Women in leadership often experience moments of fear and doubt—overthinking decisions, second-guessing their worth, or fearing criticism. These unseen struggles can hold back progress and stifle their unique voices. Dr. Kim R. Grimes sits down with Sairan Aqrawi, an engineer and business strategist dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential. Specializing in guiding midlife women through career transitions, Sairan shares her story and strategies to help empower other women to recognize that fear and doubt are normal—and that they can grow as leaders despite those feelings. Together, they explore how imposter syndrome, hesitation, and fear of judgment can limit opportunities, and how women can rise above these barriers, reclaim their voices, and create lasting impact in their careers, communities, and beyond.
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Navigating Fear And Doubt While Growing As A Woman Leader With Sairan Aqrawi
Welcome to You Are YOU, Unapologetically, the show where we dig deep into what it means to live, lead, and love as your authentic self without apology. I’m your host, Dr. Kim R. Grimes. I want to start by asking you this. Have you ever felt like you weren’t enough to step into the role you dreamed of? Maybe you’ve been offered an opportunity, but fear and doubt crept in and started talking to you, that head chatter, so loud that you almost said no. For some of you, you said no. If so, you are not alone. In this episode titled Navigating Fear and Doubt While Growing as a Woman Leader, we’re diving into the internal battles that don’t always make the highlight reel because here’s the real talk.
Leadership isn’t about strategy, titles, or power moves. It’s also about managing fear, pushing through doubt, and learning to trust yourself even when your voice shakes, or when you hear voices saying, “No, don’t do it.” Many women leaders feel pressured to have it all together, but behind closed doors, they’re battling imposter syndrome, fear of judgment, and the never-ending question, “Am I ready for this?” This episode is about shedding light on those unseen struggles and reclaiming power through vulnerability.
That’s right. I said vulnerability. Together, we’ll explore how fear can be a signal, not a stop sign, and how doubt doesn’t disqualify you from being a leader. It makes you human. That’s it. Through honest stories, practical wisdom, and soul-level encouragement, we’re reminding every woman that leadership isn’t about being fearless. It’s about leading anyway. With that note, I want to share my definition of leadership. That is helping others to be better as a result of your presence and ensuring the impact lasts in your absence. That was a Harvard Business Leadership definition that I love. With that, whether you’re stepping into your first leadership role or navigating the next big leap, this conversation is for you.
From Engineer To Empowerment: Sairan Aqrawi’s Journey To Speaker Hub Pro
Let’s get into the conversation. How about that? Before we dive into the conversation and with our guest, I have to pause and share why this is so important. Why is this so important that it’s on our show? Let me tell you why it’s so important. Women everywhere are stepping into leadership, and it’s not new, whether it’s leading a company, building a side business, running a department, or even leading in their own households and communities, because that’s leadership, too. Here’s the challenge.
Many of us are carrying silent fears and doubts that hold us back. That’s right. I said that. Yes, silent fears and doubts are holding us back. We fear failure, so we don’t take the leap. We doubt our own worth. We don’t think we’re worthy enough. We don’t think we’re enough at all or capable. We stay silent in meetings, or pass up promotions, or even if it’s a promotion, maybe opportunities that present themselves. We compare ourselves to others. We believe we are not ready or we are not good enough, which is not true.
Women in leadership all experience moments of fear and doubt, overthinking decisions, second-guessing their words, and fearing criticism. These unseen struggles can hold back progress. It stifles our unique voices. By sharing your voice, your story, my story, strategies, and our guest’s story, we help empower other women to recognize that fear and doubt are normal. They can grow as leaders despite those feelings. This is why it matters. Every time a woman holds herself back, the world misses out on her ideas, on her leadership, and on her impact.
The world misses out. It’s not just a personal struggle. It affects families, workplaces, and communities. This conversation is all about naming those fears, facing those fears, and moving forward anyway. That’s what this episode is all about. To help us navigate this topic, I am so excited that we have a guest who has personally walked through seasons of fear and doubt, and she came out stronger. I am so excited to introduce our guest. This is the moment that you all have been waiting for. I have a phenomenal guest. I know you hear me say it. I think all of my guests are phenomenal. Yes, you’re going to hear me say it time and time again.
