I have known Reem for approximately 7 years now. At one time, she was my direct manager, however, now she continues to be my mentor and coach.
From the moment I met Reem, I instantly felt such warmth and strength from her. We met in a group induction and I beelined for her as soon as I got a chance. She had such a presence about her but what stood out the most was her genuine desire for people to succeed.
Working for many years for various blue chip companies, I always struggled to connect with many women, in senior roles, within my industry. This experience was never inspiring for me and, as a result, I never really felt myself flourish within my workplace.
When I met Reem, she had such a nurturing, empowering approach, I think it was the first time I had experienced someone who genuinely seemed to want to make a difference to my career not focused on how I was going to achieve the companies success.
From that first conversation that I had with Reem, she was so open, thoughtful and encouraging. She really listened to me and had an exceptional way of understanding what it was that made me 'tick'. From that moment on, all of her guidance and advise assisted me to make substantial improvements within my workplace and allowed me to set achievable goals, and to experience a greater level of success than ever before.
Reem coached me from a mediocre sales representative, who simply coasted along, refining me to a highly capable, eloquent account manager with an ability to see opportunity where there was none before. Beyond her role as my direct manager, she has continued to coach and develop me in the various roles that I have moved into. She genuinely cares in seeng people being the best that they can be even.
I look back on who I was personally and professionally before I met Reem and she most definitely has 'polished' me into the person that I am today. I now experience amazing success, in a role that I absolutely adore, and this has directly come from the guidance and advice that was offered to me by Reem.
In my experience, it is not often in corporate structures that someone comes along with such passion and drive to develop the individual succeed. Reem understands and believes that the success of the whole is imminent when individual success is a priority.
Kellie Nealon