Sajna Rahman, is the Co-Founder of Award Winning ‘Tomorrow Meets Today’ and THINK TRANSFORM THRIVE a social enterprise that delivers exclusive events, bringing together leaders of ‘Tomorrow’ with Inspirational leaders of ‘Today’, enabling these two groups to build meaningful relationships and use it as a platform to create opportunities.
After winning this prestigious recognition ‘Achievement in Diversity’ at the Property & Facilities Management Awards in November 2019. Sajna decided it was the right time for her to take the leap of faith and leave her corporate role to build on the success of her achievements and embark on the journey of entrepreneurship at the start of 2020.
With her passionate and enthusiastic nature, Sajna thrived, working in the corporate world for 24 years and is known for her natural flare of networking. With the power of profile and her confidence to ‘just ask’ she built her personal brand to raise her visibility and developed a reputation of being a super connector resourceful, and a recognisable figure in her industry.
Her passion to help others thrive has been apparent over the last decade, through her various voluntary roles, she has enabled people to succeed, which is why she has now set up her own business to authentically help people and organisations get better results!
Tell us a bit about your background
I have worked in the Facilities Management industry for 24 years across various private and public sector organisations. I started my journey as a Coca-Cola receptionist and climbed the career ladder to a senior role for a large global company. I have held various positions from managing helpdesk, operational and sales roles. I went on to having roles being crafted for me to suit by skills set, such as brand ambassador, people/leadership development roles.
For the last decade, I have held various voluntary roles; Deputy chair for committees, ‘Women in FM’ ‘Rising FM’s and was part of the Members Council for the British Institute of Facilities Management that helps shape the future of the workplace. I am passionate about the progression of diversity in the workplace (Gender/BAME) which is why I volunteered my time to do my part towards achieving progression for this agenda; by speaking at various events, running campaigns, participating in round table discussions, contributing to media channels and utilising my social media platforms to influence positive change.
On a personal level, I am a wife and recently celebrated my silver wedding anniversary and a mother to an adult son who has just started his corporate career in the financial industry. I believe women, regardless of ethnicity or background can have it all, if we choose it! We just need to know how. I want to share the tools that has worked for me to inspire others to realise their potential and become the greatest version of themselves.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
Yes, I did, seven years ago I planned my career and have achieved all what I had set out to do, such as increasing my salary, changing roles and many more. I co-founded ‘Tomorrow Meets Today’ (TMT) events in 2015 as a ‘side hustle’, which stemmed for the lack of diversity I saw in my industry. Following the success of TMT and how it has helped so many people, it provided me with the confidence to pursue my passion in building on that success. Which is the reason why I took the leap of faith to leave my corporate role and start my journey as an entrepreneur.
There is so much value in planning your career and writing it down, because it is then you can start to take action in what you need to do to achieve your goals. In my experience my direction started to change as I grew in self-awareness and I feel I eventually found my passion and had the confidence to pursue it.
Have you faced and challenges along the way?
There has been many, and that comes from limited beliefs, self-doubt, they call it the ‘Imposter Syndrome’. We all suffer from it. The power comes from how we overcome these challenges. I found by perseverance and my ability to bounce back quickly helped me overcome most of my challenges.
What have been your biggest achievements to date?
Being a key note and guest presenter at Eltham Girls school at their achievement awards night. It was such a privilege and honor to hand out awards to young inspiring achievers and be part of their celebratory event. I was also recognized as a BAME Top 50 future leader for Empower, which motivated me to do more. The achievement that is closest to my heart is the Property Facilities Management (PFM) Awards ‘Achievement in Diversity’ for Tomorrow Meets Today event, which steered me to the direction as speaker trainer and coach.
What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?
My ENTHUSIASM! I know that with this characteristic I was able attract opportunities and many great people into my life who have helped me in my journey. With enthusiasm and perseverance, I was able to achieve my successes so far and will continue to use my enthusiasm to demonstrate my passion and go on to achieving more.
How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are someone’s mentee?
I encourage everyone who holds the desire to progress and succeed in their careers, to find a mentor. I am both a mentee and mentor and it has and is contributing immensely to my personal growth. It is so rewarding to pay it forward and help others recognize their full potential and watch them grow.
If you can change one thing to accelerate the pace of change for Gender Equality, what would it be?
To accelerate the pace of change, we need to get more and more male supporters on board. I am fortunate enough to have many male champions around me, but we have to do more and bring them along and keep them engaged. As mothers, we can contribute to this change at an early stage by raising our sons and daughters in environments where the negative cultural and societal norms do not exist! I wish to see a future where diversity and equality is not an issue and not spoken about.
If you can give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Not everyone is going to ‘get you’ and that’s ok! Don’t let anyone chip away at your confidence and ‘dim your light’ you’ve got this!
What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?
I want to make my business successful and make it ‘Tomorrow Meets Today’ a vehicle to truly make changes in the world. As an international motivational speaker and coach, I want to infect others to invest and learn about themselves so that they can grow and achieve their successes. This journey to self-awareness is beautiful and am enjoying every second!
