Modern Exchange: Episode 7 - Sumaira Mirza and Bea Besa

I think I should start in title hello I'm Samra mza I am the executive creative director for ugal Pakistan hi I'm be Bessa um I'm from oi Philippines um I'm the Performance Marketing Director tell me something about yourself you know about Philippines actually this is um I guess the first time I'm traveling um for work uh within Ogo so I feel privileged in terms of um being a part of the 3430 and uh about Philippines I would say it's a great country I would say we have a lot of beaches I'm not so sure if that's something that you like we have a lot of beaches in Karachi also so I think I can totally relate to it though I'm not a huge fan of the water how about you so um I've been traveling a lot for work and I think um this time it was such an you know privileged um and you know opportunity also to be part of this 3430 program so yeah Pakistan I think overall it's it's an amazing country the food is amazing out there the people are very hospitable that's great to hear I'm sort of a foodie so I really like uh you know all sorts of food be it sweet food or you know fine cuisine anything so uh what about you uh in the Philippines we also have a lot of um varieties when it comes to food uh we do have sweet food as well and then um but for me I think uh because uh Filipino food is very tasty sometimes so uh I would say um anything savory oh I'm a die hard dessert fan like I'm a I normally tell people that all my 32 teeth are sweet teeth I can have dessert 24 hours oh yeah without any savories I can survive there's this thing called um chai to and it's basically a bread not pudding kind of a thing but it's a bread sweet a bread dessert so that's uh you know one of my favorites and yours we have a lot of um Filipino food with soup um specifically um it's sinigang it's called sinigang so it's quite similar to tomam here in Thailand um but it's clear in terms of broth so it's sour so uh you have a choice if you want it um with pork or with beef okay or seafood so yeah cool do you cook not so much I love to eat though two Foodies together yeah so if you could live in a fictional world where would it be it would definitely be Harry Potter I would love to receive a hog birs letter as in now we speaking I think the world is so amazing out there telling and giving such a message to everyone there's magic in everything right you know if even if you're down there's magic within from which you know you can change whatever is around you yours me I would say the Matrix um completely if you look at the matrix it's like a I would say it's a more of like a fascinating blend on the advanced technology and also more of the virtual reality I just remembered the scene where Morpheus was trying to teach Neo more of combat skills through virtual reality it's so cool if that's something that we can do now if you want to learn something and then you'll just more of like apply it in real life so um I know personally like you know advertising is such a difficult industry so when did you actually realize that you know self-realization of self-care actually um that it's needed um for me I guess my biggest learning point was the pandemic so um I'm not so sure if in Pakistan you've experienced the lockdown we did almost for a year oh my gosh yeah so um also similar to Philippines we also had the lockdown so I was away from my family I had to adjust um uh in terms of my routine I just have to go out be more cautious because of it's just me um but uh I guess I realized that it's a turning point for me because I didn't really realize immediately but the I guess my home became also my workplace I didn't realize I was working overtime um and that's when I realized that I have to set boundaries for work and also give time for myself how about you how did you so um I think uh there were actually two incidences in my life so I am a workaholic I'm a perfectionist so I think for me um you know to give my best was my priority but when I became a mom uh and you know like when I held my

daughter for the first time in my arms that was the time when I actually you know it hit me and I realized that oh my God no it's just not me now it's now her also you know of whom I have to take care of so only then you know once I take care of myself only then I will be able to take care of my daughter and uh the second time was more um you know on a professional level so one of my really good friends he was at work and you know the very next moment he was asked to leave and the replacement was already there that made me realize that you know like whatever you do it's like you're you can be replaced thank you so much for sharing those realizations I guess in some cases it also applies to me but um I also wanted to um check with you um what is uh the best advice that you you've received the best advice I think there um are actually two and one of them I still hear that advice because my father just does not want to let it go and he thinks I should be listening to him at this age also that's a again very Pakistani thing you know like we have to listen to our M parents uh whatever they're saying and uh we are obliged to do that so he constantly tells me that you know the doctor can only prescribe you medicine and it's you who have you know who has to take it who has to gulp it down who has to swallow that medicine um in order to heal yourself and to cure yourself it has actually helped me not only in my career but in my personal life also that you know people will give you advices people will keep on giving you suggestions but it's up to you uh you know um you select and you choose