Abdullah Interviews Sara Al-Sayegh

You guys seem to love the interviews section so much and you’v also asked that we have more powerful ladies gracing p0ach’s front page and we can do nothing but accept.

Today’s guest, the fine miss Sara Al-Sayegh, aside from her multitasking excellence on so many fields like currently being an architecture student, a business development executive, a member of T-Square magazine, an active member in various committees, she too has space for her own business, Osaka restaurant.

I told you last week, that women from this loving, blessed country of ours are the equivalent of a success formula.

Being 21 years young with all of these projects in hand, makes you, Sara, a muse for me and many others for sure.

Get to know this friday’s HAWT guest more.

Sara, the spot is all yours, speak.
Sara Hussain Al-Sayegh, 21 years old I am the 1st (and favorite) of 4 children to my wonderful parents, currently an Architecture student at Kuwait University and have been working part time as Business Development Executive at my fathers company, Aknan Global for Real Estate Development since the moment I graduated from High School. I am also a staff member of T-Square Magazine, a student based architectural magazine as well as involved in various committees of KASA (Kuwait Architectural Students Association) together with a member of AIAS (American Institute of Architecture Students) and most importantly above them all I am the co-founder of Osaka Japanese Restaurant. I am a very social person and love to meet new people; I have a craze for reading and writing and I love to cook. Architecture is my life; I am inspired by life’s natural flow to design.

Childhood flashes?
I was always the outgoing one, involved in all the activities in school, Student Council president, volleyball team, yearbook staff, newspaper staff etc and it was all a result of my mom; she constantly dragged me to do all theses extra curricular activities ever since I can remember and encouraged me to put myself out there and learn from all my mistakes until I found out what I was most interested in and what I really love to do.

What inspired you to tap into who you are now?
My parents; seeing their accomplishments, both of them and build themselves up from scratch makes me want to go the extra mile to make them proud. They always pushed me to be the best out there, they knew I was always capable of being even better than who I am. Although this is very different from what I’m studying and what I will be perusing in the future and I admit, I really did hate doing it at first until I got a hang of it and it eventually became a part of me, it has helped me immensely in being who I am and also made me grow a closer bond with my father. I remember my first year of university, when all my friends would be busy going out having fun between classes on their breaks, I’d be on my way to work, a part of me hated it; but looking back at those times, I thank God that I had these opportunities to experience work and go through what most people go through at their 30’s at just 18years old. A lot of the items on the menu were created by me, my craze for cooking together with the fact that my family and I travel a lot helps me in diversifying our menu; we try different dishes together and it becomes like a fun game for us as a family to connect. Architecture also played a vital role in helping me become who I am, it is the reason I never give up and look forward to a new day. It forces me to look at the world from a different angle; I meet new people, learn to suck it up and not complain, and most importantly be innovative.

What differs you from the rest of the competition out there?
I don’t really like to compare our restaurant to other Japanese restaurants out there, because in my opinion, each one is distinctive in its own way. Osaka on the other hand is not the typical Kuwaiti-inspired Japanese restaurant, which with time loses its identity. We satisfy both tastes, the mayo-crazed Kuwaiti taste while still sticking to our Japanese inspired roots. We have a trend of our own; we have a different identity different than the other restaurants here in Kuwait.

Support ? family & friends ?
First and foremost my parents; my mother; my role model she always supported my ideas with the occasional ‘madry 7abeebty mayseer hatha ba3ad ana aqarer 3anech’ and most importantly she always gave me hope she always believed in me because even though I slack off sometimes, I’m consistent and give it my best. My father; I feel I am growing up to be another form of him, he pushes me to be the best I can be at all times, its funny when I’m at work, and one of the executives come up to me and say ‘istatha’ or ‘madam’ and I always go, “Sara please just call me Sara, I’m only 21 years old!” Then one of them once told me I remind him of my father and I feel grateful and proud that he is my father. My brothers, and sister, Esraa; my second half, who was with me every second of everyday and was always dragged with me through all my adventures. Finally 2 of my friends, you know who are, who ate practically every single dish on the menu and would always remind me that I was doing a great job and should keep it up, without their enthusiasm I wouldn’t have been able to keep on going.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
Expand Osaka with 2 or more branches around Kuwait and hopefully worldwide while I’m done with my Masters and perusing my career as an Architect.

Throw something for p0ach readers
Never give up. Even if someone tells you can’t do it, you will; nothing is ever impossible!

Contact
Address: Shaab AlBahry, Ibn AlKhatib Street, Next to Flex Fitness
Tel: 22637331/22637332
OSAKA

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