SHARJAH // It is easy to see where Khawla Al Serkal gets her glowing good looks from and how she maintains her healthy lifestyle. It comes from her job.
OK, good genes probably have something to do with it too, but it doesn’t hurt that she is the director of the Sharjah Ladies Club, the upmarket seafront fitness, wellness, beauty and educational complex launched by Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi.
Mrs Al Serkal has worked on the rebranding of the club, branch renovations, the establishment of the Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre, and the building of the Collage Talent Centre, where women and children can take a myriad of enrichment classes.
But any credit directed her way is quickly diverted to the leadership of the ruling family, namely Sheikha Jawaher and Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, who is vice president of the club.
“They are so humble, our leadership, especially Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi. It has been as if she was our mother,” said Mrs Al Serkal. “She is our role model.”
The club’s next project is to oversee the construction of its latest and largest branch, which is expected to be completed in about two years’ time.
“The club is going to be mostly the same facilities we have here but it’s going to be double in size,” said Mrs Al Serkal.
“Due to the fact that the location is not facing the beach, we’re trying to compensate for that with bigger facilities.”
When it opened in 1982, the club was the first of its kind in the country, offering women a recreational refuge where they could relax, exercise, network and develop their skills.
“There was nothing like it in the whole of the Emirates,” said Mrs Al Serkal.
“It was a pioneer in terms of Her Highness wanting a place that could cherish and focus on the talent of the women and the kids; and the family as a whole.”
In its early days, the club included the Women’s Literature Association and there was a focus on family development. Women and children could enrol in karate classes, rally on the tennis court, learn to play the piano, get a makeover at the salon, and eat lunch at the on-site cafe.
Mrs Al Serkal described Sheikha Jawaher as a “visionary”.
“Not only a visionary but someone who actually likes to take on challenges,” said Mrs Al Serkal.
“She had such a big challenge because back then, in the 1980s, who would have ever thought of establishing a restaurant or building a spa?
“It was easy back then just to get a brand name that was already established. And that’s it, that’s the easy business. But she has established all those – our 11 brands under the club – on her own, by trial and error.”
The club became so popular with local women that, by 1994, it moved into a large, luxurious beachfront complex next to the Radisson Blu Resort, where it stands today along the emirate’s scenic Corniche.
It also expanded to 10 smaller branches across the eastern and central regions of Sharjah, giving women and children living in outlying areas greater access to fitness and recreation facilities.
Mrs Al Serkal began working at the club in 2005, three years after graduating from the American University of Sharjah.
She joined as head of marketing and, over the years, worked her way up the ranks to become the director in 2010. She also became a mother to three young daughters. Her husband, Tariq Al Gurg, is the chief executive of Dubai Cares.
The 34-year-old said she was able to balance work and family life by being organised and dedicated, inspired by her own working parents. Her father was general counsel for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and her mother was a teacher.
“I always tell women who work and who have kids, organise your time, it’s all about organising,” she said.
“I always make time for my family. Friday is my family day and, my inlaws, of course, I see them on Saturdays.”
She also ensures she is home every day after school to help her children with homework.
“This is also what I would like my daughters to be, to be independent, to be mature in the way that they think and to have more of a cosmopolitan mind.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
