Latifa AlGurg is a natural-born optimist. If any woman exemplifies the “glass half-full” approach to life, it is the Dubai-based fashion-designer-turned-consultant-turned-non-profit-leader-in-training.
Basement flooded during the 2024 Dubai rains? Well, she needed to renovate it anyway. Parisian manufacturers not taking her early forays into fashion seriously? She moved things closer to home to make use of the expertise available within the UAE.
Closing her successful, modest fashion label, Twisted Roots, to focus her attention on other areas? “My husband asked me if I was sad, and I said I don’t feel sad at all,” says Latifa. “I feel like I learned six Bachelor’s degrees of information that I can take away with me.”
“For me, purpose is about learning and growth,” adds the mother-of-three. “I have three values that drive my life – growth, faith and integrity. I try to embody those professionally and personally. It makes it simpler to make decisions when you can reference a framework and ask yourself, ‘Does this lend itself to my values or contradict them?’ If it contradicts them, I don’t follow that path.”
Latifa credits her background in engineering with honing her planning skills while allowing her to adapt to the changes and challenges that any woman who balances both career and motherhood must navigate.
“Over the past two years, I’ve become more involved in working with NGOs and social impact initiatives with grassroots in the UAE,” she says. “Fundraising here is different from it is in the West, as we are more private in our philanthropic work, plus the regulatory landscape is different here, too.”
Having recently registered for a Master’s programme in non-profit leadership, Latifa has been working with initiatives that focus on food insecurity, working with children with special needs and people of determination, and placing student volunteers with charitable organisations for a mutually beneficial experience.
“I’m very passionate about tackling food security – I think we have a lot of opportunity for growth in that area,” she says. “In this region, there are so many valuable perspectives and voices to be heard, and I would love to be a part of that journey. The future is wherever I can add value.”
“I always tell my kids to approach things from a place of curiosity, because it opens up so many doors,” Latifa concludes. “An understanding of what is happening in the world and why something is the way it is is vital before embarking on change.”
