Finding your tribe in Dubai w/ Women Who Thrive (Sue & Achasah)

In this episode, we sit down with Sue and Achasah, the founders of Women Who Thrive, to explore what it really takes to build and sustain a meaningful community in Dubai. They share honest insights into the challenges, mistakes, and defining decisions that shaped their journey, as well as how they found their own sense of community while growing a purpose-driven platform.

We also dive into practical advice on connection, leadership, and personal growth - what it means to create spaces where people genuinely feel seen, supported, and inspired to thrive.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today, our guests are Sue and Toska, the founders of Women Who Thrive, one of the Divides leading women's wellness communities. Over the last five years, they've built an incredible space where women can connect, grow, and truly feel supported in this city. They've been featured in Time of Divide and were just named winners of the Epilon Hot 100 for 2026. Today we're going to talk about how they built this community from scratch, what it really takes to thrive in Dubai, and the vision they have for what's next.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

So thank you for being here, guys. So can you please tell me a little bit about how you guys started Women Who Thrive and what was the problem that you guys were trying to solve?

SPEAKER_02 0:36

I mean, when we first started, I don't think we were trying to solve any problem at all when we first started.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Well, you say that, but you came to me and you said, uh, I had a conversation with my friends, you went out for dinner, and around the table, everyone was like, someone first said, Do you know what I'm not okay? And then it had a ripple effect, and everyone was supporting each other.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

So maybe it wasn't so so much of a it wasn't intentional problem solving, it was something that I saw that was so we it was COVID. We were just coming out of the back of COVID, and everyone that we knew, and lots of women had started side hustles and businesses, and I was out for coffee with a few friends and just saw that the conversations were very surface level, like the same, how are you? Oh yeah, I'm okay when we're not okay. And then there was two of my friends who kind of like went a bit deeper for once and were like, Oh my god, I'm doing this and I'm finding it really stressful. And I was just talking to the chess, I was like, all of us are doing the same thing, but we don't talk about it enough. Like, we need to, and we were coming out the trenches of COVID, and we had an events company at that time, so I was like, in order to get content, let's invite all the women around, start talking about it, and we can design like we can decorate it to look like it's a a branded event, yeah. So it was an unintentional problem we were trying to solve, but at the same time, we were trying to bring women together to have real conversations. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

I love that they had real conversations practice.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

So, like instinct, isn't it? Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

But you guys are a good duo, to be honest. I think you guys balance each other out. Yeah, yeah. I think it like works really well. It's really hard to find like a co-founder that you can run a business. I feel like being a co-founder is just like marriage.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Yeah, it is, it is, it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

I think, yeah, like you said, we balance each other well because we're very different in so many ways, but very alike in other ways. I think what's important is our morals, our beliefs are very alike, which helps that's what helps keep us grounded. That's help what that helps us gel and work together. Our personalities are different, but the core is very different.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

Because we're always going towards the same goal, we just have completely different ways in which we would generally go there. Yeah, but then that's what makes it good because then we find a way to meet in the middle and have best of both of us. At the start, it was literally just to bring women together to have the conversations that they're not necessarily having around business and side hustles, entrepreneurship, navigating in Dubai. But quickly, we looked on the Facebook groups. This is five years ago as well, like Sue said, coming out of COVID, and lots of women are saying that they're lonely or they're struggling to find friends or they're they're struggling their job or their marriage, or something in their life is breaking down where they needed some people or something to be able to fill it. Yeah, support is the word, yeah. So we were like, why are we just focusing on entrepreneurs and side hustles? Let's open it up and look at the bigger picture so that we we can be here for every woman. So that's where we then pivoted from doing one event a month, focusing on entrepreneurship and side hustles to now eventually slowly grow into eight events a month, utilising the eight pillars of well-being to make sure that we have everything and anything a woman might need from understanding financials to their mental health, physical health, nutritional, and everything in between, and being able to come to a comfortable environment where women can actually learn something new and be around another 29 women who have at least one common interest.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So I feel like we're doing a pretty good job. You guys are your events, are also very different from all the other events, like the energy is different when you go to your events. So, what did the early days of women success? We're always a success.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