Nevertheless, let me tell you a little bit about our guest that I have for you on this juicy topic. Our guest is both an engineer and a business strategist dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential through a powerful blend of technical expertise and strategic business insight. She specializes in guiding professionals, especially midlife women, through career transitions, empowering them with clarity, confidence, and bold action to drive meaningful, measurable results.
Her unique approach fuses the precision of engineering with the foresight of business strategies, equipping leaders to make data-driven decisions that enhance operational efficiency, foster innovation, and ensure long-term sustainability. By seamlessly aligning technical capabilities with strategic planning, our guest helps organizations and individuals future-proof their careers and businesses in an ever-evolving landscape.
There’s more. As a sought-after coach and mentor, she works closely with leaders navigating complex career shifts, professionals seeking to optimize their potential, and organizations striving for operational excellence. Her hands-on expertise transforms challenges into opportunities, turning midlife into a powerful launchpad for reinvention and long-term success. With years of experience in mentoring emerging and established leaders, our guest understands the unique challenges women face in leadership roles, whether breaking into executive positions, managing high-performing teams, or balancing ambition with personal fulfillment.
She provides women with the mindset, strategies, and practical tools to step into leadership with confidence, cultivate influence, and drive meaningful impact in their industries. Her clients don’t just achieve their goals. They develop the resilience, strategic thinking, and leadership presence needed to continuously elevate their performance and make lasting contributions in their careers and organizations.
Please help me welcome Sairan Aqrawi, an engineer, business strategist, and leadership mentor, to the You Are YOU, Unapologetically show. I’m so happy that you are here. Thank you so much, Sairan, for being here. Let’s do this before we dive into our juicy topic. Why don’t you share with our audience how we met and how we came together, before we talk about navigating fear and doubt while growing as a woman leader? Please.
Thank you, Dr. Kim, for having me. I’m really excited to be a part of your beautiful, lovely platform. As a matter of fact, I’m part of the SpeakerHUB Bureau. I’m a lifetime speaker with them. When they recruited me, they were hardly professional enough with me for marketing and finding podcasts and stages so I could speak at. That’s because I’m still a full-time engineer. When the Chief Safety Officer contacted me, he said, “People might wonder if they look at your LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn always says about technology and engineering. They will say, ‘Where does this come from, author, mentoring, and speaking?’ You need the exposure. You need to be speaking on different podcasts.”
I was even able to pitch in different languages because I speak Arabic fluently as well. It’s a great platform, SpeakerHUB, if you want to have more exposure, speak on stages, and feature in magazines, newspapers, or any other publication, if you want to be part of that. They wrote my Instagram page. They merged it with my LinkedIn page. They pitched on behalf of me on those podcasts and platforms that align with my message around women’s empowerment, living your dream, finding your hidden talent, starting a business, leadership, confidence, and all those other topics, which are taking women to the best version of themselves.
Conquering Fear: Sairan’s Leadership Breakthrough At The Mexican Border
I’m so glad that they reached out to me because I am honored to have you. Thank you. I truly appreciate that. You said SpeakerHUB, so I’m quite sure our audience can google that and find what exactly you’re sharing with us. Thank you for that. Let’s dive into our conversation. As I said, we’re talking about navigating fears and doubts while growing as a woman leader. I want to start by asking you to share because that’s why we’re here.
We’re here to share our experience. We’re here to share life experiences. We’re here to share and give some value. If we have any best practices, we want to be able to share them as well. We are here to share. Please share a specific leadership opportunity where you saw or felt fear, or it was doubt that almost stopped you from taking advantage of that opportunity.
If I remember correctly, for my entire engineering career over 30 years, the one incident that I keep telling my audience or people who ask me this question is this incident that’s shaped who I am. It’s redefined and sharpened my leadership. That happened in my early 30s. In my early 30s, I was working on a big contract. We were building the towers on the Mexican border. The client, who else then? The Boeing Company.
