Jumana Al Darwish Episode

In the latest episode of the Empowerography Podcast, my guest is Jumana Al Darwish. Jumana Al Darwish is an award winning social entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is the Co-Founder of international franchise “The Happy Box” and Founder of global brands “The Happy Studio” and “Happy Hearts Global." Being the visionary and creative member of the team, she brings an international perspective as the daughter of a UN diplomat. Inspired by the work of her late father, who changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and families all over the world, she vowed to embrace a similar journey and become an active global change maker. In this episode we discuss philanthropy, serial entrepreneurship, art, happiness, perspective, macro vs micro and support systems.

Jumana Al Darwish is an award winning social entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is the Co-Founder of international franchise “The Happy Box” and Founder of global brands “The Happy Studio” and “Happy Hearts Global." Being the visionary and creative member of the team, she brings an international perspective as the daughter of a UN diplomat. Inspired by the work of her late father, who changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and families all over the world, she vowed to embrace a similar journey and become an active global change maker. Jumana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community & Ethnic Studies from Concordia University in Canada, a Masters of Science in Evidence-Based Social Intervention from Oxford University in the United Kingdom and a Strategy Execution Programme Certificate from INSEAD in France. With over 10 years of experience in the public and nonprofit sectors, Jumana’s skills as a philanthropist, strategist and fundraiser seemed like the perfect fit working as the Head of Corporate Planning and Development at Dubai Cares. Following the birth of her daughter, Ayla, she began to realize in her pursuit towards happiness, that family quality time was the key anecdote. Jumana embarked on her first entrepreneurial journey with her sister in law educationalist Linda Darwish and co-founded “The Happy Box” in 2014. The social enterprise aims to instill the love of art and creativity amongst children and promote family bonding through educational arts and crafts activity boxes. In 2017, Jumana opted to expand on the success of the company and establish a secondary lifestyle brand; "The Happy Studio,” home to The Happy Box factory and is a community space which encourages social interaction between strangers by offering curated arts and crafts workshops and interactive installations targeting all members of the community regardless of age or gender. Her happy venture would of course not be complete without going back to basics and embracing her philanthropic roots leading her to the establishment of “Happy Hearts Global,” a foundation currently being registered under the UK Charity Commission which aims to provide children and in particular girls with access to primary education and art therapeutic and rehabilitation programs globally. Hearts that give are truly the happiest.

Website - https://www.thehappybox.ae

IG - https://www.instagram.com/jumana_aldarwish

https://www.instagram.com/thehappyboxofficial

https://www.instagram.com/thehappystudioofficial

https://www.instagram.com/madeforyouglobal