I mean, I and I and I do know what, and I'm gonna stand with that. We I think everything that we've done has been growth, so and has been successful growth, you know. Like, don't get me wrong, it's not perfect. We make mistakes all the time, and we've had to cancel a couple of events because they haven't, they've just not happened for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Yeah, the community didn't want it or whatever, and it's just that okay, well, on to the next one then.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

So it's a learning game, and I think through that, because we've kind of kept it real, because we've been authentic about it, because we've never pretended to be something we're not, and we've just been very open, like we're learning as we're going on. It has been successful from day one and just learning curbs. And I don't see learning curbs, and I don't see making mistakes as a negative or as a failure, I see it as growth in every single way possible, and I think that's what's brought us to where we are now, where we can say that we are growing and we are one of Dubai's leading women communities alongside many other communities that are here. But when we first started, we were one of what five communities and now there's loads, but I do feel like we have paved the way massively with the events with pushing the bar because we're not afraid of doing things different, and the trial and errors that we've done is helping others to know that they can start.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

And yeah, what I really pride ourselves, what we pride ourselves on as well is that we are so open. There's women that come to us all the time to ask for our support because they're building their own communities. As we said when we first started, our first ever event was to bring women together, and what we saw there was women coming together and seeing collaboration over competition. And I would say that narrative from my first ever event has continued and will go on to continue as well because everyone can work together.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

100%. So, would you say you're a community? So, how can you tell the difference between a community that's healthy or a community that's falling apart?

SPEAKER_04 6:29

That's a good question, and you will know because you've worked with us trying to portray as much online as possible, but you just can't you can't portray the vibe online the same way as if you're there in person. Like people say, Oh, it looks friendly, and then they come and they're like, Oh, I felt so comfortable. And that's because we do take the time, like we are a come as you are community. That means if you want to wear full face of makeup and heels, do it. If you want to wear no makeup, hair scrunch back and a tracksuit, do it. By the end of the day, the girl with the heels on and the girl with the tracksuit on is in the same at the same event, they just might be in a little bit of a different mood, but they still have a common interest, so they can still connect over that without having to have some kind of facade on where they have to appease whoever they think they need to. They can just be themselves, which makes them and helps them to form real connections instead of showing up as they think they should, or they think that people how showing up how they think peop other people want them to show up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

I think a lot has to do with for me, I think the difference you can tell from a straight away is always the community leaders and how they show up. It's like I mentioned or mentioned before in one of the other questions. A chasa and I have always been authentic, we've always showed up as ourselves, we've never tried to hide away from it, we haven't hid away from our mistakes, we haven't pretended anything's perfect, we don't show up to our events like everything is perfect. There's days where we've shown up to the event and we're like, guys, we're tired. So apologies. This is why we look the way we look. We haven't tried to portray a perfection, and I think it comes from the leaders, the community leaders. How you turn up, how you set the tone will follow through throughout the competition.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

It's true. Because I've been to events where it kind of like the organizers they don't do anything, so then you're just there and you're like kind of like thinking, what are you supposed to do? And you've got nothing.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Yeah, especially as women who are multifaceted, because it's like, well, what do I lead with now? Do I talk about hosting? Do I talk about my community? Do I talk about fitness? Like, where what avenue am I supposed to go down to be able to connect? Whereas if you come to an event that has already a topic, you know that we can connect over this one. And if conversations lead elsewhere, excellent. And if they don't, that's fine as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

What are your thoughts on friendships in Dubai? Like, it's like obviously you said that whenever you guys were when you guys were starting your community, you researched, and it was like a biggest pain point was that people were lonely and they didn't couldn't form friendships. So, what's your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

