Region:

Middle East

Bio:

Kintsugi is the creation of CEO and Founder Al Reem Al Tenaiji, a London-and Abu Dhabi-based businesswoman and philanthropist, her purpose is to empower women all over the world to create effective change. The word Kintsugi, a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, was chosen for the symbolism it represents, celebrating how something is made stronger and more beautiful as a result of its imperfections.

On 8 March 2019, International Women’s Day, Al Reem launched Kintsugi Magazine, a new digital title created to empower women in all aspects of their lives. In 2022, she will open an ambitious and game-changing new membership club for women in the Middle East, Kintsugi Space, offering access to leading practitioners, coaches, forums and workshops to be held there and around the world. Offering a place for women to connect with and support each other, while providing the very latest treatments in health and wellbeing and gathering the brightest minds from all over the world, Kintsugi Space will be a place to truly balance and enhance mind, body and soul.

The philosophy of Kintsugi is about giving a voice to women who are embarking on a journey of change for the better, enabling them to be part of a global community that is striving for the same goals of self-improvement and awareness. The well being of the mind is connected to one’s physical wellbeing and Al Reem embodies this in her love of marathon running and endurance (she completed the New York Marathon).

Al Reem has long held a passion for making change in lives less fortunate than her own, a transformation she credits to having to cope with a tragic car accident in which her sister suffered severe brain damage. Following the accident, Al Reem showed incredible tenacity and intelligence in shaping the fate of her sister’s prognosis and quality of life. Her mission for her sister to be rehabilitated and cared for properly steered her on a course that would change her own life, awakening a profound thirst for change and self discovery. It taught Al Reem one important lesson in life, that through faith, strength, knowledge and vision you can make your own destiny. She excelled at school and after a career in media and communications, her strong entrepreneurial drive and passion led her to her true purpose to run her own her charitable foundation and business ventures.

Al Reem has become a leading light in the UAE and beyond. She founded the Awakening Foundation, which champions education and empowerment in girls and women by building schools and assisting small businesses with via micro financing grants in communities in emerging economies and has also produced a magazine to spread her positive views on life and dealing with its many challenges. Previous issues can be seen online at awakeningmagazine.org.

Al Reem has also sponsored mental health and special needs centers across the UAE and continues to raise the bar around the stigmatism of mental health in her own country. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in Naturopathy from the University of Arezzo, Italy in 2017.