Steve Jobs had once said that “The only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe in.” During school-life everyone has some inherent aim or vision in life; everyone believes in their ideas but in retrospect we observe that very few of us have the capability to translate that vision into a reality. Obstacles can lead to a collapse or can be a learning curve. Entrepreneurs in particular undergo many such obstacles. However, converting these challenges into opportunities is one of the salient characteristics of budding entrepreneurs. Among such empowering personalities across the globe, some women entrepreneurs have pedaled their way into various industry verticals with courage and dedication. Raheela Al Kareem, the Founder and CEO of Plush Event Planning, is a perfect example for the same. The self-assured woman has successfully fulfilled her father’s wish by proving her capabilities in various industries, running in America.
Whims of a Father and Primary Objectives
Raheela mentions that her father is her chief inspiration and idol. She dreamed of being a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. Hence, she perused her MBA in the States. But her prime motivator expired just after the completion of her MBA degree. He wanted her to have a PhD from DePaul University and also shared a last wish of creating a non-profit charity organization before demise. Being a compliant daughter, Raheela thereafter made her fathers’ aspirations her primary objective and decided to fulfill his wish.
Initially, the immigration status of Raheela had been a crucial hindrance. She was in America on a student visa, thereby restricting her work proceedings many a times. She could not get a job or even time to work on her ideas. After reassessing her situation, she took the decision to join a variety of professional courses in her area of interest and strengthened her portfolio. The two years of hard work transpired into fruitful outcomes. Today, Raheela is a student of Doctoral in Educational Leadership at DePaul University and has been running various businesses successfully including event planning and non-profit organization, Al Karim Foundation.
A Passion that Drives Numerous Businesses to Prominence
Driving numerous businesses with the same enthusiasm is not a cake walk. Raheela Al Kareem currently carries three diverse businesses on her shoulder.
Plush Multimedia: It is a multimedia company based in Chicago, IL. It satisfies communication needs of small and medium sized businesses. Stereotypically, it provides a wide-array of communication products and services such as logo designing, branding, print collateral, customized web applications, and websites. It also offers photography, videography, IT consulting services, and other promotional services as well. Raheela is an integrated partner in the company and handles dedicated teams of experienced professionals therein.
Plush Event Planning: As a certified event planner, it provides event planning for important functions like wedding, cooperate events, anniversary, and other family events including birthday. It’s a one-stop shopping event platform that offers Event Planning, Photography, Cinematography, Wedding Cake & Sweet Table, Salad Station, Stage Décor, and Centrepieces, Flower Bouquets and Flower Garland, Floral Décor, Romantic Wedding Room Décor, Sound, Lighting, Videography of event, Wedding Designer Dresses Boutique, Makeup, Hairdo and Tattoo for bridal, Invitation Cards Design and Print. The timeless designs, flawless co-ordination and chic styling of companies are widely acknowledged by the clients, and Raheela has been the key facilitator to assure that. She asserts, “We believe that ‘Dreams Really Come True’ and We want our clients to be absolutely stress free, all that we do ask is to enjoy every single moment of your event.”
Al Karim Foundation: The foundation was a dream of a father cradled by his daughter. Raheela has handled multiple ambitious social projects under this roof. She is currently involved in three major initiatives that include New-born Cloths Drive and Fazal Food Drive for Karachi, Warm Coats Drive for Chicago. She desires to help as many neediest people as possible through this platform and take her father’s dream project to an indisputable level.
Pivotal Qualities that Crafted Success
Raheela believes that her passion to be a philanthropist, courageous and an adept professional is due to the resolute support from her employees. She further states that “My weakness and my failures build a solid foundation of spark and positive energy inside me which motivates and excites me about prospects of work” She has faith in her god gifted talents, and is proud about her individual struggles that has enhanced her persona and catered in business booming.
She has a pivotal action plan to enhance organizational infrastructure, with some essential alleviated areas of concerns at center. Raheela predominantly focuses on, understanding and prompting learning reciprocity. She encourages leadership through reciprocity and meaningful interactions with others, and believes such initiatives improve organizational context. Indexing and monitoring personal growth and organizational growth is another concern area for her. She retains a personal journal listed with essential actions and daily reports to enhance individual performance levels. Raheela claims that organizational improvements can be enabled persistently through biding an action plan understanding the complete progression as organizational unit. She has formed a working relationship with the administrative department, which promotes the company policies and improves the restraints upon every unit, thereby further assisting in the complete organizational growth.
Imperative Insights for Nascent Entrepreneurs
Raheela is known to be a versatile and multitalented individual amongst her associates. For years, Raheela has been mentoring in various leading institutes. She exclaims that no one succeeds immediately; it is of utmost importance to have faith on one’s own capabilities. She advices emerging entrepreneurs to believe in themselves and challenge their pre-conceived abilities and to have a vision, and build a capable team that shares the same set of goals as the organization.
