Sultanas Fashion On Building a Fashion Brand, setting goals and achieving success

Meet Shuaa Basalom. A ray of sunshine! Literally, and also what her name means in her native Arabic. She considers herself a global citizen, born in the Middle East to multiracial parents of Arabic and South asian races. She lived in Germany before settling down in Canada with her four children. She is a clinical geneticist by training, with a lifelong passion for fashion.

Did you always know you would own your own brand? 

Absolutely. I always believed in having my own fashion brand.

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Tell me about your path that led you to start Sultanas Fashion? 

The path of love of fashion started early as a young child, when I used to play with the fabric swags that my late grandfather (a then renowned trader in the Middle East) used to give to me. The passion of fashion was nourished with our yearly summer travels that exposed me to many cultures. we used to go to Milan just for fashion shopping. In today’s terms, I was a fashionista in the real world, not a virtual reality. But as I got a very high GPA in high school and with lots of ambition and caring to help others, I went to medical school! As the medical career is an extremely long one, the business of fashion career was archived (but never forgotten). After finishing my postgraduate medical studies at McGill University and becoming a certified medical geneticist during my maternity leave for my third child and during the pandemic with the booming in online shopping. My lifelong dream manifested with launching Sultana’s Fashion.

What is your mission, core values, brand culture? 

My mission is to provide elegant and affordable, modern, and modest fashion for today’s women.

Where do you think e-commerce is headed now thanks to social media?

People are shifting to virtual works and activities including online shopping. Social media is becoming the main platform for marketing replacing the old styles consisting of radios, papers & tv commercials. 

How important is a client relationship to you?

Super important. I always ask for my client’s feedback and try to help them get what they are looking for. I had a client who was looking for a product that we didn’t have so I contacted our suppliers and created a collection with her name!

What’s your five-year plan with this business?

To be the number one destination for the modern and modest fashion in North America.

What does success represent to you? 

Being happy and accomplished.

Tell us the difference between your company and others of the same type? 

We have a diverse collection that can satisfy all women with affordable prices. Other modest fashion brands are mostly for the traditional conservative woman, while our brand has a diverse collection the can fit every woman, that wants to dress modest and be fashionable and modern at the same time.

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What inspires you?

I love colours and patterns, I find my inspiration in flowers, butterflies, my kids’ paintings and French Macarons!

How do you define work life balance? How do you apply it in your day-to-day life?

I don’t think work life balance does really exits, as an Dr. Mompreneur who wears three hats, it becomes really challenging to joggle everything. I preferer to use the term “to integrate” my three lives together rather than balance! My rules are: – you don’t need to be perfect! – plan things ahead – set your priorities and unnegotiable and reassess them every day, ask for help and delegate what you can delegate!

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Follow Sultana’s Fashion on Instagram : @SultanasFashion 

Shop directly on Sultana’s Fashion website.