GETTING TO KNOW HISSA HADDAD
If you had randomly showed me a few designs by HH, I would have never guessed that it was a brand in Qatar. The luxuriously modern shoes with the intricately beautiful designs had me going through her website for the entire collection instantly. It was absolutely necessary to meet the lady behind the brand!
We decided to meet at Mandarin Oriental Lounge and I almost had a hard time finding Hissa. Sitting quietly at her table with her notebook, laptop, and bag surrounding her as she ate lunch, I was not expecting a simple woman, with the most beautiful skin to receive me as her guest and instantly make me comfortable with her warm welcome. She first made sure I was settled in with my drink, only to excuse herself for the lunch on her table. Turns out, Ms. Haddad, due to her increasingly busy schedule, had given in to the intermittent fasting culture and was having her first proper meal of the day.
FOR THE LOVE OF SHOES!
Hissa had such a zen vibe around her which made it easy for me to keep the conversation flowing for the next hour. What I expected to be an hour of listening to someone talk about how fabulous and intuitive they were, I was lured in by Hissa’s pleasant nature as she humbly spoke about her background and genuine love for shoes. An engineer who found herself looking at local brands in London and analysing them on the spot, Hissa felt like she needed to explore this creative side of hers. With her natural eye-for-detail, she found herself looking more closely at designs than a normal shopper would; sometimes some design elements would just not feel right whereas other times the finishing of the shoe looked like it could be better and the right fit was always missing.
Preparing for International Women’s Day, Anushay Khan had the pleasure of sitting down with Hissa Haddad, the founder of the luxury footwear brand HH.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Exploring this talent did not come easy, however… Even with the support of her friends and family, Hissa found a gap in the market between the right type of PR and her brand, urging her to go all out and take this matter into her own hands too. From design to production to manufacturing; she was well aware of her business needs. She saw how cost-effective some opportunities could be and always made sure that she was in line with the bigger picture – the one that included expansion and international acclaim.
Even as Hissa spoke about her passion, I found her to be a calm and reserved person which probed me to ask her more and go beyond the entrepreneur that she was. A few light questions ultimately revealed a true love for books that ranged from informative ones to Arabic novels and their poetic nature. It made absolute sense for her to be drawn towards the poetry, given her own energy and her calm nature. Not once did she get over-excited or talk fast or loudly to explain her point which made it all the easier to lose track of time.
FAMILY LIFE
When she spoke about her love for her family, there was an ease in her smile that I had not seen in the past thirty minutes. With a twinkle in her eye as she spoke of her father and her exasperated sighs as she spoke about stealing moments between her life for a quick escape to the spa had me respect her all the more. Her priority was clear; valuing friends and family any day over everything else in life. She revitalised herself from their energy and garners the power to move forth with an otherwise difficult day, and that is simply how things work for her. And when nothing makes sense and she feels like she hasn’t given a single moment to herself all day, an episode of Friends gives her the right fix.
THE HUMANITARIAN
My favourite bit, however, was when I saw the humanitarian in her who was all about empowering women. Hissa spoke with zeal as she explained her point of view to me; how a woman is the core of any home; the influence in a child’s life and how she can turn the waves and direction the entire household towards a positive route. Encourage a woman to plant a seed and everything will make use of the values that that root disperses; the man will be encouraged to do better, the daughter has an exceptional example and the son learns by the example of how a unit works together. Hissa spoke about wanting to start something that encourages women to work from home if the opportunity arises and to go a step further afield than getting an education. She wishes to start a new venture which would see women as the leader in any industry they wished to step in. Now, every woman can certainly benefit from walking through life in a pair of these sculptured manifestos!
Hissa Haddad footwear is available at Salam Stores. @hissahaddad