Prayer Is My Business Strategy. Here’s Why.

I don’t often speak about my faith, but in moments like this, it feels disingenuous not to share what has truly sustained me over the last 30 years of my career.

Right now, many of us in the Middle East are navigating uncertainty, fear, and difficult decisions. Do we stay? Do we go? How do we continue to build, lead, and show up when the world around us feels unstable?

This is not my first experience of crisis.

I began my international career in New York City, arriving the day before 9/11. I witnessed the second tower being hit. I was part of a community in shock, grief, and recovery - while simultaneously trying to find my footing as a young woman in my early twenties, building a career in a world that had suddenly changed.

In 2008, I was living in London during the financial crisis. I remember the day Lehman Brothers shut its doors, and the ripple effect that swept through Canary Wharf and the wider financial sector. Fear was everywhere.

Then came 2020. COVID.

At the time, I was a freelance consultant, traveling the world, speaking on global stages. Within one week, I lost every single corporate booking. My final engagement before everything shut down was with Condé Nast and the British Vogue team; a career highlight, followed immediately by complete uncertainty.

And now, today, I find myself in Dubai, watching missiles in the sky, once again faced with the question: what do you do when the external world feels out of control?

So after three decades, across four major global crises, how have I continued to build my brand, sustain my business, and emerge stronger each time?

My answer may surprise you.

PRAYER.

It may not sound like a conventional business strategy. But for me, it has been the foundation of everything.

Because here’s the truth:

You cannot rebuild if you cannot think clearly.

When your mind is overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, and worst-case scenarios, creativity shuts down. Strategic thinking disappears. You lose perspective.

Prayer, for me, is how I regain it.

Firstly, it creates space.

It forces me to pause. To breathe. To step out of the noise and regulate my nervous system. In a world that is loud and relentless, prayer is my interruption - a moment of stillness that allows me to reset.

Secondly, it allows for honesty and release.

Through prayer, often alongside worship music, I give myself permission to feel everything; fear, uncertainty, frustration. I stop performing strength and allow myself to be vulnerable.

There are moments where I simply say:

“Lord, I don’t know what to do. Help me.”

And in that moment, I stop carrying everything on my own. I release.

Finally, it gives me clarity.

Once the noise quiets, I can listen. Not to the chaos around me, but to the still, internal voice that already holds the answers.

Because the truth is…we often already know what to do.

We just can’t hear it over the noise.

The world is loud. Constant. Overstimulating.

But clarity rarely comes through noise…it comes through stillness.

And that is what prayer gives me:

Direction. Discernment. Strategy.

Over the last 30 years, in every crisis I have faced, I have returned to prayer. And every single time, it has anchored me, guided me, and strengthened me.

I cannot control global events.

I cannot control decisions made in distant boardrooms or government buildings.

But I can control my inner world.

And in doing so, I position myself to respond, not react.

To build, not break.

To lead, not retreat.

For me, prayer is not separate from business or brand building. It is the strategy behind how I sustain both. It is how I become who I am called to be - regardless of the external environment.

And from that place, the brand continues to grow.