Brave New Voices.
Unfiltered Conversations On:

Binu has been a writer of sorts most of her adult life. She has been a reporter, script writer, deputy editor, features writer, poet, blogger, author, and creative writing teacher. She loves the Himalayan foothills and she is a tree hugger. She loves sunsets and the night sky. She is a foodie. She is also a grieving mother, having lost her only child, her daughter Sakshi, to a rare cancer in July 2022. She now writes about grief, living with it, managing it, and growing with it while reclaiming and holding on to hope and joy. Since Sakshi’s passing, she has become a certified clinical hypnotherapist and a grief educator and peer supporter. She hopes to support others, especially others dealing with the loss of a loved one, in their journey of healing. She has also immersed herself in spreading Sakshi’s legacy in India through the Sakshi’s Joy Foundation, a foundation she started to support underprivileged pediatric cancer patients; and in Dubai by supporting the annual Sakshi Verkot Memorial Theater Festival founded by her school, and with our association with The Junction.

Dania is a dedicated champion of young minds and a firm believer that impact shouldn't come at the cost of joy. As a former educator and the current Chief Operating Officer and Director of Education Initiatives at the Emirates Literature Foundation, she tries to weave an element of playfulness and fun in everything she touches, whether she is overseeing the Foundation’s day to day operations, education projects, and community events or organising the annual Emirates LitFest. However, she says that raising her three children, who have now flown the coop, firmly anchored her perspective and left her with a permanent preference for the company of children over adults. (If you lose her in a room full of adults, look for the children and you will find her!) While guiding a major cultural institution requires steady corporate leadership, navigating life as an empty nester has only reinforced her belief that the unfiltered imagination and wonder of young readers are what keep our collective creativity alive and authentic. In her free time, she dives into murder mysteries, tackles complex puzzles, jigsaw or written, and seeks out the quiet moments that inspire her, inevitably with a great book in her bag and a fresh cup of coffee in hand.

Farah is a mother of three boys and a creative storyteller passionate about honest conversations around motherhood, and all (the good and the bad) emotions that come with it. Through her personal experiences, she hope to create space for connection, understanding, and shared support among women navigating different journeys of motherhood. She speaks from personal experience as a mother navigating the everyday challenges of caregiving, healing, and self-growth while striving to show up as the best version of herself for herself and her boys. Farah recently published her first book “The Things I Didn’t Say”.

Garineh is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Applied Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner focused on translating science into practical strategies for healthspan optimization, with a special interest in environmental toxins. She is the Founder of Gratifying Wellness Consulting, the Director of Coaching at OMICS Precision Health and a lecturer at CNM Institute of Natural Health. A mother of three daughters, Garineh’s path into the health field began when one of her twin daughters faced early health challenges, an experience that led her to deeply explore lifestyle, nutrition, and root-cause approaches to health and ultimately shaped her professional path.

Geeja is a certified Yoga Coach, mindset mentor, entrepreneur, and advocate for holistic well-being and at the heart of her story is motherhood. Geeja is the proud mother of two daughters, aged 35 and 33, both thriving in their respective lives and careers. Much of their upbringing was shaped by Geeja's determination to balance career, home, and personal growth while raising them largely on her own. Those experiences taught her resilience, patience, and the quiet strength that many mothers embody, qualities that continue to inspire her work in helping others heal, grow, and thrive.

Janice is a proud Filipina who left the Philippines for Dubai in 2007 with nothing but dreams and determination, and has managed to build a remarkable journey with Costa Coffee her first and only employer in the UAE. From starting her career as a barista to rising as an Area Manager, her story is one of resilience, growth, and unwavering faith. But behind her professional success is an equally powerful role: a devoted mother of three, balancing leadership and motherhood through every challenge along the way. Her journey hasn’t been easy, but it stands as a testament to how perseverance, hard work, and faith can shape a beautiful path.

Pauline is a single mother and expat living in Abu Dhabi and working in Dubai, navigating motherhood while rebuilding her life after a divorce, and ongoing high-conflict co-parenting. My journey has included years of silence and isolation from friends, family, and familiar support systems, and the emotional toll of prolonged legal battles. Through therapy and deep personal work, she began to better understand trauma, narcissistic dynamics, and the impact that living in survival mode had on both her wellbeing and her experience of motherhood. Her healing journey has been about reclaiming her voice, setting boundaries, and learning to parent with intention, emotional awareness, and resilience.

Priyanka is a mother to two beautiful girls (one fur baby and one human), as well as a wife, daughter, and CDA-licensed psychologist with over 12 years of experience supporting adolescents, adults, and couples through emotional challenges, relationship difficulties, and major life transitions. As a mother herself, Priyanka brings not only professional insight and expertise but also deeply personal lived experience to conversations around infertility, maternal mental health, adoption-related experiences, grief and loss, trauma, anxiety, burnout, and relationship challenges. Her own journey has shaped the empathy, sensitivity, and authenticity with which she supports others navigating hope, loss, uncertainty, and connection.

Rosanna is a mom of 3 lovely boys and works as a writer and editor for think tanks, but her heart is driven to explore the “why?” of identity, culture and the spaces women inhabit. Writing allows her to navigate routes through anger, joy and sadness into a place of discovery, why we feel the way we feel and think the way we think.

Dr. Ritu is a distinguished Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with more than two decades of professional experience in the field of mental health, behavioral sciences, and psychological assessment. However, this makes up just a half of who Dr. Ritu is. She is also a mother to two children. Raising them under challenging circumstances, her wisdom, determination and resolve have formed the foundation for her children’s personalities. Pushing through financial, emotional, and other personal challenges, she has found success professionally, but also in her two children, one of which is studying medicine in the UK, while the other one is studying cybersecurity here in the UAE.

Salma, a mother of two daughters, Lina and Aya, is a children’s book author, storyteller, certified trainer, and journaling mentor who is born and raised in the UAE. She says motherhood became a turning point in her life. After losing her job just 10 days after her second delivery, she began rebuilding her identity through storytelling and self-expression that led her to publish her first children’s book, My Sister’s Teddy Bear is Cuter, inspired by her daughters. Before stepping into the world of children’s literature and healing through writing, Salma spent eight years as a journalist at local newspapers in the UAE, where she covered human stories, culture, and social issues.

Sanam, mom to Faaz and Innaya is a Dubai based project manager, coffee connoisseur built from her kids love. She can wipe tears and pack lunches, run projects like a boss and still handle every storm that comes their way. Being a widowed mother while her heart was breaking was one of the hardest roles she ever had to play. It helped her show her that softness doesn't make her weak, it makes her powerful. More to grow, more to be!

Sanita comes to UNMUTE: Mothers Who Heal wearing many hats: solopreneur, mother of twin daughters, and founder of a leadership development and advisory practice working with senior leaders across Gulf and Worldwide. She is also a perpetual student, currently deepening her training in systems psychodynamics and organisational psychology, because she says the most generous thing she can offer her clients and her daughters is to keep growing. However, she says that motherhood, and particularly motherhood to twins, is her most demanding and most clarifying teacher. It has stretched her capacity in ways no degree ever could, and shown her that healing is not something we finish, but a practice we return to, again and again, in the company of others. In her free time, she climbs mountains, travel, and seek out the conversations that inspire, unsettle, and grow her.