In this episode of The Dollar Diaries podcast, we are thrilled to have Jacqueline Perrottet, the founder and CEO of Hoopla, as our special guest. With a passion for emotional wellness, Jacqueline shares her journey of creating tools for families to connect and bring joy and calm into their lives through her innovative company, Hoopla.During the conversation, Jacqueline delves into the inspiration behind Hoopla and how she discovered the need for emotional regulation tools accessible on-the-go for children. She discusses the key features of Hoopla, including its multisensory approach using haptic feedback from phones to help children connect with their emotions and parents without excessive screen time. Jacqueline also sheds light on the importance of teaching children about emotional regulation and the methodology Hoopla uses to guide parents and children through understanding and managing emotions.Join us on this insightful episode to explore how Hoopla is revolutionizing emotional wellness for families by creating tools that facilitate emotional connection, regulation, and understanding. Discover how Hoopla's unique approach can empower children and parents to navigate a wide range of emotions in a healthy and constructive manner. Don't miss out on learning practical strategies for fostering emotional intelligence and building stronger family bonds through the innovative tools provided by Hoopla.

00:00:00 - The Inspiration Behind Hoopla

00:03:03 - Target Audience and App Features

00:09:01 - Ways to Use the App for Stressful Situations

00:14:39 - Hoopla Team and Approach to Development

00:21:21 - Importance of Mindfulness in Education

00:28:53 - Organic Growth and Marketing Strategies

00:33:49 - Hoopla's Proactive Approach to Emotional Wellness

00:38:10 - Previous Project

00:42:53 - Lessons Learned from Previous Ventures

00:50:50 - Drawing Inspiration from Art World

00:56:45 - Steps to Starting Your Own Venture

Raaed Sheibani, Country Manager for StashAway in the UAE, traces his journey from early-stage startup roles and McKinsey consulting to growth and operations leadership before taking on local expansion at StashAway. He explains that his attraction to the firm lies in its mission to democratize investing—no minimums, curated investment options, and tailored products for both retail and high-net-worth clients. Day-to-day, he focuses on strategy, execution, local product-market fit, and listening to customer feedback to refine offerings.StashAway’s approach centers on simplifying choices and reducing analysis paralysis: the investments team curates ETFs and actively monitors and swaps options when better ones appear, while portfolios are rebalanced regularly. The platform offers managed general investing portfolios, DIY ETF selection, cash management, and private market products (private credit now, private equity and infrastructure soon). For higher-value clients, StashAway Reserve provides personal wealth advisors and institutional-fee access to private opportunities, while the company maintains a flat management fee to avoid guidance bias.Raaed emphasizes financial fundamentals for early investors—pay off high-interest debt, build a 4–12 month safety net, and automate regular investments to benefit from compounding rather than trying to time the market. He highlights StashAway’s education initiatives, including the StashAway Academy and participation in DIFC’s One Million Learners program, plus plans for bite-sized, gamified content and upcoming UAE-focused products like Sharia-compliant portfolios and expanded private market offerings.

In this episode of The Dollar Diaries, Suzana John — Head of Operations at Kendal — shares her unconventional path from studying chemical engineering in India to building a career in marketing and startups. She recounts early co-founding experience with an immersive reading app during university, the challenges of ragging and adapting to campus culture, and how hands-on startup work quickly pushed her into leadership and marketing roles. Suzana emphasizes that practical, self-taught skills (design tools, social platforms) propelled her pivot more than formal courses or degrees.Suzana digs into marketing craft and startup life: she highlights the importance of analytical thinking for performance marketing, the value of sales and people skills for entrepreneurs, and the need to pick co-founders carefully. She explains Kendal’s product as an AI-powered WhatsApp CRM that automates lead qualification and saves hours for real estate teams. She also discusses content strategy and personal branding—advocating for experimentation, posting authentic stories, and using tools like Canva and custom GPTs to scale content creation.On wellbeing and long-term goals, Suzana is candid about burnout and the steps she took to recover (time off, strict boundaries). She stresses time and health as key measures of success and plans to return to the creator-economy space with AI-enabled products. She also intends to learn coding to become more technically self-sufficient and believes consistent habits, accountability, and small daily actions build momentum for both career and personal growth.