A couple weeks ago one of the guys on my team approached me about attending a tech conference here in Riyadh. I’m not the biggest fan of conferences because it often ends up being a bunch of publishers and individuals just trying to sell themselves. Plus, it’s forced interaction when I’d usually rather be introverted. But since I’m a visitor here I didn’t want to seem ungrateful so I graciously accepted the invite. And I’m so glad I did. There were some good panels and speakers that I did learn from, but the discussions and one-on-one chats I had are the most memorable. The extraordinary women I met made it two of the most interesting days I’ve spent in Riyadh.
I arrived at the conference on my own. The guys were stuck in client meetings and would arrive later. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. How conservative or progressive this would be? Would I have to use my Arabic? After I found the right area of the hotel (all of the signs were in Arabic, naturally), got checked in, and walked the floor, I decided I’d duck into one of the rooms to listen to a panel. It was then when I saw a distinct cultural difference that I wouldn’t have experienced back home - the conference rooms had partitions, separating the men from the women. I know, it seems bizarre to you!
The first session I attended was in Arab-ish (Arabic and English). Fortunately Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud spoke mostly in English so I could somewhat pick up on what they’re talking about – discussing the dominance of males in business in KSA. You may remember Princess Reema from one of my early posts. She’s a huge womens' advocate in KSA. Her presence was serendipitous and set the tone for my experience at this conference.
The skew towards addressing the men was so noticeable that a female Marketing Manager at IBM, heading up Watson customer engagement in the ME, made a point to say that she was going to stand on the women’s side of the room so that we could actually see her. The gentleman who spoke before her never crossed the partition. In his defense, he's French and was probably concerned about getting in trouble. I liked her sass though and I made a point of asking a question during Q&A so she had some female support. We ended up chatting after her session, which led to an introduction with Lara who is the only woman running a media agency in KSA. Amazing! We bonded over being mamas and our Chicago connections. As I knew no other women there, she was kind enough to join me for lunch. Yes, even lunch was segregated. I know, these are hard concepts for you all grasp.
Over the two days I would meet Tuba who is a self-made business woman and entrepreneur who went through two tumultuous marriages, fought for her children and her career before finding true love with her current husband. She now fights for women’s rights and is changing legislation in KSA. I also met Julia who heads up the center for middle eastern studies at Cal Berkeley. Reem who is Egyptian and emigrated to the US when she was five but returned to Egypt to pursue her journalism career and just in time to cover the revolution back in 2011. She’s now the managing editor of a business news site. And I actually met two Saudi women working for Aramco, engineers by education, but now focused on Aramco’s business incubator and scouting out new technology to invest in. There was an un-communicated solidarity among the women. They have worked hard to become educated, to break into their respective fields, and compete with men who are often less educated and less experienced.
Even though I didn’t really want to attend, I’m grateful I went to this conference. I’m grateful I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to engage with these accomplished and inspiring women that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. It’s situations like this that will make one think “What have I been doing with my life? Am I making the most of my talents? What can I be doing differently? Wait, I can do this!” I needed this inspirational kick-in-the-bum. The last month has brought some career challenges and stressful uncertainty, which I will share another time. As 2017 comes to a close I’ve been giving a lot of thought to things – family, work, my well-being, this blog – and change is most certainly coming. What exactly I’m not entirely sure, but you know I’ll be sharing it with you as I figure it out. The unknown is scary, but if I've learned anything from all of my challenges - and now these women - is that I can take it on. Here's to everyone finding some inspiration to kick-off the new year! Cheers!! xo