And I said this to a chatter a couple of weeks ago. I was like, I'm changing the narrative because Dubai is not lonely anymore. You cannot, you can find so much. We have fast-forwarded so quickly into such an amazing place. Like I said, five years ago when we started, we were one of three, four communities. Back then, it was quite difficult to find your tribe, to get involved in different activities, to find your feet because you were here by yourself and you just had to kind of find it somehow. Like it was much different much more difficult. Now there are over a hundred communities. There's a community every for everything. Everything you want to eat, there's a food community. You want to read a book, there's a book community. You want to learn business, there's a business community. There is everything, even just culturally, yeah, ethnically. You can find your tribe, and it's so so easy. So, how would you say you find your tribe?

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Like, what are the key aspects that you would look at? Huge gap in our friendship. It just means that some of our interests are different. And if that's the case, when you look around your friends, or if you don't have any friends, then you go out and find the kinds of communities that will facilitate whatever you're interested in, and then there you will then find women or men, whatever, who are interested in similar things you're interested in. And it doesn't mean that you're now gonna make the best of friends instantaneously, but it means that you'll find some people that you have common ground over, and when you have that common ground and you can have one thing to talk about, you know, us women in general, we can chat and we'll just talk and talk and talk, and the conversations will go elsewhere, and then those conversations over time will build into friendships. I think, as well, in in Dubai or maybe any city where you're an expat and you're away from your family and your friends, at first, sometimes you find that you have to find that middle ground between how much do I want to divulge about my life and my and me personally to someone brand new, but also I need to show a level of vulnerability that enables me to connect with another person to be able to build a friendship or relationship or whatever it is that you're trying to build. But it takes steps, it can't just be like I'm not just gonna take out all the skeletons from my closet.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Your best advice, for example, if somebody's nervous to go to an event, they're alone, that they see your event, what's your best advice for them?

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Well, just do it because it's better to do it and experience it before but instead of like shying away and never doing it. Because where are you gonna get? That's not gonna get you anywhere. There's in life, if anything is easy, I always say this, and it's a saying that we've all grown up with if something's easy, then it's not worth having. We always have to try to get out our comfort zone, and you never know what you might find out about yourself. We are human beings, we don't know it all. I don't care if you're 25 or if you're 75, you will continue to learn every single day. Something new about yourself changes every single day. So just try it. And I think with I don't know about I can't talk on behalf of every other community, but if you're wanting to come to a Women Who Thrive event and you feel shy or you don't know what to do, or you're contemplating so many times people say, I've been watching you guys for ages, I just don't, I've just been shy or too nervous to come to an event. DM us on Instagram. It's me and Achasa who generally answer all the DMs. We have ambassadors who have been with us for so long and we make sure that they're always at the event. Um, Achasa and I always start an event with a hug. Um, so you'll always be welcomed by one of us at the beginning of an event. Um, and we try our best to make sure that everyone is seen and welcomed. So and heard. Yeah. So just come and try it. And that's us, but relatively, I just think you've got to take steps in your life, whether it be joining a community, whether it be going for a job interview, whether it be asking for a pay rise or whatever it may be, it's always going to be scary until you do it. And you're gonna stay exactly where you are unless you make a change.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

So make a change or stay where you are, it's your choice. So, you guys started the community kind of like by accident, yes. So, how has that changed you guys? Like becoming business owners, leaders, how has that shown up in different areas of your life?

