A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The trajectory of Zahra Al-harazi’s life defies expectations. In this electrifying book that travels from a small village in Yemen to a small town in Minnesota to a Calgary suburb, Al-harazi describes surviving two civil wars; her years as a young, stay-at-home immigrant mother with little education; and how she became one of Canada’s most successful businesswomen.

Navigating two worlds, Al-harazi has struggled to find her own way between East and West, religion and belief, freedom and obligation, family and desire, love and honour, despair and gratitude, war and war again. With warmth and courageous honesty, she recounts how it is only through gratitude and persistence that we can find happiness and the courage to build the life we want.

ZAHRA AL-HARAZI is the founder of Foundry Communications, an internationally acclaimed, award-winning marketing and communications firm based in Calgary. Al-Harazi was selected as Chatelaine’s Top Female Entrepreneur, named one of the hundred most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network and voted one of RBC’s twenty-five most influential immigrants to Canada. The Canadian ambassador for UNICEF, Al-Harazi is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for leading institutions and events around the world. Through it all, she has raised an accomplished and happy family. Currently based in Toronto, Zahra Al-Harazi is a true citizen of the world—she has lived on four continents, visited more than a hundred countries and can argue for human rights in five languages.

SARAH J. ROBBINS is a writer, editor, and collaborator whose work has appeared in Glamour, MarketWatch, Newsweek, and Real Simple, among many other publications. She is the co-author of Keeping Hope Alive.

Zahra Al-harazi's profile page

SARAH J. ROBBINS is a writer, an editor and a collaborator whose work has appeared in Entrepreneur, Inc, Glamour, MarketWatch and Newsweek, among other publications. She is the co-author with Dr. Hawa Abdi of Keeping Hope Alive, and she recently adapted Malala Yousafzai’s bestselling memoir for young readers. Robbins is a founding editor of Hacking Finance magazine and a regular contributor to Publishers Weekly. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her family.

Sarah J. Robbins' profile page

"It takes a special kind of person to practice relentless adaptation, something I’ve been studying for years. After reading Zahra’s very personal story about surviving two civil wars, nurturing a young family on her own in a new country, and finding the courage to build an award-winning business, she has What It Takes and we all need to hear to lead the way on our own terms." — —Amber Mac, Bestselling author, speaker and entrepreneur