for grace, for pushing ourselves beyond for a bit, for self-discovery, I suppose so. So that’s what I salute. Yeah.

00:10:12:16 – 00:10:21:22
Claudia
And thank you for that. And that’s why I think it’s important also to look at the past. Yeah, because it does pave the way right into the future. And you’ve said that in Covid.

00:10:21:22 – 00:10:22:09
Sahar
Yes.

00:10:22:09 – 00:10:48:07
Claudia
Where you had time like we all had and we were blessed to go through it, that that was another pivotal moment to think and rethink what would be next for you. And that would be great if you could elaborate a little bit, you know, how this new discovery came about and how you use this time of free space in the mind, because, as you said earlier, I mean, we all get so busy and busy and busy busy and then nothing new can flourish.

00:10:48:07 – 00:10:49:03
Claudia
Really?

00:10:49:05 – 00:11:10:21
Sahar
Exactly, exactly. And it was really, during Covid, I suppose, you know, like like every other country in the world. March 2020. Everything stopped. So, you know, and I was at that time very busy with speaking. I just my book starts up forever had just come out. So on the back of sort of entrepreneurship in large companies, I was very busy traveling, speaking.

00:11:11:02 – 00:11:27:15
Sahar
I remember I got back from a trip to Dublin and that was it, sort of, you know, it was like literally lockdown. Literally, figuratively and literally. And and I remember it was, it was that joke, if you remember, we used to make the whole time of, oh, you know, who’s going to write the bestselling book?

00:11:27:17 – 00:11:44:05
Sahar
That sort of thing was, are they just going to who’s going to you know, there was that pressure. I remember like some posts that this is meant to be your moment. And, I didn’t do any of this. I remember it just it was just it was funny. I don’t know how we all survived when we think about it really, all that time that we somehow did survive.

00:11:44:07 – 00:12:02:11
Sahar
And it was really only when I remember was in, November, where we had another lockdown in the UK again. And I remember thinking I had to have this, very minor foot operation, but it was had to mean that I couldn’t walk around much. And I remember thinking, well, this is the perfect time to actually have this kind of little bone on my foot straightened.

00:12:02:13 – 00:12:22:01
Sahar
And it was really that time that, you know, I had this and I just had some time to to just be still. And I do remember where I was at my house that was going through my Twitter feed. And often you could imagine when you go through your Twitter feed, your mind is just releasing so much stuff, so many tabs open right in our minds.

00:12:22:03 – 00:12:40:13
Sahar
And I remember I was, well, I was my foot in front of me. And I saw this tweet, and the tweet was, not all of us can invest in women. Not all of us can mentor women, but we can all buy from them. And I almost remember the light bulb. I remember the big message is like the sky set up.

00:12:40:13 – 00:13:00:17
Sahar
And I remember it was a really powerful energy. I felt actually, when I read that there was something that said something to me, and I remember immediately I, send an email to Thank God, now we’ve got proof of everything we do. I sent an email, to the person that wrote the tweet, who was a very powerful woman because actually the rockets, it was president of tech UK.

00:13:00:17 – 00:13:19:23
Sahar
And I said that was really powerful. But you said I’d never seen that before. That was really amazing. And I know, like how I got to say, maybe we sort of should start a movement around, you know, getting, getting people to buy from within the built businesses because there was a lot of conversation around raising money. There’s always that conversation, I’m sure, in every country but.

00:13:20:01 – 00:13:21:13
Claudia
Country and it’s never enough.

00:13:21:13 – 00:13:44:02
Sahar
Yeah. It’s never. And it was actually about like, that’s actually a really powerful thing to do. At the same time, with the UK, you know, I was very aware, of, of the sort of social media where it was trying to young girls in terms of their self-esteem. I remember myself, seeing one of those Kardashian girls, I think it was called Jenner or something.

00:13:44:04 – 00:14:10:03
Sahar
I, she had a lipstick business, and she was on the cover of Forbes as the first billionaire. And I thought, that’s a bit unfair because she hasn’t really started the lipstick business from scratch. The way an entrepreneur starts, she’s incredibly famous, incredibly hardworking. I’m not in any way discounting how much work it goes to become the stars that these girls are, but she’s given her name from a hard work in another area to a brand, and that’s why has created the brand.

