Photo: Maha Abouelenein
Wayzata entrepreneur shares her expertise in new book.
Maha Abouelenein has been busy since we last spoke with her for our March 2022 issue. The strategic communications CEO says she always wanted to write a book informed by her 30-year career. When she had an opportunity to take a pause, she asked herself, “What is the one thing that I think would be valuable for other people to learn from my career and my experiences?” Her answer was self-reliance. “Self-reliance is not about being independent,” Abouelenein says. “It’s about knowing and having the skills and tools you need to be valuable for other people.”
Abouelenein credits her dad with teaching her self-reliance from an early age. As the dean of the College of Business at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Gaber Abouelenein, Ph.D. would bring his daughter to work events and encourage her to network on her own. “He really taught me how to work a room, how to make conversation, how to have a conversation starter,” Abouelenein says. “He gave me confidence by doing that. I think that was key in how I developed into doing communications and being an outgoing public relations executive.”
7 Rules of Self-Reliance is part personal success, part motivational management book with plenty of personal anecdotes in the mix. The opening chapter starts with Abouelenein moving from Minnesota, where she was born and raised, to Egypt at the age of 27. When she was offered a job as an office manager, she says she felt overqualified and hesitant. “My dad gave me the advice to take the job because I had just moved to Egypt. I didn’t know anybody. It was a good networking opportunity,” she says. As it turned out, he was right.
“It ended up being the best thing that happened to me,” Abouelenein says. She learned to rely on herself and built the role into what she wanted it to be. “I studied every piece of paper going in, every piece of paper coming out. I networked with everyone who came to see [the CEO]. I built relationships. I learned about the business. Then I knew how to bring value to him because I had put my head down, and I put in the work.”
“Stay low, keep moving” is the first of Abouelenein’s seven steps. “It’s the foundation for all the rest,” she says. Subsequent steps explore bringing value to others, being a long-term player and building a personal brand. “Honestly, this book is for anyone with ambition,” Abouelenein says. “It’s good for people who want to learn how to operate in today’s world and be very good at three things: building up their skills, building up their experiences and building up their relationships.”
Meet and Greet
Maha Abouelenein will be at the Galleria Barnes & Noble, 3230 Galleria, Edina, at 2 p.m. on October 13 for an author talk and book-signing event.
She’ll also make an appearance at the Twin Cities Book Festival, which is from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on October 19 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Progress Center, 1265 Snelling Ave., St. Paul.
7 Rules of Self-Reliance comes out on October 8. Copies are available at mahaabouelenein.com, and Barnes & Noble stores around the metro.
Maha Abouelenein
Facebook: Maha Abouelenein
Instagram: @mahagaber
X: @mahagaber
LinkedIn: Maha Abouelenein
