Sneha and Ravisha Bhatia, co-founders of Sugaholic, Dubai's beloved custom cake studio have been running their business for 16 years. In an industry where surviving six months to a year is considered hard, 60–65% of their team has stayed for 6 to 8 years on average. In this episode, they tell us exactly how.In this episode of the HR Sisters Podcast, we sit down with Sneha and Ravisha to unpack the people decisions behind one of Dubai's most enduring small businesses, a business that was never about cakes to begin with. It was started to raise funds to educate girl children in India. That mission is still the heart of everything they do.We go deep on the topics that matter most to founders and people leaders:- The First Hire Who Never Left: How a cashier who started decorating cupcakes on slow nights became one of their top designers 16 years later and what her loyalty during the pandemic taught them about building a team that stays.- Culture Without a Policy: From getting stools into a commercial kitchen on day one to scrapping phone bans and letting staff listen to music, how Ravisha built a workplace she'd actually want to work in.- Interest-Free Staff Loans: Why Sugaholic decided to lend staff money directly, no interest, no banks and the 20,000 AED risk they took on one employee who needed to build a house in the Philippines.- No Manager, No Hierarchy: Why every staff member; cleaner, baker, designer, front staff has a direct line to the founders, and why removing the management layer has been one of their best decisions.- The Delivery Rules That Protect the Driver: How Ravisha drew the line between client expectations and driver dignity, lost some clients in the process, and didn't apologise for it.- Busting the Guru Myth: Why Sneha and Ravisha reject "work on the business, not in it" and what being the backup when a team member goes off sick actually tells you about your own business.- When We Want to Call It a Day, We Call It: The reflection exercise where both sisters, independently, said they weren't building a legacy or a dynasty, just good work, with good people, until they're ready to stop.Whether you're a founder, a people leader, or someone trying to build a team that actually wants to stay, this conversation is full of the honest, unglamorous decisions that never make it into the business headlines.

What does it take to build a media empire from a VHS tape and a guessed email address?

Reim El Houni, CEO of 22 Films and creator of Mission Visible, did exactly that and in this episode, she's refreshingly honest about the hiring mistakes, leadership lessons and hard-won perspective that came from nearly two decades of producing TV in one of the most unpredictable industries there is.

In this episode of the HR Sisters Podcast, we sit down with Reim El Houni to unpack her journey from a 16-year-old intern emailing every name in the BBC credits, to building 22 Films and scaling teams from a core group of 20 to 60+ for major productions like Expo's daily TV show and the Burj Khalifa opening.

We go deep on the topics that matter most to founders and business leaders:

Hiring for Attitude, Not Skills: Why Reim tells every candidate in their interview that she takes positivity seriously, and how willingness to evolve outweighs any skill on a CV.

The Cost of Control: Why she will never introduce a clocking in and clocking out system, and what it taught her about flexibility, trust and erratic industry hours.

The Hire That Taught Her the Most: An honest account of scaling too fast for Expo, hiring under pressure and what she'd do differently with hindsight.

Letting Go to Grow: How a self-described perfectionist learned to pick her battles, delegate without micromanaging, and teach instead of taking over.

Culture on a Budget: From a gratitude WhatsApp chat to mandatory office dance breaks, the cost-neutral rituals that shaped her team's culture.

Perspective: The Burj Khalifa story, the night she thought she delivered the worst show of her career, and the phone call that changed how she defines success.

Whether you're a founder, a people leader, or someone trying to build culture without a budget, this conversation is full of honest, hard-earned insight from someone who has lived every part of it on camera and off.

What happens when you start a business before you've really figured out how to manage people? Lara Geadeh, founder of Cameo Communications, did exactly that and in this episode she's refreshingly honest about what went wrong, what she learned and how she built a lean, loyal, high-performing team she's proud of today.In this episode of the HR Sisters Podcast, we sit down with Lara Geadeh, founder of Cameo Communications, to unpack six years of building one of Dubai's respected PR and communications agencies from the early days of trial and error at 23, to developing a hiring philosophy that puts flexibility, attitude and integrity above everything else.We go deep on the topics that matter most to founders and business leaders:

• Hiring Without a Rulebook: Why Lara stopped hiring for skills and started hiring for character and how that single shift transformed her team.
• Leading a Lean, Remote Team: How she gives her people full flexibility and freedom while still maintaining accountability, trust and high delivery standards.
• People & Performance: Why accepting 70-80% work is actually a winning retention strategy and how a success fee structure keeps her whole team invested in growth.
• Founder Advice: Take it easy on yourself and your people. Document your processes before you need them. And define your non-negotiables before the first interview, not after.Whether you're a founder, a people leader, or someone building something from the ground up in the UAE, this conversation is packed with honest, practical perspective from a founder who's lived it.