00:14:10:03 – 00:14:29:19
Sahar
She hasn’t sort of built it from the ground up, the way I feel about friendship, and I actually thought of myself that time that had she been the sort of role model on the cover of Forbes, I would have never started a business. Because I assumed either you start and in six months you’re on the cover of Forbes or, you know, you just can’t.

00:14:29:19 – 00:14:51:06
Sahar
So it’s like about kind of that idea of, you know, that there was this sort of element of grit or grime in there. It was just immediate sort of overnight success. And so anyway, sort of had all these underlying sort of stem issues around women. And I’d been involved in a report that said that in the UK we have 30% less entrepreneurship than we have in another country, female entrepreneurship.

00:14:51:08 – 00:14:57:16
Sahar
So the undercurrent of a million things rolling in my head, culminated in this tweet as often in life things.

00:14:57:16 – 00:14:59:18
Claudia
Do made sense and connected them.

00:14:59:21 – 00:15:20:18
Sahar
All made sense with one thing, right? So the opposite in ideas and forever. I’ve been wanting to write books about female entrepreneurship. The other day I was looking something in my file I found, you know, literally book proposals I’ve written, 20 years ago that came to nothing, which often shows you in life it’s just things take much, much longer than you ever think.

00:15:20:18 – 00:15:40:14
Sahar
They would take much longer. And you never know. Like. And then in some random way, it all comes together. Which is why you should never stop dreaming. And it’s just all eventually comes around in its own perfect way. Yeah, it was, I believe so, yeah. So that was really when I sort of decided to start by women built, the movement that I’m quite proud of.

00:15:40:14 – 00:16:03:23
Sahar
I at that time, at the purposes of the tweet, didn’t want to sort of get involved, you know, just not the right time for her. And so I contacted someone called Bonnie McAuley, a man, actually, who I knew who was a real genius in marketing. And him and I talked about purpose and doing something with others. I just sent them a random email like, hey, we haven’t, you know, seen each other for a while, but I remember we chatted about purpose.

00:16:03:23 – 00:16:23:09
Sahar
I’ve got this one idea about starting a movement. Are you interested? Took up a few days and he wrote back to me, said, yeah, I think it’s really brilliant and really him. And I started just having zooms and Covid. And just coming up with this idea that was exciting and creative and he was incredible because it really helped with the name of just being actionable.

00:16:23:09 – 00:16:37:07
Sahar
And you know, coming up with the logo, coming up with what we want to do. And it took a long, long time with nothing happening. And I remember thinking, oh, this is just how many zooms can I have? It’s a great idea, but how do you start a movement? You know, sort of.

00:16:37:08 – 00:16:38:12
Claudia
How do you start a movement?

00:16:38:12 – 00:16:53:23
Sahar
Yeah, yeah, I sort of the world is a sort of graveyard for people’s brilliant ideas that never come to anything, especially when ideas are big. And then actually, Bonnie, he forced me. He said, you know what? What you’ve got to do is just start a WhatsApp group. And I was like, you know, how do I stop big WhatsApp groups?

00:16:54:00 – 00:17:11:21
Sahar
I just started one by one. And I remember in, February 2022, I had like, I got one person in the WhatsApp group going to start with one person. I was like, I’m starting a movement. Would you like to come in? Yeah. Bless them. I remember I never forget the second you came on in the starting a movement with three people.

00:17:11:21 – 00:17:14:07
Claudia
Believe that counts. Yes. Fantastic.

00:17:14:07 – 00:17:38:13
Sahar
Yeah. And then I was like, hey, I’ve got three people on this WhatsApp group. Four people, five people. So now, we’ve got, you know, sort of under two, 3000, kind of founders. We’ve moved to a whole community tool, you know, with changing the way retailers are thinking about built businesses in the UK, we did our big, collab with Ocado, the UK’s biggest online supermarket.

00:17:38:15 – 00:17:57:03
Sahar
So yeah, it’s suddenly the movement has got momentum, but it’s taken a long time and it’s always my advice to people that actually things take time, you and I, for for an idea to start getting traction. It’s a lot of time until it gets momentum, but you’ve just got to start somewhere.