I was already scared because they were our client. Boeing, Homeland Security, all big names. They gave me the task to lead a field activity and be responsible for the site-specific activity, biological opinion, and environmental assessment. It was all scary tasks in the beginning. I had so many waves of doubt and fear because here I am with my accent and with my black eyebrows. Although I have the qualification and I’m an engineer, I entered a room full of people with high titles from Boeing and Homeland Security.
I have to be so prepared to answer all the questions precisely and concisely. I keep asking, and the inner voice keeps saying, “Am I ready? Am I capable? Am I capable of doing this task? Maybe I should ask somebody else.” I realized that they chose me for this role, not because of my age or being a senior on the project. They chose me because they know I will deliver the project and the outcome will be in the best way. I took the opportunity, but I was very prepared. I was doing my homework.
I still remember before every meeting with Boeing and DHS, I was studying, like homework, all the designs. I have to be prepared for all the questions they might ask about the design. Not only did I meet the expectation, but I exceeded it. I knew that, yes, I’m in my early 30s, and there are people who were older and more senior than me, yet I was able to deliver that task very successfully.
Dr. Kim, the fear will never go away. Even if you become an expert, even if you have five PhD degrees or ten Master’s degrees in Engineering, Medicine, Finance, or anything, the fear will kick in every time when you do a new task. It never goes away. You have to be prepared. Walk with fear. Don’t let it define you. You have to say, “I’m ready for it. Let me see how I can tackle this obstacle in order to deliver the best outcome.”
Fear never goes away. Even if you become an expert with five PhD degrees, it will kick every time you do any task — you just have to walk with it and deliver your best. Share on XI love the point that you made that the fear never goes away, or the doubt. First, I call doubt head chatter. We have that head chatter. As you were sharing, I heard the head chatter that was going on in your head when you were sharing about, “Are you ready for this?” You’re right. When it comes to fear, it doesn’t go away. It’s there. You said walking with it and doing with it. I want to say, do it afraid. It’s about managing that emotion that’s coming up and then the head chatter that’s speaking to you, managing them both so that you can step into your greatness and be who you were created to be at that moment.
That’s why on the show, You Are YOU, Unapologetically, it’s speaking about you being you. I tell everyone, no one can do you better. When we can think about that before we do a speech, like, “No one can do this better than me because it’s me,” it helps to calm down or pause that head chatter and helps you to look at that fear in the face. I get what you’re saying. What about some doubts? Let’s think about women leaders. What are some of the doubts that you think most women leaders face? As I said, when I talk about doubt, I’m talking about that head chatter. Share some things with me about what you think about women leaders and some of the doubts that they’re trying to manage or shake off.
Beyond The Midlife Crisis: Redefining Purpose And Potential
For my many clients that I coach or mentor at the Women in Technology or Women in Engineering, I listen to younger engineers, mid-life. Especially now, I listen to a lot of women who are ready to exit their careers. They are in their mid-50s. They are planning for their future, what’s happening after retirement. I asked them, “What’s the reinvention stage?” They said, “Reinvent, what do you mean? We are planning to retire, enjoy the paycheck, and go on vacation.” I asked them, “Is that really what you want? That’s it? You’re going to get a paycheck, go on vacation, take a couple of pictures, and have a fancy dinner?” They said, “What else?” I said, “You have a lot to offer. Your midlife should not be a waiting room. It’s a new frontier. It’s a space that you need to rethink and reinvent. What’s after this?”
My kids are grown. They are out of the house. They finished school. I should not call myself, “I’m in a midlife crisis.” I don’t like that word. I said, “You are in a midlife priceless. This is a trophy in your hand. This is not a crisis. It’s not a crisis at all.” Even when I tell them, “Don’t call yourself an empty nester,” why do you empty it? Who empties it? You are defined by your kids. It’s not empty. You can fill it with passion, with a hobby, or with a thing or a small business that defines who you are, that speaks to your soul, and aligns with your purpose in life.
Going back to your question, Dr. Kim, there’s a lot of doubt that I hear from those women because they keep bringing up, “I am old,” or “This is too late to start. I’m 55. I’m retiring. It’s too late. I’m not ready. I don’t have the qualification. I don’t have those abilities.” I hear it also from women in higher management. I have one woman whom I coached. She was higher up in procurement. She was doubting her leadership ability. She was telling me she feels like she has two personalities. She’s very bold and tough at work, and she’s soft and lovely at home.
