Naz Syed, Managing Director, GLOW Group of Companies

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 13:20.

What does a typical Thursday look like for you, starting from when you wake up – to heading to bed?
Based on a typical late Wednesday night, Thursdays start relatively late at about 11am.  The first hour of the day is spent on brunch with my daughter and selecting a shade of pink for her to wear to Junior Kindergarten that afternoon.  After a struggle or two about the final look for the day, we’re off to school in a cherry red sleigh which serves to be a fun ride for Yasmin and a breeze for me to pull her in.   

After dropping her off to her two hour class, I express a few hellos to the other moms (trying my best to ensure not to appear anti-social as I’m usually not able to stay around for the mommy circles).  During my walk back home I would typically skim through a couple of email accounts on my blackberry, preparing myself to respond to the absolute urgent emails first, while leaving the semi-urgent ones for later.   

Unless I have meetings to attend at the studio or client site, while Yasmin’s in school I usually take the two hours in my home office to clear some emails and messages in around a few scheduled calls. 

These messages and calls are usually regarding all entities, so you can imagine the mental ping pong between everything.  These days at GLOW, from a corporate point of view, we are working on a number of client campaigns so several things need to be approved before they are presented to the client, including concepts, advertisement designs, commercial photography, model casting, website designs, etc. We just hired 3 Marketing Managers so I’m quite thrilled to have work levitated from my desk.  On the retail side, our Glam shots are gaining popularity, so much coordination is required in order to provide our retail customers a glamorous day at our studio.  The academy is doing well - I find that many people are wanting to take styling courses along side their professional careers in order to either supplement their income with the skills they’ll develop or to bring balance to their lives by linking to a fabulous industry.  STYLE Canada has a great team aligned to it so a great deal of attention is already applied to some of the initiatives.  We’re making some web development changes so I’m personally consumed in working with our creative team on that. 

Since Yasmin is home around 3pm, an immediate after-school snack is in order which allows me some additional time on the computer. Calls at this point are difficult to do unless they’re casual as 5 year olds tend to practice vocal skills and volumes at their age which means that unless I want to lose credibility on a corporate call with ‘mommy, mommys’ in the background, I save some calls for later. 

My husband’s a Corporate Director and is home typically by 6pm which allows me to a few kisses before I’m out the door to an early evening meeting or a check in at the studio.  In my absence he entertains our daughter while usually reviewing some projects to provide a strategic intelligence perspective which is often taken into consideration. 

Back home typically by 8 or 9pm on Thursdays, we take a couple of hours to play with Yasmin.  She’s fascinated with art work which I absolutely love, so drawing and crafts will usually fill this time.  She’s in bed by 11pm, (really late I know, however JK is in the afternoons so usually no need to get her up very early). 

Another 2-3 hours on the computer either by myself or with my husband if it’s a project he is providing input on, then another hour of quality time before we call it a night. 

What was your first job out of school?  
Here’s a story regarding a job I had during highschool.

At 16, I was excited to land a job within walking distance from my home in Surrey, British Columbia.  My friend Tanya and I spent a good 2 weeks working after-school shifts at an office across from the Gateway Skytrain station. When payday came, I was the first to arrive to the office and walked in through unlocked doors.  I walked through the dark space to the backroom, where to my surprise was my supervisor sleeping on the floor.  By the time I shocked him, other co-workers had arrived at which time an excise was made and we were all asked to return another day for our paychecks.  As you can imagine, when we returned, the office was cleared out. 

That was my first impression at a JOB.  No wonder I now own my own business. 

What are the 3 skills you require most to do your job well? 
For my specific role, the 3 essential elements are business management, determination, and people skills.

People skills are an underestimated skill essential in any industry, and in my opinion, life in general.  After several years and reading countless books on understanding human behavior and traits, I am thrilled to have acquired (for the most part) an understanding of why people behave the way they do and how to communicate to them in their behavioral language.

What do you love most about your career?
My career to me is my business with which I have gained the opportunity to control my time.  What I love most is to be able to develop a lifestyle that encompasses quality time with my family and productive time on my business in a fascinating industry.

Do you have any warnings? 
The biggest advice that everyone can utilize relates to dream stealers.  Be wary of those that tell you can’t do something. They say that because they know that if you do it and succeed, you will make them look bad.  Just recognize the difference between those that provide constructive criticism and alternatives to doing something, and those that simply say don’t bother because you can’t.    

If you could try a different career on for a year, what would it be?
With my creative eye, I believe I would be great at photography.  I may want to pick up a camera sometime to prove that.  For now though, I rely on the talented photographers we work with, and besides my creative direction from behind the photographer tends to go a long way.