00:17:57:05 – 00:18:25:05
Claudia
That’s really brilliant. And what do you think mostly attracted the female founders to come together in this movement because you know it’s a difficult market. I just spoke with venture capitalists last week in Germany. But she said you know, 1.8% of capital is going towards women founded businesses. Yeah. I mean, it’s shocking. So I can imagine that there’s also somehow a weird competition factor maybe in there.

00:18:25:05 – 00:18:33:03
Claudia
But what do you think really brings women together? And the important factor I also find is how to celebrate each other.

00:18:33:04 – 00:18:47:17
Sahar
Yeah. No, it’s very interesting actually, because, you know, I never intended even to bring them together. I just wanted to start a consumer movement. And so when I got these sweet people on the WhatsApp, like on the 3rd of January, I then said, oh, I think we should have a coffee because there were 15 of us on the WhatsApp.

00:18:47:19 – 00:19:07:22
Sahar
And I remember Anya Hindmarsh, a handbag designer who was a good friend. She just opened the Idea Cafe and she sweetly said, you know what? I’ll host your coffee morning. And these 15 women who weren’t friends before just met on the WhatsApp group. We arrived at the coffee morning, and then I was like, this is really weird.

00:19:07:22 – 00:19:29:04
Sahar
What’s happening? I could suddenly see this magic because I could suddenly see that, you know, they don’t know each other. And yet they had so much in common because they all take an idea and started a business. So however different the businesses were in fashion, health and beauty, food. It was just somehow they said so much and yet they were so different.

00:19:29:06 – 00:19:46:10
Sahar
And then they sort of chatting and they didn’t know each other. And I was like, I can’t believe you guys know each other. You’ve never met before. And then they sort of just felt really invigorated because there was stuff that they could say to each other that they couldn’t say to their other half or to their friends. I remember thinking that that’s something really special.

00:19:46:10 – 00:20:11:23
Sahar
That was really magic. And of course, what we always forget is actually women. The stupid idea. We’ve always had that, oh, good. Networking happens in golf clubs and women doing that work. You know, chatting is actually the female superpower. You know, if we’re in trouble, you know, men go to cave women in chat. Yeah. And the chatting is the soothing, the chatting is the chatting is the catharsis in a way.

00:20:12:01 – 00:20:12:21
Claudia
Yes.

00:20:12:23 – 00:20:35:08
Sahar
You know, it’s sort of that’s the therapy. Yeah. And that’s why. And then that one slowly and then the next coffee morning was, you know, 35 people and then a 50, and then we just read like, this is amazing. Then they started interacting with each other, sharing, caring and realizing actually, it’s not at all, you know, sharp elbows or in any way competition with each other.

00:20:35:08 – 00:21:01:13
Sahar
And we have, you know, some of the UK’s biggest, say, laundry brands all together on a WhatsApp college and France all together on a WhatsApp. And yeah, absolutely not. Because, you know, they’ve got this mindset, I think of, of an open heart and everyone’s just, you know, on their own journey, really staying in their own lane in the most beautiful way and yet sharing, giving back, getting so much energy, the support from each other.

00:21:01:15 – 00:21:07:13
Claudia
That’s beautiful. And so you started basically two years ago, two, almost three years ago.

00:21:07:19 – 00:21:09:05
Sahar
Yes, exactly.

00:21:09:11 – 00:21:11:06
Claudia
And this expanded and.

00:21:11:06 – 00:21:27:19
Sahar
Then it’s expanded. Exactly. Then sort of then we thought actually the WhatsApp group is getting very crowded. And then we had because at the beginning it was very much the bigger businesses that I was attracting that we were attracting. And then, we realized there were all these other founders who wanted to come in and they’re like some of them, many smaller businesses.

00:21:27:19 – 00:21:49:10
Sahar
So we then moved to this community apps and learning how to set up a kind of community tool, the under the umbrella where they can all share and swap ideas for suppliers that they like, supplies that they don’t like. So now we’ve got so, you know, there’s a 2000, not like 3000. I kind of have done my latest numbers, in this community app really and sharing.

