From pause to purpose: How this Lebanese mother found a new path in the UAE

Dubai: At one point in her life, Claudia El Haddad pressed pause on a decade-long career in finance. There was no dramatic exit, no sudden change of direction, just a decision to step away from her role as a chief accountant to raise her children.

What she did not realise then was that the pause would not mark the end of her professional story. Rather, it would become the turning point.

Today, the Lebanese expatriate’s life in the UAE looks very different from the corporate years she once knew. But the thread connecting both chapters is the same, growth just in a form she never expected.

Ambition and trust

El Haddad has arrived in the UAE in 2015, like many expats, with ambition, uncertainty, and the hope of building a better future for her family.

“I moved to the UAE in search of new opportunities and a better future for my family. I arrived with hopes, dreams, and the determination to build a meaningful life,” El Haddad told Gulf News.

In her early years, she has built a stable professional foundation, working for 10 years as a chief accountant. It has been structured and familiar with a world built on numbers, precision, and responsibility.

Then life has shifted. Motherhood has brought a new priority and she stepped away from her career to focus on raising her children. At the time, it has felt like a pause in ambition but in hindsight, it would become something more complex.

Personal passion

Years have passed and when both of her children began school, life opened up in a different way. With more time at hand, El Haddad has returned to something she always loved, organising celebrations.

What has started as simple joy of planning her children’s birthday parties soon caught the attention of friends and family. They have noticed the detail, the creativity, and the care behind every gathering.

Requests have begun to follow. At first, it has been informal such as small events and close circles. Then word of mouth has expanded her reach.

Slowly, what has been a personal passion started developing itself into a business.

Starting again

Rebuilding a professional identity from scratch has not been easy. El Haddad has left behind a decade in finance to enter an entirely new industry without a clear roadmap. At the same time, she has been balancing motherhood and the emotional weight of starting over.

“Starting a business from scratch can be intimidating, especially when balancing family responsibilities and entrepreneurship. There were moments of doubt, financial challenges, and the pressure of building a reputation in a competitive industry,” recalled El Haddad.

But she has kept going, step by step, client by client. Consistency has become her strategy and trust became her currency.

Country of reinvention

For El Haddad, the UAE was not just where her story continued, it has been where it changed direction. Living in a diverse country has exposed her to different cultures, perspectives, and ways of thinking that has broadened her understanding of people and deepened her adaptability.

Professionally, the environment has encouraged ambition rather than hesitation. It has allowed space for ideas to grow and for personal reinvention to feel achievable, even after a long career break.

“It is a country that encourages innovation, ambition, and resilience. It showed me that it is never too late to start again and pursue your passion,” described El Haddad.

Along the way, she has discovered new strengths she had not previously associated with herself like creativity, leadership, communication, and problem-solving, shaped not in a boardroom, but through lived experience.

Building moments that matter

Today, El Haddad works in event planning, focusing on creating celebrations that bring families together, especially for children’s milestones and special occasions.

She has regarded her work as creating happiness that people remember. Apart from her professional journey, she also supports community initiatives when possible, contributing to charitable activities, local businesses, and small projects where she can. For her, contribution is not defined by scale, but by intention.

“It is also about spreading positivity, creating happiness, and building meaningful connections,” explained El Haddad.

Lived experience

Looking back, El Haddad no longer sees her career break as a gap in her story. She sees it as a chapter that changed its direction.

Her message to others, especially mothers standing at a similar crossroads, has been grounded in that experience.

“Every journey is unique, and success does not always follow a straight path. Sometimes the experiences that seem like pauses or setbacks become the beginning of something even greater,” shared El Haddad.

She believes that it is never too late to begin again, not as a slogan, but as something she has lived.

“The UAE is a country of opportunity. If you work hard, stay determined, and believe in yourself, you can achieve more than you ever imagined.”

And in the end, what looked like a pause has become a beginning. What started as a step away from a corporate career has unfolded into something unexpected, a second professional identity shaped by family, resilience, and the courage to start again.