RUBEENA
ISMATH
INTERIOR DESIGNER | SINGLE-MOM | BOSS-LADY | LEADER | MANAGER | MENTOR | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIST | PROJECT MANAGER | STORYTELLER | SELF-PROCLAIMED BAKER
THE WABI-SABI JOURNEY
It is my belief that the journey of life is similar to a long yet beautiful trekking experience. The most beautiful view is often after the hardest climb – as the saying goes – It gives you the opportunity to see things from multiple perspectives - and amidst all the silence and beauty – you find profound wisdom. It is both imperfect and yet perfect in every way. It is also the ever-changing backdrop of life that weaves you into multiple situations and experiences that help you grow into the person you are today and will be in the future. After all, we are an amalgamation of our education, experience, exposure, culture, community, and upbringing.
Therefore, to summarize one’s life in a few words - to me – would be a true injustice to a life well-lived. However, I do realize I must do so - for professional purposes. And so, I shall try to trim the extras, the bloopers, and give you the post-edited version of my journey to date!
This is the imperfect yet perfectly beautiful (ongoing) story of my life – of a simple, Muslim middle-class South-Indian girl with an orthodox upbringing who fought against all social norms, stereotypes, prejudices, and odds to prove what she’s capable of to the world (and herself of course). A girl who is an Interior designer and thought leader in this field. I’m what my peers and colleagues call “a complete game-changer” – a package deal of sorts. I’m a dynamic, resilient, confident, passionate interior designer with 10+ years of core experience in design, execution, leadership, management, and business development. Having a design and build portfolio of 350+ projects experience in both UAE & India.
I’m grateful to have had the opportunity and honor of working in multiple sectors of this industry from Residential, Hospitality, Corporate, Retail, F&B, Healthcare to Institutional projects. It has helped me develop a design and build portfolio of over 350 projects in both UAE & India. And as the Head of my department, I also have extensive experience spear-heading and leading a 40-member brilliant interior design, PMC, and Execution division for the past 7 years.
So yes – I’m an Interior Designer/Team Leader/Manager/Mentor/Business Development Strategist/ Process Designer/FF&E specialist & Project Manager all woven into a single human being. And no – I’m not bragging – I’m actually known to be extremely modest and ethical. I’m not a superhuman either. I’m just a very ambitious, experienced, and versatile person who made the most of the opportunities offered to her at the right time and at the right place.
My humble journey began at the American University of Sharjah (AUS)when I enrolled in the Interior Design course in the year 2002. It was my first step towards the creative freedom and independence that came with the chaotic, and utterly beautiful world of art, architecture, and design. It is what helped me shape the inner artist in me into the innovative designer that I am today. After my 3rd year in AUS - I decided to transfer to America for my final year as an exchange student and completed my final year in the Robert Busch School of Design, Kean University, the USA in 2006. I briefly took a sabbatical after my graduation for the birth of my beautiful and brilliant daughter.
My first opportunity in the workforce was given by a start-up company called MAKSQUARE founded by my AUS seniors Khalid Al-Qassimi, Abdulla Kunhi, and Khaider Plaza. It is a firm that is now famously known as AKDESIGNO in Dubai. I was hired as a “Senior interior designer” and was put on the forefront of projects/clients on some very challenging projects – like designing apartments at the Burj Khalifa. I learned the value of multi-tasking and managing multiple projects at the same time within a very short span of time. It was the massive experience I developed here that helped me gain momentum into the Interior Design industry and prepared me to play the role I was entrusted with soon thereafter. I am extremely grateful to Abdulla Kunhi for giving me this priceless opportunity.
I moved to Chennai in 2014 and soon joined a 4-year-old start-up company DesignQube Architects & Interior Designers as an Interior Design Manager. The founder and MD – Mr. Arun Karthik and the CEO - Mr. Sivaraman – both personally mentored, trained and gave me the perfect platform to set up my own design division as I saw fit. With their guidance, mentorship, resources, trust, and autonomy I realized I could achieve anything I wished for.
During my tenure at DQ – I went from being the Interior Design Manager to the Head of Interior Design leading my own division of 40 members in just 1.5 years. I handled everything from client presentations, to giving the sales pitch, managing the business development, and designing projects from A to Z. I converted project leads and managed my own divisional revenue+profits – making my department a self-sustaining unit. I began strategizing internal processes, recruitment, training, and management of the entire design team. A team that consisted of Architects, Interior Designers, Visualizers, Draughtsmen, Interns, Quantity Surveyors, Project Managers, Site Engineers, Procurement Managers, and Project Coordinators.
I can proudly say that my department was and still is the highest revenue-generating division in the firm. And the credit categorically goes to each and every member of my brilliant team with whom I had the honor of working with these past few years. These are people I now proudly call my extended family and leave behind as my legacy. I don’t think I can thank my mentors and friends – Arun Karthik and Sivaraman enough for giving me their, trust, support, and guidance to steer this ship through every storm. But I mostly would like to thank them for believing in me and my capacity.
And therefore - a whopping 350-projects portfolio, 1 billion in projects net-worth, and a pandemic later – I believe the time has come for me to embark onto the next adventure of life – this time back in UAE – The diverse and dynamic country that I’m proud to have studied, lived and grown-up in with respect, dignity and security. The true home of my heart.
While the journey up until now has been absolutely fantastic - I can't wait to see what else life has to offer in the coming years. Like the famous poet, Rumi said, " Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do".
I’m now looking forward to joining a dynamic, process-driven, award-winning, internationally acclaimed Interior Design firm that delivers bespoke, innovative, functional, timeless, and purposeful interiors/architecture to all sectors of the design industry. I would like to contribute my talents towards becoming an indispensable asset to any organization that I work for while learning, sharing, and collaborating at the same time.
Sincerely,
