Ayah Yahia AlRashdan

Ayah Yahia AlRashdan is a marketing strategist and leader who blends engineering-level analytical thinking with a deep understanding of culture, people, and place.

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Hosted by

Hilmarie Hutchison

Ayah Yahia AlRashdan

Marketing Director, LinkViva

Ayah Yahia AlRashdan is a marketing strategist and leader who blends engineering-level analytical thinking with a deep understanding of culture, people, and place. Born in Jordan and raised in Qatar, she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering before pivoting into marketing through an MBA in Malaysia, where she also landed her first role in the industry.

Over the past 15 years, Ayah has worked across government, private sector, startups, and SMEs, building campaigns that don’t just reach audiences but move them. Today, as Marketing Director at LinkViva, she has helped transform marketing from a one-woman function into a 40-person operation, delivering large-scale experiences such as Liwa Village and other flagship events across the UAE.

Her leadership is shaped by time spent in male-dominated boardrooms, dealing with toxic environments, and rebuilding her confidence by carving out her own space and voice. She is passionate about empowering women in leadership, building teams grounded in respect rather than fear, and using storytelling-driven marketing to create genuine emotional connection, not just impressions and clicks.

About this Episode

In this conversation, Ayah walks us through her journey from electrical engineering to executive marketing leadership, showing how a willingness to pivot can completely reshape a career. She shares how growing up between Jordan and Qatar, then moving to Malaysia for her MBA, exposed her to different cultures and perspectives that later defined her storytelling-first approach to marketing. Ayah explains how her engineering background, far from being wasted, gave her the analytical mindset and problem-solving instincts that now serve as the backbone of her strategic work.

We explore the moments that tested her confidence, from early imposter syndrome to navigating male-dominated boardrooms and dealing with toxic leadership environments. Ayah opens up about the setback that pushed her to step away, rebuild her confidence, and reinvent herself during the pandemic by creating content, launching her own platform, and learning how to stand on her own professionally. Her story highlights how resilience isn’t always about enduring; sometimes it’s about walking away to protect your growth.

Ayah also shares the remarkable transformation she led at LinkViva—scaling marketing from a one-person role to a 40-member team delivering major cultural, entertainment, and wellness events across the UAE. She breaks down how storytelling, emotional connection, and cultural insight shape her campaigns, and offers practical advice for women in leadership: keep your voice loud, support your team, stay current, and step outside your comfort zone. Her path is a reminder that breaking stereotypes, staying curious, and trusting your instincts can lead to a purpose-driven and impactful career.

“One of my main goals at that age was basically to love what I do and to wake up happy to go to work. ”

Ayah Yahia AlRashdan

“It’s keeping yourself busy and never giving up, no matter what you’re doing. Sometimes a small thing that you’re working on excites you and motivates you and gets you more engaged to do something bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s uh believing in yourself.”
Ayah Yahia AlRashdan

Show highlights

Keep your voice loud, make sure that you're being heard, and support your team as much as you can. Your team is the unit that brings you up.-Ayah Yahia AlRashdan Click To Tweet

“I believe basically that when it comes to workplaces, I think females and males have different mentalities of how they handle specific situation challenges.”

Ayah Yahia AlRashdan