About Beyond Cubicles
📢 #BeyondCubicles is a weekly LinkedIn series created by Carolina D’Souza, born out of her own experience transitioning from a corporate career to independent consulting. Since its launch in June 2024, the series has evolved into a platform that showcases the inspiring journeys of several founders who have redefined the traditional 9-to-5.
Through authentic narratives, #BeyondCubicles highlights themes of courage, resilience, and purpose. The stories feature individuals from diverse industries—ranging from tech and education to wellness and adventure—who share their experiences of stepping away from conventional roles to pursue passion-driven careers.Â
✨ Note: All features in this series are unpaid and shared as a way to honor and amplify real stories of transformation.
When Sara Sadik was on maternity leave from her government role, her department shut down.
“I figured I’d move into the private sector, but after a few interviews nothing felt right,” she says, “I couldn’t justify leaving Adriana for a job I didn’t love or believed in.”
Then, at a routine check-up, doctors found her baby had hip dysplasia and needed to be in a brace for eight months.
That’s when Sara started writing her first book in 2018 ‘Finding the Magic in Mommyhood’ (Skyhorse) as “therapy, trying to make sense of it all”.
The book later won a Time Out Dubai Kids Award.
And marked the beginning of a creative path (bysarasadik.com). A former journalist with The Daily Star and a communications lead with the UN, her early work grounded her storytelling in empathy and understanding.
She expanded to children’s literature with ‘The Extraordinary Pause’ (2021) and ‘Meek the Porcupine’ (published in 2025). She is also developing a docuseries called Saratonin, a project exploring “the lives of people who cling to joy, amid chaos, loss, or burnout”.
“As someone who straddles East and West, I feel this gut-level responsibility to tell stories that move beyond the clichés,” she says.
Speaking about being a solopreneur, Sara says, “Going from a steady salary to full-on hustler mode was a shock. There was no safety net, no paycheck, just belief, grit, and faith.”
Those doubts were softened by validation. “Like a message from a client, spotting my books in bookstores, or hopping on a plane for a speaking gig… little moments that whisper, hey, maybe this thing is working.”
Her advice: “Celebrate the highs and acknowledge the lows. I’ve given a talk once where the room was set for 75 people… and 1 showed up. Buckle up. It’s hard. And trust that one person who won’t just hug you when you’re falling apart, but will hand you a coffee, tell you to fix your mascara, and remind you to suck it up, because you can.”
With Lebanese and Palestinian roots, born in Canada and raised across three continents, she now calls Dubai home. And her brand has evolved from “mommyhood” blogger to author and creator. “I never expected to have this much conviction and self-belief,” she says.