Other Women's Jobs // Emma Coulter

NAME: Emma Coulter

AGE: 32

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @nextofkin.ae

JOB TITLE: Founder of Next of Kin

MOVED TO THE UAE IN: 2021

With over 10 year's of experience in the fashion retail industry in both Dubai and London, Emma held buying roles with esteemed luxury brands such as Harrods and Versace, as well as prominent high street labels and independent fashion houses. However, her true passion came to fruition in 2023 when the birth of her daughter sparked the start of her entrepreneurial journey, seeing her launch Next of Kin.

As a Mother, Emma couldn't find a baby clothing range that checked all the boxes: functional, attainable, and still cute, especially for the unique UAE climate. So, she drew inspiration from her little one, her Dubai surroundings and extensive retail background, leading her to venture into creating her own baby clothing line.

Alongside this, she set out to build a supportive community for expat Mums and Mums-to-be by starting her podcast 'Next of Kin The Podcast' where Emma candidly shares her own trials and tribulations of motherhood as an expat and her entrepreneurial journey.

Let's discover a day in Emma's world:

8AM: I tried to go back to my Fashion Buying career after maternity leave, but with a “koala” (read: clingy) baby who refused to take a bottle and would only sleep with me, I lasted around 6 weeks until I was sat in front of a disgruntled HR who were not happy with all of the breastfeeding breaks that I was taking, and wanted to know why I wasn’t on a flight to Milan. I told them that it wasn’t possible for me to leave my baby right now, so I would be buying remotely until I can fly. It turns out that wasn’t an option, and within a tumultuous 24 hours I had left my job and knew I needed to pivot fast. I’d worked hard all of my adult life to achieve my dream Buying role, but the other role of Mum was far more important to me, and it had become clear that these two roles that I had worked hard towards were simply not compatible.

I am telling you this backstory because after the whirlwind of setting up a new company and trying to work all possible hours to make it a success, I had to remind myself to slow down because the reason that I am doing all of this is to create a new career that works for me and my daughter. So now my workday begins at 8am when my daughter starts nursery and largely finishes at 1pm when I collect her.

My working day starts on my sofa with a cup of tea in hand going through emails, my social media and reviewing new orders, often placed by Mums during the night feeds.

9AM: I’m pretty sure that I am now just as (if not more) productive when working 5 hours a day than I was working full-time. A pivotal part of this is to be on-top of and constantly reviewing my to-do list. To manage my time I keep an excel spreadsheet where I time block, sometimes weeks or months, ahead by the hour. This may sound very organised but in reality, I tend to work on what I feel like doing, this is especially true when it comes to creative tasks like designing. If I am not feeling in the right mood to be inspired I can’t tap into that headspace. However, I know that I am most productive around 9am when I haven’t had the chance to get too distracted, so I use this time to complete the most important task on my list. Today that was editing a podcast episode and creating a soundbite. I do this all in-house myself, recording with guests remotely using Streamyard, editing in Garageband and uploading to my host Buzzsprout which automatically distributes the podcast to all of the major platforms.

11AM: I hopped on a call to discuss partnership options with another businesswoman. She is interested in sponsoring a Next of Kin podcast episode and a future event. I run Careers Club events for Mums in Dubai who are going through some sort of challenge career-wise, they are relaxed coffee mornings where I invite experts to offer their advice, inspiration and support. I’m keen to carry on running these events and keep them free to attend, but I’ve found that as an entrepreneur it is easy to get distracted by activities that take a lot of time and resources with no direct return for business, so I have challenged myself to find a sponsor for future events.

During this meeting we discussed her company and what she would like to get out of the partnership. I presented ideas of how I believe this partnership would best resonate with my audience and we brainstormed some ideas, ultimately deciding to work together.

12NOON: With nursery pick-up time inching closer I have a very quick lunch and tick off some smaller tasks, like sending contracts and product upload templates to some new, small, Mum-owned baby/children’s brands who are interested in joining the nextofkin.ae website. I launched this initiative recently after noticing the struggles as a small brand in a crowded marketplace with such high commissions to be stocked in other locations, I decided we are stronger supporting each other and I was sure that I could create a fairer offer for both the brand owners and also for the customers, making it easier to discover new small brands and shop for them all in one place.

Before collecting my daughter I post on social media including an anonymous ask me anything question box for an upcoming podcast episode and had some quite funny questions, I was expecting motherhood or business related questions, but people seem more interested in who my teenage crush was!

1PM: I collect my daughter from her nursery and the usual nap time battle ensues. But once she is down for her nap I am able to fit in another hours work before she wakes. Every day I tell myself that I need to make this time ‘me-time’ or at the very least use it for household chores, but inevitably something pops up or I think of a new business idea that I want to start exploring straight away.

3PM: My daughter awakes, and we spend some quality time together playing. It’s really important for me to be present with her, I’m very aware that if I am lucky enough to be old and grey one day looking back on my life, I am very unlikely to wish I worked harder, and much more likely to wish I soaked up every second with her. It really is true what they say, they grow so fast.

6PM: A habit that I would love to sustain is that we sit and eat together as a family at around 6pm every day. I try to cook the same meals for us all and noticed that my daughter is much more likely to try new foods when I do this and serve them family style.

The next couple of hours are spent in a whirlwind of family chaos, cleaning, bath time, trying to get my daughter to brush her teeth (not sure why toddlers hate this so much), always interrupted by my daughter bringing me a book to read, of course she prefers the same book 3 times in a row which is when I suggest it’s Daddys turn to take over!

8PM: Bed time rolls around and we pile into bed as a family, read some more books and chat about our days before I sing my toddler to sleep, and honestly, I tend to be fast asleep not long after!