Sara Al Madani is a serial entrepreneur, an ambitious businesswoman, and forever a student in the school of life. This single mum is also a public speaker with a background in film directing and acting. She exclusively tells Cosmo ME that she’s “not your typical Emirati girl. I have tattoos and piercings. People often put me in a box, but the more you judge the less room there is to love.” Intrigued? So were we.
We chatted with Sara to dive deeper into her life. Turns out, she’s the big sister we all need.
Risk taker
Sara is no stranger to risks, adversity, and taking chances. She tells us her proudest achievement is “surviving two bankruptcies.” Sara shares with us that she’s “opened seven companies in fields where she had no knowledge and experience.” She’s a fast learner due to the fact she had quite a few responsibilities and was forced to grow up at a young age. Sara tells us she “opened her first business when she was only 15 years old.”
Unshakeable
“What I love about myself is that I’m a risk-taker. It’s allowed me to unlock so many doors and discover my potential and my talents. What I can and cannot do in life. I’ve got one shot to discover myself and to do what I love to do.”
When asked to describe herself, Sara says she’s “ambitious, kind, and hard-working.” Funny she says that because those are the qualities she loves about Dubai. She notes that she “admires the vision of the UAE’s leaders and the competitive spirit of Dubai. It’s a land of opportunity and easy to be somebody here.” Sounds like she’s aligned.
Mindset over everything
Sara tells us that “being a female in male-dominant industries like technology and automotive may seem intimidating, but it’s not. If you believe gender is your problem, then every time you face a problem where gender is involved, you will feel weak. If you program your mind to not see it as a problem, then it won’t bother you. If people try to make you uncomfortable or tell you there’s no chair for you at this table because it’s a man’s world, you don’t wait for someone to hand you that chair. You grab it yourself.”
One-stop beauty shop
When we asked Sara about her beauty routine, she tells us that “as I’m getting older, I’m enjoying my skincare routine.” She confesses that in her younger years, she “didn’t want to do her face routine.” But now? She laughs as she says, “I think as we age, we realise we need it more than it needs us.”
For makeup, she is 100% dedicated to Huda Beauty. Sara says, “It has everything I need at the level of quality I want.” She reflects that a lot of brands will have a great mascara but perhaps lack in the blush department. Huda Beauty, however, is her one-stop-shop for everything because all the products are excellent. Sara remarks that “Huda and Mona Kattan have been her friends since she was only 14 years old. It’s important to me to support my friends through their ambitious journey. I would never promote a product that doesn’t work so trust me if I’m saying it here, it works.”
Not everyone’s cup of tea
Rejection hasn’t always come easily to Sara and it took her a while to wrap her head around exactly why some people didn’t like her. She often thought to herself that she’s nice, kind, and sweet, so why wouldn’t they like her? Nowadays, she tells us after “being rejected so many times, by both business and people, I’m fine with it. Rejection is finally getting a firm “no.” Prior to knowing that it’s a “no”, your mind will play a lot of games with you.”
She says it took her “years to learn and accept that not everyone will love her…and that’s completely normal”. Thanks to life coaching, therapy, and her quest to become the best version of herself, nowadays she’s okay with knowing that she’s not everyone’s cup of tea. She says it’s one of the “cool parts of being human.”
What’s next?
Sara is launching another business, and this time dabbling in the beauty world. Her upcoming cruelty-free and organic skincare brand, Kind and Co, not only makes skin look amazing, but it also “won’t work on people who aren’t kind.” The Kind and Co brand is built on spreading awareness about kindness.
We can’t wait to purchase some of our own.