Other Women's Jobs // Marisa Kamall, founder of GAIA

NAME: Marisa Kamall

AGE: 40

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @gaia_rises

JOB TITLE: Founder of GAIA – an in-person women’s leadership community,

global online platform, and in-house corporate leadership accelerator

MOVED TO THE UAE IN: January 2021

ABOUT ME:

I am the founder of GAIA, an in-person women’s leadership community and global online platform, alongside in-house corporate accelerator programmes designed to strengthen leadership capability and advance gender equality within organisations.

GAIA brings together peer groups, coaching, learning and community to support women at pivotal moments in their careers, while helping companies build more inclusive cultures and stronger, more commercially resilient leadership pipelines.

Before founding GAIA, I spent over 15 years in senior leadership roles within global financial services, most recently as a Managing Director at HSBC. My career took me across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the UK, leading large teams, managing complex operations, and holding responsibility for multi-million-dollar P&Ls in highly regulated environments. On paper, it was everything I had worked towards.

But lived experience teaches you things no qualification ever can. Following burnout, post-natal depression, and a serious health scare, I realised that many workplace systems are not designed to support women through the realities of leadership, motherhood, and ambition. I didn’t want to simply return to a version of success that no longer fit. I wanted to build something human, relational, and deeply practical - supporting women to stay and grow, while helping organisations benefit from more diverse, inclusive, and effective leadership.

GAIA was born from that gap. Today, we work with individual members and organisations across the UAE and beyond, creating spaces where women can think clearly, speak honestly, and grow alongside others who understand the pressures they carry. My work now sits at the intersection of leadership, culture, and impact, and it feels far more aligned than anything I’ve done before.

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5.30AM: My alarm goes off at 5:30am, and I don’t negotiate with it. This is one of the few non-negotiables in my life. I’ve learned that if I don’t anchor the day early, the day runs me.

By 6am, I’m at CrossFit. I train five to six times a week, not because I’m chasing a particular aesthetic, but because movement keeps me regulated. Without it, I feel mentally scattered before the day has even begun. Training gives me discipline, perspective, and a sense of control - something I value deeply as both a founder and a parent.

There’s something grounding about starting the day doing something hard, surrounded by other people doing the same!

8AM: I’m back in mum mode. School run with my daughter, Paloma, is one of my favourite parts of the day - even if it’s slightly chaotic.

At the moment, her favourite song in the car is Who Let the Dogs Out. And when I say favourite, I mean every single day, on repeat, with full volume and full commitment (from both of us!). These are the moments that bring perspective fast.

No matter what’s happening at work, this time grounds me. It reminds me why I’ve made the choices I have, particularly around boundaries and how I define success now.

9AM: I check in with the GAIA team. We talk about priorities, who’s working on what, where support is needed, and how we’re moving collectively towards our goals.

One of the biggest shifts in my role over the last year has been letting go of execution. The team now runs much of the day-to-day delivery within GAIA, and that trust has been transformational - not just for the business, but for me personally.

Leadership, at this stage, is less about doing and more about enabling. Making sure people feel supported, trusted and clear is where I add the most value now.

11AM: Late morning is where most of my external work happens. My days are now far more relationship-led than task-led, which is deliberate.

I might be meeting someone new, exploring a collaboration, shaping a proposal, or having conversations with organisations interested in building better leadership pipelines. Some days I’m recording a podcast, filming content, or speaking at an event.

This is the part of my work I love most. It’s creative, relational, and expansive. It also reflects a big shift from my corporate years, when calendars were packed with back-to-back meetings and rarely left room for real connection.

1PM: Early afternoon is often the most challenging part of the day. Either my husband or I will handle school pick-up, and there’s a mental tension that sits here for me. It’s the feeling of not quite having done “enough” before the day changes pace. Anyone running a business while raising young children will recognise it instantly.

I always eat lunch - I never skip meals. I love food, and I’ve learned the hard way that ignoring basic needs doesn’t make me more productive, just more depleted. We crack on, even if the day doesn’t look exactly how I planned it. This is where flexibility matters most.

2PM: If I can protect it, early afternoon is where I try to think long-term. This is future-focused time - asking what our members and clients really need, how expectations are shifting, and how GAIA continues to evolve in a way that stays relevant and values-led.

Strategy, for me, isn’t about a 5-year plan. It’s about listening, noticing patterns, and making thoughtful decisions that deliver over time. This thinking space is essential - and easily lost if I don’t guard it. I missed this about big corporate, so I make sure that I protect it now.

5PM: I deliberately transition out of work mode. I don’t work in the evenings unless it’s genuinely unavoidable - and even then, it’s the exception, not the rule. I spent years in banking, working 14–15-hour days. I know exactly where that road leads, and I’m not interested in going back. I’m not saving lives, and I stay very conscious of that.

Evenings are for quality time with my daughter, cooking proper food, and being present. These boundaries have been very intentional and require a lot from me to stick to, but they do protect everything else I care about.

8PM: I’d love to say I journal every night. The reality is usually Netflix on the sofa with my husband… I can be a proper couch potato!

That said, I do jot down a few notes - things on my mind, ideas I don’t want to forget, worries I need to park until morning. If I don’t, my brain tends to keep running long after my body is ready to sleep.

It’s not perfect, but it works.

10:00PM: I’m in bed. No exceptions. I know what the next morning brings, and sleep is part of the system that makes everything else possible.

Leadership, for me now, is about sustainability. Showing up consistently, with energy and clarity, matters far more than burning brightly and briefly.

At 5:30am, the cycle starts again…. and I’m just grateful to get up every day and be able to move my body in that way.

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