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Episode Description:

In this episode, Sara speaks to Julia about how Islam has shaped her leading. Sara explains that she trusts Allah has mapped out her journey. At first, she was upset about giving up her dream of being a basketball player, but she soon discovered that pursuing the sport as a referee brought her new and bigger opportunities like the World Cup and the Olympics. While that’s true, she emphasises that hard work is essential; one must give their 100% to whatever they do and never underestimate their capabilities. “You don’t know what will happen to you, you never know who is watching you…you never know what opportunities will come to you,” is what Islam teaches her, and she transfers the same lesson to her juniors. She also talks about how Islam guides her to treat everyone equally and share her learnings and experiences with her juniors, peers and community, so that when she grows, her community grows with her. Sara’s leads with positivity and believes that talking to people nicely will always make them respect her even if they fail to like her for whatsoever reason.

About the Guests

Sara Gamal Elsharnouby

Sara Gamal Elsharnouby is from Egypt. She graduated from Alexandria University as a Civil Engineer and is currently an International Basketball referee since 2016. She has refereed in many international competitions such as Tokyo Olympics (2020), FIBA Women World Cup Australia (2022) and many junior men and women World Cups. An inspiring fact about her: Sarah Gamal was the first Arab and African woman to referee 3-on-3 basketball games at the Tokyo Olympics (2020).

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.