the right one and you know apply that particular thing to your whatever your situation is and then you move on and the second one was don't sort of you know brood over uh things that are not in your control I mean there are things in our lives that we know that they are beyond our control but uh you know still we ruin our present because of that so I try I mean I know it's a little difficult because people who like to have control on everything for them not controlling and letting go uh is a difficult thing but I whenever I've done that I think it has only helped me be a better person um you know or progress more in my career and in my personal life so yeah what about you some of the things that you've shared like being a perfectionist it's something that I also apply at work or not just work but also in personal life so and the second um advice that you uh were sharing is actually one of the best advice that I received which is to focus more on what you can control and let go of what you can I try to also provide like the best work that I could um in any aspect from work or personel but it also has to be I guess you have to also apply self-compassion and try to give yourself more of like um a chance to adjust because uh not everything is in your control and um those setbacks are really um part of the journey definitely so taking from there uh what basically you know for you the role of mentorship in your career and how necessary it is for you know younger generation to have mentors like you or you know your uh Partners we recently have like more of like a leadership program in the Philippines where they identified um the difference between mentorship and coaching oh wonderful yeah so I guess I realize there that there's really a significant difference between um coaching and mentorship but in the context of mentorship it provides more of like really you um trying to guide um your mentee in terms of what to do and also for you to assess uh if they need mentorship so for me it's important especially in the professional field um at any stage of your life um mentorship is required regardless if you're an experienced um manager and also if you're um more of like an intern or someone new into company so it provides more of guidance and it helps me in terms of improving overall cuz I receive feedback and it's important for me to show up as a mentor because um it stems from um me helping others in terms of growing and um as I have received mentorship from my mentors before so it's really more of paying it forward okay so how about you how does it impact in your life so I think it's um just like you know um gaming you tend to go um every time you know you get a good advice or you know a proper mentorship from your um seniors so it's like leveling up in the game and you

know eventually you acing and winning the game so for me I've got mentors not only from like the professional world but also from my like you know my dad and my brothers and my family so they've been constantly you know they had been you know they have been a support like sort of you know guiding me towards the right thing so I would definitely would want to give this mentorship to the younger generation and for me it's just not telling them that this is the right thing or the wrong thing they're doing you know in the organization or work-wise but for me mentorship is mostly being their support to guide them in everything it's just not work related you know I think workwise a lot of people can do wonders but to be a good human is also very important I mean that's nice to hear that you you're I mean you're applying mentorship also outside I I like to do that I think that really helps me to be Who I Am So based on the perception of um women lead leadership so how is it in Pakistan basically um you know cultural wise and mindset wise um we all know it's a little bit towards you know leaning towards a patriarchal um Society kind of a mind mindset but uh it is changing and I think women are actually you know stepping up and the mindset is changing you know we trying to educate our younger generation especially you know the girls um much more uh as if you know as compared to what was there probably 10 15 years ago yes we I think a little slow from the rest of the world but it's happening the young girls the genzies actually they are now growing up with seeing their moms juggling between not only the um household chores but you know they are performing well in their um you know relative Fields initially I think 15 years back um all we could think of was um you know for especially for girls it was just like you know she could become a doctor and um probably an engineer and that's about it but now young girls are entering into so many fields uh and it's uh really you know in um PR moment for us to as pakistanis also like you know to see women in different roles and you know especially in um leadership so yeah mindset is changing and uh and I'm hopeful that it will keep on changing yeah well that's good to here um I think it's quite similar within the Philippines so um before I guess we see a lot of um male as more on the high profile or more of like high positions now um I would say in the Philippines it's evolving positively for women so I'm seeing a lot of women leaders now um not just within the corporate setting but I see also leaders within government and other sectors and um I say it provides more of like an inclusive environment where we also push or more of give opportunities to a new generation of leaders especially for women it's something that I'm excited to see in the near future and I I'm hoping I also provide