I told her, “What’s wrong with that? You are a mommy. You are a wife. You are a sister. You are a friend.” She said, “This is a double standard. I am soft at home, and I am tough at work.” I said, “Nothing is wrong that your brain is speaking with your heart. That’s where the alignment is coming.” Leaders are afraid to be soft. No, you should have a little bit of empathy. You have to feel your employee. You have to feel your team. You can’t just be bold all the time. I know that from my own experience because when I started my career as a team lead and a leader in my work and in my business, I got this comment about me being so direct and bold, and always this engineering personality pops up. It’s like, “Everything should add up.”
In business, one plus one does not always equal two. This is not an equation you solve. It’s not math. In business, there are ups and downs. One year, you make money. Another year, you don’t make money. It’s not an equation that you solve. Those doubts with those women, they share them with me. I let them speak about their doubts. I tell them, “Don’t feel that people who made it never had those doubts.” All the women who inspire you, Dr. Kim, look at their story. They never wait. They never wait for permission. They didn’t wait for so long. They jumped to it. They jumped at the opportunity, then they figure things out as they go because it’s not a manual you read and you say, “If I follow this manual, then I will be successful.” The doubt will still be there. The main key is to take action and start.
Let me ask you. It’s a two-part question. Are there any fears that you have to navigate when you’re stepping into a leadership role? If so or if not, what habits or practices have you used to help build your confidence?
Going back to the fear and doubt, you’re not going to have a magic recipe to eliminate them. It will still be there. You have to ask yourself a question whether those fears are real or they’re outdated beliefs. Sometimes, those doubts are outdated beliefs. Our beliefs that we had when we were teenagers, when we were in our 20s, and when we were filling in certain projects, we carry those beliefs with us until our mid-50s.
Embrace The Critic: Transforming Feedback Into Free Mentoring
I love that. I always hear limiting beliefs, but you’re putting a different spin on it and something different, which is outdated beliefs. Go ahead.
They don’t expire. If you look at yourself when you were 20 and 30, the level of confidence and the executive presence you have now is not the same. You build that confidence as you go. You build it day by day. It’s not a magician act. It’s not a 48-hour process that you can go through, so you can get rid of all your doubt and fear, and you become fully confident. I still remember the first time when I spoke on stage, I forgot my name because I was always the woman who was in the background and who was solving complex equations.
Ask yourself if your fears are real, or just outdated beliefs you’ve carried for decades Share on XShe’s smart in math. She can do any equation you want. She designs anything you want. I was never that woman who could be on a panel, answering difficult questions, being challenged, taking the stage with men and women, and speaking. I never thought in a million years that I would be at a summit with Les Brown. I was dreaming. He was Les Brown from 10 miles away. I ended up being at a summit speaking with him.
Those things that scare you are an indication. It’s an engineering signal. When you are scared and fearful, that means you are going or standing on something really big, not when you are scared and comfortable. When you finish that task or you finish that project, you become a better version of yourself. I remember when the SpeakerHUB Summit contacted me that I would be with Les Brown, I was like, “I will forget my name. I don’t know how I’m going to speak with him.” I still listen to him. He’s the ideal speaker for me. When you do it, you’ll be proud that you took action and you did not let the fear lead you. You’re not allowing the fear to lead you. You’ve got to walk with the fear and say, “I’m your friend. Let’s finish this.”
I love that. As you were speaking about it, that’s something that I thought about. Fear isn’t our enemy. It’s our friend. Fear is going to make you step out of your comfort zone. It invades your comfort zone if you don’t step out to make you step out of your comfort zone. I love the idea that fear is your friend as well. Let me ask you this because we live in a world full of criticism, and we live in a world full of failure. How do you handle criticism, and how do you handle setbacks or failures?
