Introducing Roula Sijaan, a multifaceted expert and the Founder and CEO of Serene For Her, an elegant women’s fashion brand offering elegant wear along with spiritual products designed to sync with life energies. With the motto of growing Serene to a healing, mental awareness, and guided meditation center, Roula Sijaan’s main mission is to make this world a kinder and better place.
In this interview, Roula Sijaan speaks about her career journey and her path of professional journey, factors that inspired her to start her company, unique approaches and services, the role of technology in her industry, and her upcoming professional plans.
The Beginning
We started the interview by asking, “Could you describe your career journey and the pivotal experiences that shaped your path to becoming a leader in your industry?”
Roula Sijaan shared, “At 19 years old, I graduated with a Bachelor of Management Information Systems and Networking. Back then, I had paved my path in the IT Industry where I relocated to Dubai and specialized in Cloud Applications. On the side, I was certified in bodybuilding so I was practicing this as a side job. I remember my ambition made me work 15-16 hours a day. In 2018, at the age of 24, I was the co-founder of an F&B healthy restaurant in Dubai. Yet this wasn’t fulfilling my soul.
This is where I decided to take another position as an Account Executive in one of the giant leading IT companies in Dubai, this role has shaped my personality and growth to another level. Post Covid, I have established my brand on the side ‘Serene’. This is where I completely found what my soul is after. Helping Others become the best versions of themselves through healing and a balanced lifestyle.
Serene was founded in 2022. It’s a fashion holistic brand and the idea is to grow to a healing, mental awareness, and guided meditation center while having the retail part of the concept. You intentionally are what makes you a leader. Have a clear intention in life and work to deliver based on the intention.”
Evolving Vision Of Roula
We were curious to learn more about the changing perspective of Roula Sijaan towards her business. So, we asked, “As your company has grown and faced various challenges, how has your original vision evolved to meet these changes?”
Roula Sijaan shared, “Change is essential, I mean in any industry and anything you do in life. If you continue to do the same workout every day you will see no growth. Growth comes by adapting to changes that arise from challenges. The idea is just not to stop, it’s all about discipline.”
An Untapped Potential
We further asked, “Looking at the horizon, which emerging trend do you believe is undervalued but will significantly impact your industry in the next few years?”
Roula Sijaan continued, “Healing and Awakening; in today’s world, the main focus is money and power. The roots of being connected to your soul are fading. We are living in a very fast-paced life that makes us disconnected from what humanity is and how a human can feel happiness and peace by practicing small things daily. I want to vocalize my voice to shed light on so many important aspects that a lot are either ignoring or unaware of. Recently I have created my new channel @rs.talks that will be podcasting topics, stories, and facts on the above.”
Spark Behind The Company
To learn more about the factors that influenced Roula Sijaan to establish her brand, we asked, “Was there a specific moment when you identified an unmet need in the market that inspired you to start your venture? How did you turn that idea into reality?”
Roula Sijaan shared, “To be honest, it wasn’t an unmet need, it was more of what spiritual added value can I bring to the society. If you look at Serene, you will see empathy, kindness, elegance, peace, etc. Won’t be listing all our values but our main mission is to make this world a kinder, more peaceful place via building communities with the same interests.”
Assessment Of The Right Strategy
To adapt to all the latest trends and developments in the market, it is crucial to correctly assess the strategy. So, we asked, “In the transforming environment of your industry, how do you assess when it’s time to pivot your strategy versus when to stay the course?”
Roula Sijaan replied, “Our strategy is always adjusted based on competition, customer feedback, and fashion trends. Yet, we are always making sure that those adjustments won’t impact or leave a change on the main intention and mission of the brand.”
Setting Roula’s Business Apart
Eager to learn how Roula Sijaan sets her business apart from the competition, we inquired, “With so many players in your field, how does your service offering distinguish itself? Could you share the inspiration behind one of your key services?”
“As a Fashion-Holistic brand, we don’t have a lot of direct competition. Our competitors are either practicing fashion or holistic services but not both together. Our main differentiator though is the quality & tailored products. Giving an example of our home sprays, they are 100% tailored to impact your mood based on the energy state you are in. We want our customers to feel the healing experience through our products, thus; we make sure to leave them feeling at Zen after product usage.” She replied.
An Impactful Role
Technology is playing a vital role in reshaping every industry. So, we asked, “How is technology playing a role in helping your company move forward?”
Roula Sijaan replied, “This is a very good question, being an account executive for Enterprise Accounts in UAE and leading their digital transformation, then being an Entrepreneur for my own business always leaves me in this confusion of budget distribution especially when being a complete start-up at 2 years old. Yet I can say the team has done a great job in our back-office strength & customer experience interaction. We invest a lot in our presence on social media. 2025 will be the year where even our website will be led by AI.”
Positioning To Flourish
Lastly, addressing the query of how Roula Sijaan believes to flourish her business in the upcoming years, we asked, “As we look into the future, faced with both opportunities and uncertainties, how are you positioning your company to not just survive but flourish?”
Roula Sijaan concluded, “We are planning to shift our presence from e-commerce on the ground, giving the customer a full experience of our services. This is what we believe will be the game changer for us.”
Follow Roula Sijaan on LinkedIn.
Find Serene For Her on Instagram and visit their website http://www.sereneforher.com.
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