00:21:49:10 – 00:22:11:00
Sahar
And we have events and we have incredible, you know, corporate partners who I spoke to very early on and who just love what we do. So they’re on the journey with us. And, no, it’s incredible. It’s just it’s kind of the purpose has just been amazing. I mean, I just kind of. If I was to read a Christmas card, for you on, like, kind of the.

00:22:11:00 – 00:22:31:07
Sahar
I just got, like, from someone saying, I just received it actually, but I. Can I be there for you? Yes. I just got it this morning. TSR it’s been a fantastic year being purchased by women built community. It’s been a dream for a girl who doesn’t know proper English, but embarked on a journey from China to England 16 years ago.

00:22:31:09 – 00:22:44:02
Sahar
Thank you for creating this safe and warm space for me and my company. You’ve showed me what’s possible for a woman and how wonderful the future can be. Thank you with all my heart. Oh, yeah. It’s lovely.

00:22:44:07 – 00:22:46:18
Claudia
Yeah, beautiful. It’s beautiful.

00:22:46:18 – 00:23:05:22
Sahar
Yeah, it’s really, really lovely. And I just got another one about, you know, self-confidence and and it’s just, it means the world to me. And I haven’t had my own children. I lost my mum. So my whole maternal sort of side is. And yet I, you know, kind of one always wonders about purpose and whether I’m making a difference.

00:23:05:22 – 00:23:10:21
Sahar
And just something like this, just for one person, it’s just. Yeah. It’s so. Yeah.

00:23:10:21 – 00:23:25:10
Claudia
So your personal experience of this move into this new endeavor a few years ago really has to do with finding purpose. Yeah. And it’s a warmth and strength of connection, of meaningful connection. Right?

00:23:25:12 – 00:23:57:13
Sahar
Yeah. I mean, I was actually reading something quite interesting, and it was from a breast guru. You know, we all learning how to breathe, which is it’s a sort of funny thing. I said, we all need to know how to breathe rather than just breathe, but we do. And, I remember him saying actually that we think creativity is about coming up with something, whereas I think creativity is almost just it’s just kind of channeling this creative energy that we have and that if you don’t channel it, it’s sort of gets stuck and kind of you feel you’re stuck, you feel like you’re congested through.

00:23:57:13 – 00:24:19:22
Sahar
And I think once you’ve been quite in tune with that creative energy, if you feel if you’re not moving it out and if you have a channel for it, I think that’s that’s what, you know, I think for me, you know, having left school for public, which was incredibly creative, I really, really missed it. And writing books and speaking of stuff, pretty creative, but not really in that, you know, really pushing yourself and having to come up with solutions.

00:24:19:22 – 00:24:42:02
Sahar
And, I have the most wonderful team again. And now I went built and I used to have a great team across the public, but I was too young to realize, yeah, when you’ve got that super creative, entrepreneurial team, how precious that is. So I’m able to do it again now in my 50s, and that’s like a real honor that I feel like it’s like a gift being given to me to be able to do it again.

00:24:42:05 – 00:25:03:00
Sahar
Yeah, I maybe, you know, a lot of everything I speak about and everything I wrote in my book starts up forever about what not to do when a company gets big, what to hold on to. Very dearly. I now practice that, and I hold on very dearly to what I’ve got, and would never lose that cluelessness and creativity that I have in my team.

00:25:03:02 – 00:25:07:12
Sahar
And just, I just nurture it the whole time. So we never become a sort of know at all in a way.

00:25:07:12 – 00:25:11:13
Claudia
Yeah. Wonderful. So you’re really coming full circle with all this?

00:25:11:13 – 00:25:27:03
Sahar
Yes, very much coming for us. And I remember people thinking, oh God. I was like, yes. And I was like, kind of, oh God, I can’t believe, I would get a chance to do it again. And I didn’t really want to sort of it wasn’t really sort of starting a business again. You should always feel like I’ve been there, done that twice, that going.

00:25:27:05 – 00:25:46:01
Sahar
And this is just amazing. I really feel it’s been a real gift given to me. And for me, it’s a sort of not for profit. You know, it’s not a commercial venture for me. And, it’s very liberating because I just go back to my joy and go back to my heart always. I center everyone back to our North Star.