I fail a million times. I can write a book about it, and it will be a bestseller on Amazon. Every time I thought I was the smart engineer and I could handle it in the business, the same model in business, I was wrong, but I learned a big lesson. Being criticized or being challenged is a good thing because when you are challenged, you grow. Not every time people who criticize you want you to fail, or they are your enemy. I saw something on Instagram. It was a clip about Mike Tyson. He said, “I can give you my experience in life that not everyone is your enemy. It’s that one who harmed you.” I don’t want to quote him wrong. Not every friend wants the best for you.
That’s from Mike Tyson. Imagine how much experience he’s seen in his life, good and bad, who can advise us in this quote? Sometimes, those critics are positive for you because you need to separate the message from the emotion. I found that on myself, and it has gotten better when I age, because human beings, by default, react to a negative message, a harsh email, or someone who criticizes us. “How dare they? Do they know me? Look at my intent. I’m so qualified. How dare they criticize me?”
Separate that message from the emotion and think about it for a little bit. This happened to me. I go back, listen, and remember what people said about the way I handle my work and my business, and the negative connotation, not to belittle you. I’m not talking about that. In a way, they challenge you, saying, “We saw what you’re doing, but if you tweak this or if you change this.” At the moment, you take it personally. It’s human. It’s a default. “How dare she? She’s in her 20s, criticizing me.”
If you think about it carefully and go deep down, you will see that they did a favor to you. It was a free mentoring or a free consultation. They make that criticism point about something you have done that needs your attention. I handle it better now as I age. When I was younger, I thought that because I had a degree in engineering, I was always right. I’m very good at science, and I’m very good at math. No one can correct me. When I started doing my business, I knew the business model was so much different than a day job. In business, the more you learn, the more you haven’t learned anything. You have a lot to learn about it. Except for those comments, don’t always treat them a negative feedback. It will serve you in the long run.
Not every criticism is an attack — sometimes it’s free mentoring in disguise. Share on XI love that when you stated, “Separate the message from the emotions.” As an emotional wellness coach, that is on point, because we have to do that. Your emotions are going to come up, but then you have to be able to manage that. First, how do you manage it? You want to separate that message from the emotion. You still have to deal with them both, but deal with them separately and recognize what the message is, what is being said, and then what emotion you’re attaching to that message. Detach it. Separate it. I love that. For our audience, what would be a takeaway or advice that you would give women who still feel that they’re not ready yet, that woman who says, “I’m not ready yet. I’m not ready to lead. No, I’m not there yet.”
The 3 Pillars Of Unstoppable Success: Clarity, Action, Consistency
This applies if you want to start a business. You will never be ready. You will never be ready to start a business. Just jump. You will never be ready. A lot of people said to start before you are ready because when you start, you take that initiative. The very first step is always the hardest because you feel like your foot is in the mud. It’s a muddy beginning. When you start and you pick up the momentum, that’s when you go to the next step from A to B and B to C. You get to the career or the business that you’ve always been dreaming about.
Going back to your question, what is my advice? I never changed the three powerful pillars that I share with my client. With all the men and women midlife, if you think that you are too late, like “I’m not ready. I need the next certification. I need to have a master’s,” my advice is to sit down with yourself, pause for a moment, and think about it in a clear mindset. The three pillars of engineering always apply to real life as well.
When you have a building, you first start with the foundation, then you build the building, the wall, the doors, the windows, and then you have the roof, which protects your building. Same metaphor you can apply to your business or any project. You want to do a TED talk. You want to have your PhD degree. You want to have your Master’s. You want to start a business. You want to open a bakery. Any project you have, the very first pillar is the foundation, which is clarity.
You have to gain clarity. Where exactly are you going? Like a navigator, you have to have a map, a blueprint. “I’m clear. I want to open that project this year. I want to write this book this year. I want to do a TED Talk within six months.” When you’re clear, that’s when the momentum starts picking up. The second thing is the building. Again, the engineering mindset popped up with me. The building is the action.
Without action, Dr. Kim, we can speak from now until next year doing nothing. Talk is key. Everybody can speak for hours without doing anything. It doesn’t mean anything. The action is what takes you to the next step. The action is the building, the walls, the window, and the structure of the building. The most important thing towards the end, the ceiling of the building, is the consistency. You have to consistently do what you are doing in your business or in your project. For example, if you’re clear that you want to be a speaker, you’re going to drop everything.
