Aleen Zakka – Founder of Net2work & Digital Marketing Expert
Aleen’s story began in 2005 when she discovered Facebook and was in awe of the significant potential such a platform could provide to its users. It was then that she decided she wanted to teach people about digital marketing and become successful doing so. In 2016, she was able to reinforce her passion and abilities as an entrepreneur by building Net2work Branding, and she has, ever since, helped grow brands, CEOs, and top directors in the Middle East to widely use social media platforms for their global personal brand.
As a personal branding expert, Aleen realized the enormous difficulties of starting from scratch in a world dominated by huge marketing companies. So, she took the liberty of contacting several different foreign companies with expertise in personal branding, allowing her to gain their insights into the world of reputation management and personal branding. In turn, Aleen was invited to contribute to a book called Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life, co-authored by Raoul Davis, Kathy Palokoff, and Paul Eder, as an influencer.
“Being the only Middle Eastern woman mentioned in the book, I started wondering about the lack of Arab women in the field. My mind went back to my mother who, through her strength in raising me alone after her divorce from my father in a war-torn Lebanon, has inspired me to focus on a different goal while sharing my ideas and expertise to help advance other women’s careers.”
Aleen didn’t waste any time. She immediately started to record episodes for an Arabic online magazine, Like Nafizati, where she openly discussed and explained how women seeking success should go about starting their journeys on digital media. After building diplomatic relationships with various prominent individuals and organizations in the Arab world, Aleen’s name subsequently flourished in the digital marketing field. It was the moment when she decided that she was ready to share her knowledge with the women of Lebanon and the Arab world.
Aleen started by teaching women the basics of digital presence at seminars that she organized. In just three short months, Aleen had taught over 400 women the basics of social media so they could go out into the world and use it to promote themselves and their projects with the support of a plethora of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and online networks.
“My passion for women grew the more I shared my knowledge with them. Women deserve an essential boost in their careers, whether they are entrepreneurs or not. All women need the kickstart to become strong and successful business people or leaders.”
Executive-Women had the pleasure of discussing more in-depth topics with Aleen through an exclusive one-on-one interview. Click here for the full read, or visit this link for more info.