00:25:46:02 – 00:25:55:06
Sahar
That what we’re really doing here is, is, is helping. It’s just it’s just notes like this. Yeah. Which, you know, just show us that I.

00:25:55:06 – 00:25:58:01
Claudia
Love that it’s a movement and that you stick to it.

00:25:58:04 – 00:26:15:05
Sahar
Yes, exactly. That’s right, that’s right. Exactly. And it’s funny way, like just as an example, there was a wonderful guy called Davis Spinks about community in America and Myanmar. The head of community thought, let’s just have a 1 to 1 session with them. It’s quite expensive for like one hour on zoom. And we were like, you know, how do you make community?

00:26:15:05 – 00:26:32:10
Sahar
And and then he was like, just he needed to pause. And he was like, just, just go back to your joy. You know, you started a movement. You know, don’t kind of get too stuck in the community angle. Remember the movement and the movement by definition, when you say it has got momentum, it’s got slow, right? It’s got energy running through it.

00:26:32:10 – 00:26:39:18
Claudia
Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. So where is this movement flowing towards to what’s next in it.

00:26:39:19 – 00:27:09:01
Sahar
Oh yeah. I mean, what’s wonderful is I was just thinking and reading something about as the new year approaches that I’ve now learned that actually, especially perhaps with the level of power or knowledge disruption, whatever I is bringing for us, I feel like I can’t even write the next six months of it, because the way the world is moving our little brains, my little brain can never come up with this is the goal because it’ll be so limited.

00:27:09:01 – 00:27:27:18
Sahar
It’ll be limited to my little human brain when there’s so much intelligence outside. So in a way, what what I tell my teams is we’re really against planning. And it feels like, is there a plan? No. And everyone’s become comfortable that we just don’t plan and we just sort of see what’s next. And what’s next is always amazing.

00:27:27:18 – 00:27:50:14
Sahar
And when it comes, we just grab it with both hands and go with it. And then what next comes in a way, so much more like, because I used to be such a plan. You wanted me. I couldn’t wait to Christmas to end and start writing my goals, and it was just so limiting. I now realize, you know, whereas there’s sort of, I really believe a little bit of synchronicity that if we go with the slow up the universe, it.

00:27:50:14 – 00:27:51:00
Claudia
Shows up.

00:27:51:01 – 00:28:20:09
Sahar
You know, like many more things go, go with us. Right? Than, than sometimes we get in our own way. And this is about allowing, I think what and wanting things. So I’m in a very much a state of allowing with, by, with built just seeing and I mean you know with the superstars team I’ve got there, they’re always thinking of things, but I just don’t let any of my little brain and my little goals get in the way of, of of a movement, as you say, with a much bigger than, than anything I can ever envisage.

00:28:20:11 – 00:28:32:02
Claudia
Yeah. Fantastic. Beautiful. And how in this, you know, complex and busy time do you wind down?

00:28:32:04 – 00:28:47:03
Sahar
I’m I’m pretty. Good, I think. Good winding down because I have this sort of concept, which I, if I work from home or if I, if I work in the office. I used to work on home. Actually, I’ve forgotten that I not work for days a week. And the office is so new for me, having a team, so I’m not leaving, you said.

00:28:47:05 – 00:29:06:22
Sahar
But I very much have this idea that I get home every other day, you know, sort of, you know, I do some weight training. Then I have a bath and then I have time with my husband, with my dog, with my girlfriends. The day has to end with a warm bath and, you know, getting to a different frame of mind.

00:29:06:23 – 00:29:10:22
Sahar
Yeah, a real break until the morning starts again. Yeah.

00:29:10:23 – 00:29:19:08
Claudia
So do you have a problem with getting energized or are you always running on high speed. So that that’s not really an issue.

00:29:19:10 – 00:29:40:05
Sahar
Yes I mean no no no problem. Good. I mean basically my morning starts with I have one single espresso and I take my, my little dog who’s here next to me, out for a walk in the park. And then I come back out of the established process so God knows what I did. If I did, you know what level I’d be out of energy and headache if I didn’t have the three espressos in the morning.

00:29:40:07 – 00:30:03:07
Sahar
But, no, not at all. I always feel energized. I think that’s why. Yeah, I’m so happy to found something to channel my energy, because I have much more energy. And it’s very been a sort of definition of unhappiness. When your energy that you have is not being channeled somewhere. Right. And that’s really coming back to your first question, I suppose that that would be the definition of happiness.

