Happy International Women’s Day 🩷

Here’s what I’m thinking about today: us. This community. And the particular kind of strength it takes to be a working mum in a week like this one.

This past week, in the Middle East region, we navigated something most of us never expected. Missiles intercepted overhead. Emergency alerts going off on our phones. Kids at home on holiday with no school to send them to. Loved ones unable to fly back as UAE airspace closed (it is open now, thankfully!). And children asking questions about sounds that we never expected to have to explain.

And for those of you watching from further away - holding your breath for friends and family in the region, following the news with a knot in your stomach - that is its own kind of weight to carry.

And yet, here we are. We got up every morning. We made the breakfast. We held our kids a little closer. We answered the questions as best we could. We showed up for our work, our clients, our families, while quietly processing our own fears.

We are safe, and we are deeply grateful to the UAE leadership for how they have handled this extraordinary week. I feel genuinely lucky to call this place home.

But feeling safe doesn’t mean pretending this isn’t happening. We cannot ignore what’s unfolding around us, and we shouldn’t have to.

Because here’s the thing about being a working mum - there is no pause button. The mental load doesn’t lighten because the world outside feels heavy. There are still meals to make, deadlines to meet, and small people who are looking to us to know how to feel. Our kids are watching us far more closely than we realise. They’re taking their cues from how we show up.

And we show up. Every single time.

Choosing not to spiral when the world outside feels like it is, that’s not weakness. That’s not denial. That is motherhood. That is strength.

So today, on International Women’s Day, I don’t want to talk about hustle or ambition. I want to celebrate this → the unglamorous, invisible, extraordinary thing we do every day. The version of female strength that holds everything together when things get hard and rarely gets acknowledged.

We are more resilient than we know. And I am so proud to be in this community with you.

Happy International Women’s Day.

With love,

Abha xx