SPEAKER_04 13:15

Like it's probably like just taken over. Like we were literally uh throwing shit at our wolf for a good two years, and it was just like because we're like, oh, this is helping women, women are enjoying this, people are forming friendships, people are getting business connections, we have to keep going, we have to keep going. Not knowing what we're doing, not understanding how to do it, but just showing up, and it goes back to what we were just saying: you have to just show up, you have to make a change, you have to do things differently.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I think we carried on doing. I think for me, how it's shown up in my life is I found my purpose, I really found my purpose in everything. The reason Achasa and I continue to do what we do is because helping others is like a is something that nurtures both of our souls, and I think turning up every day, like people don't understand how much crazy goes on in the background, and so many people I do you do, but so many people like I do, I do, you do, but so I was at the end last week. It's a lot, yeah. I was at the end last week, and so many ladies came up to me and were like, Oh, we see what you guys do, you must have such a great team, and I'm like, meet the team. Um, there are people who help in the people don't realize it really.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah, no, it's a lot, it's a lot to I think maybe from the outside it looks simple. That's why people start their communities as well, because they think like, oh, it's just organizing events, and then it's it's really events is a lot in itself, be receptive of help, which is a big lifesaver lifeline.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Been calling these different women and a few men that have been helping us our thriving angels, yeah, because they're helping us a lot in different elements that because we can do as much as we can, and like Sue said, we're all lifelong learners, but I'm not trying to be an expert in every field either. So sometimes it's about relinquishing a little bit of control and being like, Do you know what you're happy to help? This is your field of expertise, please help.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

And I think there's a difference. You said that like people don't understand how hard it is to like host events. Hosting events is one thing, um, hosting a gathering is one thing, running a business is one thing. Being community leaders is a whole different ball game. We are essentially responsible for the community and for how they feel, the experience that they have, what they do with that experience. It doesn't just stop at the events, like anyone, you can be out there and you can create an event and you can bring people together. It's not easy, but it's not difficult at the same time to gather people together and do something, but to have a mat an experience, a long life experience from beginning to end is what Achasa and I bring to the table. It's not just about coming to one event and see you later, we are there for you. Where we are a community and we check in with you, make sure that you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

You can. I've been to a lot of community events, but you can really feel the homie. Yeah, you can. I've been to a lot of community events, but you can really feel the homey vibe when you go to a Women Who Thrive event. So, as business owners, what's a decision that you made growing your community that you would never make again? Or like a really bad decision that you guys regret?

SPEAKER_04 16:30

Or companies because we're like, oh, this is great, uh like they they look like a big shiny brand or look good with our community and all this, that, and the other. But just because they are a bigger brand or they have a bit of a name for themselves does not mean that they are right for you or your community or your brand, whatever you're doing. It doesn't mean that the synergy is there, and there's been times where we have been I don't know the right word right now. Screwed, yeah. Can I say that word? Can I say that? Like, because because now we've especially like building our community, they and especially back then as well, when there weren't so many communities, they see a gathering of women coming together and someone else orchestrating it, so they just want to piggyback for their own gain, and making sure that there is equal benefits on both halves, both parties, rather than just another party utilizing us like a donkey. I don't like that, yeah, and we've done that, and also on the other side of things, like Sue said, like we're a nurturing community, so there's been times where we unfortunately haven't vetted companies as as deeply or as thoroughly as we should have, and they haven't been the best, and then women in our community then automatically trust these companies, we'll work with them, and then they get screwed over, and we don't want that at all. So, where that's happened in the past, years in the past, that no longer ever happens now, and we are very thorough when it comes to checking certain companies and people that we work with because we don't ever want that to happen.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

I think again it comes down to we try to run the community as just a community without realizing it was a business, and that's the issue, and that was the issue. And I think we try to keep it as like, no, we don't want it to be corporate, we don't want it to be business, we want to be, and it's a thin line, right? So it's very, very difficult, and that I think that's another kind of lesson or leap um place where people get lost because they try to think that it's either just a business or they just a community, and it's not, it's both, and finding that balance between being just a community and just a business is so difficult to find. Walking on one rowing type rope. Yeah, and once you find the balance, keep like walking on typebroke. Once even when you find the balance, trying to just keep that balance is so difficult because sometimes you kind of like sway to one side, sway to the other side. Um, and yeah, trying to navigate it is is very, very it's a very, very difficult thing, honestly. I don't think people really grasp onto the the mindset that you have to put every day into making sure that you stay consistent with it.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Even us changing our mindset from okay, we're not just community, this is actually a business. It took us really having a hard look in the mirror together and being like, oh my gosh, we spend all of our time, all of our money, all of our energy on this, and although we're doing it's having a great impact, us as the people running it are getting nothing back.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

