Meet Karen Boustany, an avid businesswoman driven by passion who is transforming business strategies in Lebanon and the GCC. Her self-awareness and creativity have been her strengths and have helped her achieve many goals in her professional journey. She has always stayed intellectually curious and is ambitious toward creating new projects and assisting businesses to propagate. These attributes make her a great leader and not a sheep in a herd. She built her team from the ground up, and being a team worker, she never considers her work a one-woman show but a collaborative effort. On the other hand, she is always looking for ways to help change the world. Karen opines, "And this is what I have done since 2005 until today on all levels: in my media career, my business, my NGOs, and in politics."
Karen is an international Media Personality and writer who has been honored more than 15 times in different countries. She owns and is the General Manager of Eyestrategy Business Communication, and Founded the Lebanese ALS Association and the Lebanese International Network Association. She also serves as the CEO of the Luxury Network Lebanon. She has represented Lebanon in more than 20 International Business and cultural forums Political Activist. She is the Former Candidate for the Parliamentary elections, Philanthropist, published on the covers of international books and Magazines, Creator of the award-winning international TV show ‘Names in History’. She began working very early in distinctive international advertising agencies as a copywriter, then stepped up to become Creative Director and Senior Account Director until she founded her advertising and marketing company, Eyestrategy Business Communication in 2005 in Beirut and then in 2017 in Dubai.
Karen is a multifaceted woman; she is a writer, a TV host, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a public figure. Since the early age of 7, she has written poems and has already published two books and more than a hundred cultural, social, and political articles. However, in 2019, she became the CEO of the Luxury Network Lebanon. She is a social activist and works hard to make a change in Lebanon on all levels. She ran for the Lebanese Parliamentary elections in May 2022.
From a Founder’s POV
Karen’s company is a full-service communication company offering a wide range of services in advertising, marketing, digital marketing, production, PR, and events. Its remarkable offerings help it stay above the competition. Moreover, the company specializes in all these offerings, with more than 18 years of experience in the GCC as well as in France and the USA. Moreover, Karen and her team always propose new services to cope with the modern world’s demands. The company’s mission statement highlights ‘Time is money. We save both.’
Karen states that Eyestrategy Business Communication can handle all kinds of communication requirements. It offers a wide range of services in different fields such as advertising, marketing, digital marketing, media booking, event planning, production, and PR. Currently, it is working on two new services: growth hacking and meta. Sales revenue; TV, Radio, and Print Advertising; Below the Line: POS Design & Production; Corporate Identity Development & Deployment; Brand Planning & Advertising Strategy; Branding; Media Planning and Booking; Consumer Research Management; Event Management; Integrated Promotions; Web-design, Management & Marketing; E-commerce; Digital Marketing: Social Media, Apps, and YouTube Channel Platforms; Production; Copywriting; Press Releases pre-announcement PR: Local & International (It has an international database of VIPs around the world); Meta; and Growth Hacking.
"We are many companies in one, and that can make the customer’s life easier! This is our strength!" she mentions. In order to sustain the requirements of the consumer, Karen has equipped her team with potential personalities whom she trusts. Karen strives to instill trust in her team, which is reflected in her leadership style. She states, "I tend to trust each new employee and give him or her the total responsibility of handling his or her position." She believes that trust entails risk, but it also allows the employee to give back in terms of work."Trust is given and, at the same time, is gained," she adds. Trust will inspire the employee to work hard and give the best results. Being a hardworking and workaholic lady, Karen prefers people who surround her to be active. The team copes with the atmosphere and works hard to maintain a friendly atmosphere and share good laughs. "But I behave as a boss, demanding but understanding too," continues Karen.
"I tend to trust each new employee and give him or her the total responsibility of handling his or her position."
She is Unstoppable
Karen faced many challenges in her life, but she proved to be a great achiever in the industry. Despite the fact that she has reached many milestones along the way, her hunger for work is propelling her forward. She's working on new projects and is unstoppable. She states that self-care is important as it is a way to gain back one’s energy to be more productive in personal and professional life. The key to overcoming all challenges today is to sustain a strong and vibrant spirit amongst employees and keep teamwork always on the run. She has always been a positive, hardworking, demanding, but human boss. She is quite punctual with her work; she arrives before her employees, and she is the last to leave the premises. "I always have time to ask about each employee and be on his or her side in their time of trouble," she mentions. On the other hand, she claims that they must devote their time to their work with passion, deliver on time, and propose satisfying ideas and projects. Karen believes that being passionate, humble, and hardworking makes things easier. Moreover, she has a professional team and a department that specialize in Computer & Information Technologies, which are always tracking all innovations in the field. They also create new solutions, such as growth hacking, a tool that will grow any company’s database of clients through their online presence.
Moreover, Karen firmly ensures that Eyestrategy Business Communication is expanding to the GCC market and primarily to the KSA. It claims to be a part of international entertainment culture, production projects, and events. Moreover, Karen has a lot of projects through her NGO, the Lebanese International Network, for her country, Lebanon and a new TV show as an international TV host. She adores working for her country; thus, she became a political activist. She highlights, "My great project in 2024 will be an international congress for women's empowerment. We started working on that."
To conclude, Karen advises other established and budding business leaders by telling them to be innovative, be professional, work step-by-step and listen to their clients' requests and needs, save time and money, and above all, be passionate.