“I love to speak. I want to be on the stage. I’m going to take classes in speaking.” First, you are clear that you want to be a speaker. That’s the foundation. Second, you have to take action. Action doesn’t mean that you have to sit down and listen to Brian Casey, Les Brown, or Tony Robbins because they are the speakers. You have to speak for yourself. You have to take the action. You have to start small. Start speaking at a podcast, an association, a small audience, a 200 to 500 audience, two TED Talks, and an event. That’s the action.
The rule that protects your business as a speaker is consistency. You cannot just speak one time and leave. “I got paid. I was with the important elite speaker on the stage, then I’m good to go.” No, you are not. Les Brown has been speaking for many years. That’s what makes him Les Brown. He didn’t go in two stages and make thousands, and he left. He still speaks. He’s better than ever because the roof of the foundation of that building is consistency. That’s what I advise every audience. That is to be clear, take action, and be consistent.
Clarity, take action, consistency. What I like about what you shared, you said it’s not only about stepping into a leadership role. It can be applied to any project that you have. I appreciate that so much. Thank you for coming and sharing all of this juicy advice and knowledge that you have given us. What I would love for you to do is please share how our audience can connect with you. Feel free to provide website information, LinkedIn, any social media, telephone number, or whatever field you feel comfortable with. Please share that now so that our audience who want to connect with you can connect with you.
Thank you, Dr. Kim. For the sake of your audience, if they mention your name, your platform, and your show, they will get a complimentary session with me on Instagram for starting their business. If they are having a hidden talent or a hidden gem or something, and they want to start a business from scratch, no money, they can contact me. If they mention your name, I’ll give them a complimentary fifteen minutes on Instagram.
If they have a LinkedIn page, want to advance the LinkedIn page, make it more appealing, and want a promotion or a pivot in their career, they can also contact me. By mentioning your name, I’ll give them fifteen minutes complimentary on the LinkedIn page as well. I do have a website. Everything is under my name. I know I have a very hard last name. I know that, but that’s what my website, SairanAqrawi.com. I’m available on Instagram, @SairanAqrawi. Also, I’m on LinkedIn. Again, start now. Don’t wait. Things are changing. It is the blink of an eye with AI, with the technology. If you don’t start today, then when? Just start.
Don’t wait for perfect conditions — things are changing fast. Start now. Share on XDon’t hesitate. Don’t talk yourself out of it. Just start. Thank you. There you have it, you guys. Sairan Aqrawi, thank you for being here. The engineer, business strategist, and leadership mentor, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate you.
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Key Takeaways And Action Steps For Growth
Wasn’t that amazing? Wasn’t that good information? Thank you again, Sairan. Thank you so much. She shared so much. Let’s pause and highlight some key takeaways that I got from this conversation with Sairan. The first takeaway I got was fear and doubt. They’re normal. It doesn’t mean that you are not capable. No, it doesn’t mean that. It doesn’t mean that I’m not capable.
The second is courage. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s choosing to move forward despite them. Sairan said, “Just push through.” Push, push, push. The third thing that I took away was building habits, like journaling, connecting with mentors, and celebrating small wins. You can build your confidence over time by doing these things and building habits. We’re not about suffering alone. Not at all.
The fourth thing that I want to share that I did get from this conversation is that you don’t, I don’t, and we don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to have all the answers. I don’t have to know it all to step into leadership. I don’t. You don’t. I want you to be reminded that we’re not doing this alone. We have a community with us.
What I just shared spoke to me. I wanted to share and give my two cents on it. We never end an episode without action steps because if so, then all we’re doing is talking, and we’re not just about talking. I’m saying we’re not. Here are some action steps that you can take for our audience who really got something from the conversation.
I want you to write down one leadership goal. The thing about our action steps, they’re not big. They are something small, so one leadership goal you’ve been putting off. What is that leadership goal that you’ve been putting off? Is it stepping up, being a leader in a club that you’re in, at church, in your community, or even in your family? Name the fear or the doubt. I want you to be clear. Fear and doubt are two different things, but name it.