The best thing that you guys have done, like treating it like a business, is that your best finding the balance, treating it just like a business, treating it just like a business is not gonna it's it doesn't work. It's finding the balance between realizing that you've got a community, and a community needs nurturing, it needs heart, it needs real it needs realness, and a business is a wake-up call. Sometimes you've got to make decisions that you don't want to make, but it's a business, and sometimes you've got to do what's best for the business to be able to turn up for the community. Yeah, like cancelling our gala.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, yeah, I I seen that yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Yeah, so we recently, so that was probably one of the in the five years we've been doing this, I think that's probably the hardest thing because we're burning a lot, yeah. There's a lot. I think there's a lot of what we're doing at the behavior launched an app at the beginning of the year, Thrivers App. Check it out. Um, it's free to download for women. Um, but yeah, we've launched an app, we've still got a community that we're building, it's still got things going on in the background, and for some reason, and I can't give the straight answer, but for some reason, it's just not come together. We've tried, we've tried, and I'm big on once you try, if it doesn't happen, it's for a reason. It's the universe telling you.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

We've been trying since October last year, yeah. Maybe, yes, September, October last year. A lot of walls, you know what it is, it and also lots of just spanners in the works, lots of different like pivoting, uh lots of changes internally that we've had to navigate as well. So it's just a lot of different things. So sometimes we just have to say we'll put a pin in it and we'll come back to it next year.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

And I think, like we said on the video when we released it yesterday, the announcement, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

I know, as like some people being inside, maybe was like a really big deal to you guys, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

But on the outside, I think it's like things move on, like yeah, and I just think because you guys are so close to it, recognize the community, and it's something that we've done that we want to give back to the community. The business side, and we could we could have done pushed through and produced something and given everyone a garlet because everyone wanted the garlet. We've had for weeks people would be like, what dress shall I get? When are the tickets out? Whatever. We could have pushed people love a party, and we could have, for the community, pushed through it. But I guarantee, had we done that, it wouldn't have been as good as it was last year or the years before. It would have been done by force and it would have lost the The what it stood for to be very the essence of it. We would have been very, very tired and not been able to show up properly, and then the rest of the business would have failed, and not failed as in like collapse, but the rest of the business would have suffered because we pushed this through. So that's where community and business comes, and you've got to find the balance, and you've got to be able to turn around and say, right, you know what? I'm pausing on that, I'll come back to that, or this isn't working, so we're gonna try a different road. And that's what we've done. And 2027, the gala is gonna be back, it's gonna be bigger.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

So I have a question. So you guys said that this is your passion, right? So when you do something that is your passion and it's your business, it takes over your life. So how do you guys take care of yourselves?

SPEAKER_02 22:43

I'm sat here in pain right now because I've put my back on it. I don't know how to answer that truth.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Like, how do you guys find like do you guys find some kind of balance between so do you feel super sometimes looking after yourself?

SPEAKER_04 22:58

It doesn't have to be a big day affair, although we do like to go to the pool for a pool day sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Which we haven't done since 2024.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

I think I I think it is the what I'm trying to say is it's the lit sometimes it's about showing up for yourself on the little things every day. Like I'm going back to using my meditation app and have making sure I'm having those 10 minutes for myself, whether that's in the morning or the night time, just to be take a breath. I got here a bit earlier today and I just sat downstairs. I plan to do a bit of work, end up making ticking one thing instead of three things off my to-do list. But I also just got to sit for a minute and taking those little pockets of time sometimes just helps for your well-being and to be able to carry on.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

And I think our events, everything in the background is I don't want to say treacherous, but it's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