more of like inspiration as I do my best in not just corporate but also in my professional career yeah that sounds great keeping a fingers crossed for more female uh leadership and power since we've been talking about you know women leadership what would be a subject that you would want to learn more about I've been really interested in learning more about Behavioral Science oh my God I mean in the context of of course the work and um I've been I mean just to give context because I've been really into digital marketing um for more than a decade now and so it's really me pushing myself to learn more and for me to learn more I really need to understand I guess from a perspective of um different consumers different customers so Behavioral Science would be ideal to I guess in our field especially to understand and to put yourself in the shoe of your market and understand how you can provide more of an effective and I would say efficient way of doing your storytelling um of course depending on um what you uh what's your goal for the brands that you work with yeah oh cool how about you yeah so I think for me um as a Storyteller um there two things because um you know like um if you talk about moving ahead in with with time so I think technology is one thing that uh you know I would definitely uh would engage into and would want to dive deeper into that uh particular subject but you know as you said Behavioral Sciences um I was thinking you know like because I almost wanted to learn more about human psychology and the best thing is I think um I'm sure you must be knowing that you know within um UGI we have this Behavioral Science uh you know an entire wing for it and I think you

should you know approach them and see how much you know you can learn from them and I think an actual Insight uh you know if you talk about um insights a true Insight would come from if we understand the people out there you know in a better way rather than just treating them as consumer but to be uh you know with to think of them as humans like we are and then I think the connect would be a little more powerful uh than we can currently do so since I think we both uh you know we are the kind of women who want to Ace everything who want to be you know doing wonders in our professional and personal lives but it's not always hunky dory like you know the situations are I mean behind every success there are failures right so how do you cope with you know like situations like those where uh you know have been tough you know what did you do at that time um I guess in tough times um there's no particular I guess strategy I would say it's but um just reflecting on how I cope with um tough times um first is I guess more of staying grounded trying to understand the situation and then um I also try to reach out especially if it's out of something that I'm not really familiar with so I try to reach out for support um to my mentors to the DS and my cagues and um I think lastly it's related to um my answer earlier is to practice self-compassion cuz I know we're perfectionist but uh usually there we can't really avoid like external factors and also setbacks and now I try to accept it as more of um really um guiding me to provide more of like a clear path in terms of how I um how I position myself especially during those challenges how about you as a perfectionist I mean a smooth sale never you know gives you the best of the captains out there um so failures are important uh mistakes have to be made in order to you know learn from them there are a lot of things you know small things that I would um think about when I'm you know at the lowest and my um family and friends they like very supportive in the sense that you know they keep on Guiding me they will always you know uh keep on pushing me and they will remind me of you know the wins that I had previously i' I've achieved and um remind and they definitely remind me that you know you made this mistake so don't do this again and you know you think of this uh situation a little differently so for me it's um self-awareness also you know like I should know where I went wrong and what mistakes did I you know make in my past and learnings from those points have been you know my kind of a springboard to you know bounce back yes there are days when I'm like you know completely down and I'm like oh no I don't want to do this is not happening but I think another Factor uh that has kept me going is I think that's what I've um sort of gotten from my mom she was one of the most resilient uh women I've ever seen um so I think seeing her you know doing getting up in the morning and you know doing her things U whatever had happened you know a night before or whatever you know problems were coming her way I've always you know I always saw her like standing you know steadfast and just going through it so I think all these factors learning from the past mistakes and you know like um seeing my mom going through and you know learning from her and especially you like people um who are always there within the organization or you know like my family and friend friends I think they are the ones who would take me out of you know the self-doubt or you know prop like the harsh self criticism that I always do so yeah I think that has you know all these factors actually have kept me going it's great knowing you better I'm excited to stay connected and I hope I get to work with you it was an amazing you know a very small session but uh it was a really wonderful conversation definitely looking forward to work with you let's stay connected we are the talent we are the culture we are the modern Exchange