The Leading Women Annual Award 2023

Beirut, March 2023 – For the second year in a row, Kempinski Summerland Hotel & Resort Beirut honoured five young leading ladies who have positively impacted the society and who are inspirational ambassadors in their field. The Leading Women Annual Award, launched in March 2022, assesses the previous year’s achievements and is celebrated during the month of March between Women’s International Day and Mother’s Day.

The celebration event was held at Candelabra restaurant on Thursday 9 March 2023 and gathered the honoured ladies for this year, the press and the Kempinski Summerland Beirut team, in the presence of the general manager, Markus Iseli and the CEO of the Kempinski Summerland owning company, Najib Nehmé.

This year, the accolade went to five ladies listed here in alphabetical order;

Darine Ammache is a clinical psychologist whose main goal is to provide a platform for easily accessible mental health services. Deriving from this objective, Darine developed @mindsomeapp, a platform that provides a private space to express one’s emotions with certified therapists. Mindsome provides customized online therapy services for all users in the MENA region from the comfort of their homes. It also serves as a judgement-free zone which helps break the taboos of society and the many inconveniences that patients usually face in the world of traditional therapy.

Diane Assaf is a lawyer whose practice focuses on real estate, corporate, commercial, employment law and dispute resolution. Following the Beirut Port explosion on August 4, 2020, and after having lost one of her closest friends, Diane founded @lawwithdiane, a platform that spreads legal awareness, makes legal topics easy and sheds the light on the flaws of the Lebanese judiciary.

Karma Ekmekji is a Mediation Advisor with UN Women. She is also an Associate Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and the Lead Advisor on their Women, Peace and Security initiative. In addition, Karma is a lecturer in International Affairs and Women Peace and Security. Stemming from a strong interest in empowering women in the field of diplomacy, peacemaking, mediation and negotiation, Karma founded the #Diplowomen initiative to share knowledge, develop mentorship opportunities and strengthen networking in those fields. She is also the host of “The #Diplowomen Podcast”.

Nadia Ahmad is a Kuwaiti activist, journalist, writer and community developer. She was the host of the longest running talk show in the Arab world, Kalam Nawaem on MBC. She also created the hit Netflix original show “The Exchange” which has been watched in over 5 million homes globally. Moreover, Nadia is the managing director of LOYAC Lebanon, a nonprofit organization working towards the overall development of the youth, designing and developing many programs to facilitate their professional development and personal growth. LOYAC successfully lead a crisis response campaign, “Rise Up Beirut”, to rebuild homes after the Aug. 4th explosion.

Tima Deryan is a mountaineer, mindset coach and social entrepreneur. As a feminist, she advocates gender balance through her talks, workshops, books, and @feministiya brand, a slow fashion brand that advocates for women's rights and champions sustainability. Tima achieved several records in her field, including being the youngest Arab and first Lebanese woman to summit Mount Everest, youngest Arab and first Lebanese woman to reach the South Pole, as well as the first Arab woman to summit the highest active Volcano in the world. She has climbed over 25 high mountains worldwide including the 7 summits. She has also written a children's book “Curly Adventures: Mount Everest” which became a #1 bestseller in the Middle East.

The general manager of the Hotel Markus Iseli said in a welcome speech: “After quite some time of distress due to the never-ending political turmoil and economic crisis, there is serious need to highlight something that would draw smiles. We looked back a little into the beautiful things that happened during the past couple of years and we discovered lovely stories to tell. We linked the dots and March was our inspiration with two important days, Women’s International Day and Mother’s Day, and we thought she herself is a source of inspiration. This is how Kempinski Summerland’s Leading Women Annual Award came to life last year. Today, we are gathered again to tell five new beautiful stories with another five inspiring ladies. We are here to pay tribute to their wonderful endeavors.”

Photo caption: The honoured ladies flanked by Markus Iseli, the hotel general manager, Najib Nehme, the Chief Executive Officer of Kempinski Summerland owning company, and Faten Abdel Ahad, the hotel’s Director of Marketing.