What’s behind why you haven’t moved forward? Put a name to it. The third thing I want you to do is I want you to decide on one small step you can take this week. It’s a baby step. I’m not asking you to take a leap. Take a baby step. Send an email, make a call, sign up for the class, or volunteer to be that leader. Take a baby step. As always, I want you to share your progress. Share your progress with someone that you trust, or share your progress with me. Feel free to reach out to any of our social media handles or email me directly. You guys have my email address. We want to celebrate you for taking the action step that we gave for this episode.
As always, I love to end all of my shows with this one reminder. Society, rigid expectations, and their endless opinions of self-expression and self-appreciation weigh heavily on us. They feel challenging and daunting. Because of that, we ride the wave. We hide. We dumb down or go with the flow. I’m here to tell you, you are you unapologetically. That means being true to how you were created and not allowing people’s opinions to affect how you show up in life.
When you walk in the room, regardless, people are going to talk. There are going to be people who are not going to like you just because you showed up. You have no control over that. You also have no time to be intimidated by the presence of others and think so little of yourself. When you show up without pretense or hesitation, the world cannot dull your glamour. They can’t. Most importantly, you will be inspired to shine your light and share your light with others. Not only can they get a glimpse of your light, but they can tap into their own brilliance, which is so amazing.
Let’s all agree to put an end to this disparaging mindset and begin to own our own authentic selves. Own your own authentic self. Join me here because I’ll be here in a safe space where I’m always initiating conversations about you being you because you are you unapologetically. Absolutely, no one is better at being you. Thank you so much for being here. To every woman who is tuning in, I need you to know that you are enough. You are capable, and you are the leader that you were created to be.
Your leadership matters more than you know. Step into your leadership. Step into that role. Step into it. Thank you again. Thank you to our guest for being here. Sairan, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your authenticity with us. Thank each and every one of you for joining me on You Are YOU, Unapologetically. If this conversation spoke to you, if it moved you, and if it touched you, please share it. Share this episode with another person, or with another woman who might need the encouragement, because we do need the encouragement. I would love to hear from you.
Be sure to like and subscribe to our channel. We do have a YouTube channel for our show as well. Most importantly, you can comment, or you can send me an email, or a message on any of our social media platforms. Believe me. I will get the message. Whatever platform you choose to use, I will get the message. Until next time, I want you to remember this. Keep being you unapologetically because, as I said before, you are you. No one is better at being you than you. That’s it for now. Ciao.
Important Links
- Sairan Aqrawi’s Website
- Sairan Aqrawi on SpeakerHUB
- Women in Technology (WIT)
- Les Brown’s Website
- Tony Robbins’ Website
- Sairan Aqrawi on Instagram
- Sairan Aqrawi on LinkedIn
- Kim R. Grimes Podcast on YouTube
About Sairan Aqrawi
Sairan Aqrawi is both an engineer and business strategist, dedicated to helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential through a powerful blend of technical expertise and strategic business insight. She specializes in guiding professionals—especially midlife women—through career transitions, empowering them with clarity, confidence, and bold action to drive meaningful, measurable results.
Her unique approach fuses the precision of engineering with the foresight of business strategy, equipping leaders to make data-driven decisions that enhance operational efficiency, foster innovation, and ensure long-term sustainability. By seamlessy aligning technical capabilities with strategic planning, Sairan helps organizations and individuals future-proof their careers and businesses in an ever-evolving landscape.
As a sought-after coach and mentor, Sairan works closely with leaders navigating complex career shifts, professionals seeking to optimize their potential, and organizations striving for operational excellence. Her hands-on expertise transforms challenges into opportunities, turning midlife into a powerful launchpad for reinvention and long-term success. With years of experience mentoring emerging and established leaders, Sairan understands the unique challenges women face in leadership roles—whether breaking into executive positions, managing high-performing teams, or balancing ambition with personal fulfillment. She provides women with the mindset, strategies, and practical tools to step into leadership with confidence, cultivate influence, and drive meaningful impact in their industries.
Sairan’s clients don’t just achieve their goals—they develop the resilience, strategic thinking, and leadership presence needed to continuously elevate their performance and make lasting contributions in their careers and organizations.