The scary.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

But when we turn up, but when we turn up to the actual event itself, I don't know, it's like this kind of like a buzz of life, and that it fills back into us so much that I just want to keep going. It's like it is like a dopamine. Like we turn up for the event, watching everyone enjoy and connect and come and get something out of it, just fires both of us up to the point where I'm like, that's a bit of water filled in my cup. And I also like to get involved.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

Yeah, get involved in it. Sometimes I forget Suzak, are you gonna come join me at the front? Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

So, for whoever's listening alone in their car, in their house, what is something that you'd like to leave them with? Like a statement.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Life is too short to wait. Stop waiting, stop being on that boat that's just docked forever. Let the boat sail and go and try new things, live your life because tomorrow's not promised. And it's such a cliche saying, but no one's gonna live it for you, no one's gonna do it for you. And I know it's very cliche to say, and it's very like, yeah, okay, but I think we're programmed in this life to keep waiting for something to happen to be able to do something else, and that's not the reality of things. You've just got to be like Nike and you've got to do it. Nike ditto.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

Uh I completely concur. You know, like yeah, knocked out.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

That was a great high five. That was a great high five. Um, I think about what we just did. I think that's something we can leave them with. Celebrating. Celebrating, yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

We do try to celebrate all of our wins, as well, even like as simple as a high five. We actually high five often now. I don't even know how we started it. I think we just high fives one day and we're like, excellent. And we were just like, yes, like it just felt good to high five.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

So every time, like, oh yeah, finally sent that difficult email, high five, like because we don't always have the time to celebrate things, and it's easy to just keep going and forgetting about the little wins in life, and it's the little wins. Chassa actually taught me this. It's the little wins in life that actually make up and feed back into you. So if you're going through every day, not taking a moment for that win, then you'll not realize how much you're winning. And she taught me that.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

And because I like the little things, that's why I'm like my little cups of water, yeah, my little 10 minutes here, five minutes there.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

So we high-five all the time, and it makes me feel at the end of the day, if I know my hand's hurting, I know that we've had a lot of wind that day, so it's great.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

It's true, because otherwise, we're always looking up, up, up to this big thing that and it never ends. It never ends because as soon as you get the big thing, you want the next big thing anyway. Even before we get to the initial goal of the big thing, we're already looking at the next one because we're nearly there. So we have to find ways to enjoy the everyday. People call it their um sparkles, twinkles, the glimmers, the glimmers. Look for your daily glimmers. Like sometimes I'm like, oh, the sunset looks amazing. You know, have a sunset, it could be driving, it could be anything. Put on your favorite song, have a sing. Oh my god, singing karaoke.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Oh my god. Car karaoke is life. Do it if you haven't done it right now. After you listen to this, put your favorite song, put your favorite song, turn it up and have a show in your car. I think that's the best release of life.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

It's literally the little simple things. With no matter how successful or not you are, whatever you are doing, everyone has little things. Yeah, the little moments, everyone has their little moments, whether it's making your favorite meal.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Because you won't be happy, even if we get the big things if you're not happy with the little ones. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

The little ones are what make up the big one.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

So, my final question to you guys is what's coming up for Women Thrive?

SPEAKER_02 27:28

World domination. No, look, seriously. Yeah, um, I think just keep following us and keep looking. We're growing, like I said, we're growing every day, we're doing different things. The app, like I said, was launched in January, and that's a different business, but it's also linked to community. We saw a gap in the market where there's so many communities, but as someone, how do you find that community?

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Um people are struggling to access it. So we've built a community connection hub where anyone can come get linked to a community or get linked to different events happening all over the UAE for now, and also be able to connect with people individually. So making connection very simple.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

So it's another way of us just bringing so many people together. And in terms of women who thrive, we're gonna keep thriving, we're gonna keep turning up for the women, we're gonna keep turning up for the events, we're gonna keep turning up for the community.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Um, we're working on bigger, better things this year, doing lots more things with great big brands to bring fantastic experiences up to the community so that they can enjoy and immerse themselves in something a bit new and that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Thank you for joining me, thank you for sharing.