00:30:03:07 – 00:30:09:13
Sahar
Is that all that energy, all that love you’ve got has got somewhere to go to. Right.

00:30:09:15 – 00:30:34:18
Claudia
That was a beautiful glimpse into exciting life I think. Yeah. And what you’ve said about finding your purpose and creating the purpose, but also doing so not by looking outward but but looking inward and looking what brings you actually joy and passion I love that it’s very encouraging because what I’m doing comes from that point.

00:30:34:22 – 00:30:35:13
Sahar
Good.

00:30:35:13 – 00:30:45:13
Claudia
But I’m also realizing how slow things are moving and how how things, take time. So it’s really a labor of love, right? Yeah.

00:30:45:13 – 00:30:56:03
Sahar
And we all do have to remind. And do you know that things take time. And I have to remind myself, you know, when we get frustrated that, you know, things take time. Yeah. Much longer than you think, you know. Yeah.

00:30:56:03 – 00:31:11:15
Claudia
And one last question I wanted to ask you, by women built, is there like a category that people really go for when they look to buy products made by women from women founders, or is it across the board equally distributed?

00:31:11:16 – 00:31:28:23
Sahar
Yeah, it’s actually across the board, very much like it’s quite surprisingly, we’re very equally divided for food, drink, health and beauty, you know, home and fashion. So but in real consumer products. Right. And they say that if the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female, because women are, you know, the world’s consumers. You know what I mean?

00:31:28:23 – 00:31:40:04
Sahar
They they buy 81% of, you know, kind of consumption of shopping is made by women. So, yeah, yeah, they’ve got a really good eye and they’ve got a really good lens for what will work.

00:31:40:04 – 00:31:44:21
Claudia
Yeah. Most spending power. Exactly. Influential group especially if 45 plus.

00:31:44:21 – 00:31:45:15
Sahar
Exactly. Yeah.

00:31:45:16 – 00:31:46:03
Claudia
Exactly.

00:31:46:03 – 00:31:54:07
Sahar
Yeah. So that’s why it’s sort of that you know they come up products, they they meet themselves that don’t exist. Yeah. And that’s of course the definition of innovation.

00:31:54:09 – 00:31:59:05
Claudia
Yeah it is. Let’s stick to the women. Thank you so very much for your time.

00:31:59:06 – 00:32:01:09
Sahar
Oh my God thank you I loved it.

00:32:01:09 – 00:32:07:03
Claudia
This was really lovely. And enjoy the remaining days up until Christmas.

00:32:07:03 – 00:32:08:22
Sahar
Gets you too. Exactly.

00:32:08:22 – 00:32:13:10
Claudia
I’m going to pick up my big, rest now. I’m a little late, but. But it’s.

00:32:13:14 – 00:32:16:04
Sahar
Oh my God. Yes, you are late. Oh, really?

00:32:16:04 – 00:32:21:08
Claudia
Exactly what can we do? But it’s coming, love. All right. Love. All the best to you.

00:32:21:08 – 00:32:22:15
Sahar
Lovely to meet you.

00:32:22:15 – 00:32:36:18
Claudia
Bye bye. Bye bye. You.

00:32:36:20 – 00:33:06:19
Claudia
This was a whirlwind conversation. Sahara’s energy is infectious. And I loved what she said about never giving up on an idea, a project, a dream, knowing that it all comes together in its own imperfect way. And that things take time, trust the flow. And by women, build one an impactful way to connect and support women and entrepreneurs. Thank you for listening to Shift Happens.

00:33:06:21 – 00:33:35:18
Claudia
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to my podcast and follow me on Instagram at Shift Happens Dot podcast. Don’t be shy and reach out if you have a person who you think I should be in conversation with, or an idea for a relevant topic, you can contact me at claudia@claudiamahler.com or via Instagram. Shift happens has been created and is hosted by me.

00:33:35:20 – 00:33:49:19
Claudia
Claudia Mahler editing Andy Boroson, social media Magda Reckendrees. I hope you felt connected and heard by listening to shift happens.