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.