Interview with female company leaders from the hookah industry of 11 countries

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women.

During my long history in the hookah industry I met a lot of talented women CEOs or business founders. I decided to do an interview with some of them about the specifics of the work of women in the hookah industry. Here’s the question which I’ve asked:

1. How many employees are under your direct supervision? What management challenges do women leaders face?

2. According to our observations, the hookah industry (head of companies, influencers, consumers) are mostly represented by the male gender. Do you agree with that? If yes, does it anyhow affect your work?

3. What would you like to say to women who want to start a business in the hookah industry?

 

(🇫🇷 France) Amani Salma – CEO and founder of Chichamaps

1. Chichamaps has no employees. We basically work with freelancers from all around the world, including women. Today, women in Management still face many challenges. I would say that the most challenging part is when it comes to tackling the imposter syndrome which is defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. Needless to say that I’m far beyond it with all the experience accumulated throughout the time.

2. I totally agree with that observation. I have witnessed this situation mostly during international hookah fairs where women were mainly visitors or… models ! It did affect my work at the beginning as I needed to prove that I can be taken seriously and that I had no male boss behind me…

3. I would tell them that according to chichamaps.com traffic statistics, there are as many females as males visiting our platform and searching for a location where to smoke. Which means that this industry must address men as much as women and include more female entrepreneurs. Women are as capable as men to create and develop solutions for the hookah world as long as they are given the opportunity and the means to do so.

(🇺🇸 USA) Tess Castillo-Casey – the president of Tangiers Tobacco

1. Currently I’m in charge of 34 employees. Some of the challenges I’ve faced as a woman leader are men and occasionally women I’m in charge of challenging my authority because I’m a woman, creating a work environment that doesn’t penalize women for taking on roles as caregivers in the home while still working outside of the home, and occasionally a customer or vendor that just completely ignores me or insists on speaking to a man, to get „the real answers“

2. I agree with the observation. It does affect work, but not substantially, but consumer base is taken into consideration when making branding, merchandising, and marketing decisions as well as flavor development. I do truly enjoy meeting women in hookah industry, as well as female consumers.

3. Be well prepared for varying cultural norms as this is an international industry, and familiarize yourself with the regulatory hurdles in your Country, State, and City. Good Luck!

 

(🇧🇷 Brazil) Amanda Benitez Gobbi – co-founder, partner and general director of customer service at Sultan Hookah


1. I directly supervise ten employees and more than thirty indirectly. Among them, only one woman. The challenges are many, but if I can summarize them in a few words… the biggest is the difficulty that every woman faces, whether in my job or in the market in general, is the constant underestimation of the female sex in the professional environment.
Patriarchy is a worldwide phenomenon and has a constant and direct impact on women’s corporate life. I feel it!
However, recognizing my privileges… I suffer less than other women, inside or outside the hookah market, because the position of partner in the company privileges me in some way.

2. I do not agree, but I can’t deny the statistics. This directly affects me and my work, for a few reasons: The first is that in most of my buying and selling relationships, or even my relationships with suppliers, there is always an expressed preference for them to do business with my partners, for the only reason: to be a man. Apparently, in an unintelligent way, they see them more credibly. Also, I believe that since Arab or Muslim women are theoretically prohibited from consuming hookah, the prejudice in their own culture is fixed.

3. I would like to say to women who want to enter this market, the following: don’t give up.
All our lives we have been taught to be fragile and dependent on some man, whether professionally or personally speaking… we need to go against the statistics.
„The feminine“ has a great purpose on planet Earth… starting with the miracle of LIFE. We give birth. And we also give: kindness, extra attention, affection and delicacy.
The woman has greater facility to practice love. And this certainly can and should be applied in the workplace.
Analyzing… Sultan Hookah is nationally considered the company with the best service and after-sales in the market. We have top marks on all platforms of these services, private and public. We literally have the best customer service in Brazil. And it was my love and affection for customers that made me create this sector within my company. This sector has driven over 400% of my sales since its inception in 2016, and I also believe it has played a significant role in terms of the level of business Sultan is currently at.
Bet on your love, that’s the secret.

(🇩🇪 Germany) Anita Fischer – founder of hookah lounge, blogger

1. [Number of employees] 8-12, depends on the season (summer-winter). The challenge is always to get accepted and respected as a woman in a „men’s world“

2. Correct.
In my case it doesnt affect my work, i was respected from the beginning by everyone, when they saw that i am very serious about my work. Also when i started, there were almost 0 women in this business. I had the benefit from the uniqueness also.

3. Maybe this answer will suprise you a lot – but i am 100% serious about it!!!

DON’T do the „sex sells Strategy“ !!
In a male dominated business, you need to show other arguments than ass and titts. Sorry.
Be beautiful, be well dressed, look as good as you can – YES!
But be serious, classy and self confident – without showing too much.
You can show that you are a „woman“ SOMETIMES, for special events, or if you are a blogger, give a sexy pic only from time to time as kind of „bonus“ 😂 but keep the focus on the Hookahs!

(🇷🇺 Russia) Asya Zakatova – organizer of the largest hookah exhibition in the world Hookah Club Show, President of the Russian Hookah Union „Assistance“, owner of the legendary network of Hookah clubs „Omar Khayyam„.

1. I have a team of about 50 people. Their number varies depending on the approach to the exhibition. During the exhibition itself, there are more than a hundred volunteers on the site alone.
As for special woman challenges, I don’t feel anything like that. I often see surprise in the eyes when they ask me, who are you at the exhibition, and when I say that I am the main organizer, they often say to me: “You? Is this all organized by you? A woman collects a male industry?

2. Yes, of course. Im not only a woman, I’m also even older than most of the industry representatives. I don’t feel it affects my work in any way. On the contrary, they respect, even fear, like a mother. Sometimes some kind of swearing starts in chats, I write something and chat react with immediate silence, and no one writes anything, like “oh, she’s in the chat, but we’re behaving badly here“ 🙂

3. It does not matter at all whether a woman is engaged in business or a man. In business, steel Faberge [balls] is needed, and if they are not there, even for a man, even for a woman, you should not get into business. This is all very difficult, and if you do not show strong-willed qualities, the business will crush.

(🇧🇬 Bulgaria) Desislava Necheva – owner and manager of Nagrile Bulgaria LTD („Skylounge“ chain)

1. Under our direct leadership are 18 employees in the cities (Sofia, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Montana),
including 8 women.
– a manager
– 2 shisha girls
– 5 bartenders

2. We do not agree with the statement that the industry is predominantly male. There are enough
women in our company who do very well and refute the claim.

3. The hookah industry in Bulgaria is quite highly developed and the competition is at a very high level.
This is not an underestimating business for everyone. First of all, it is necessary to have a lot of desire,
passion and competence in the field. Including company management, legislation, human resource
management and sufficient confidence in its qualities.

(🇨🇿 Czech Republic) DANIELA KOPEČNÁ (TEMI) the founder of Leaves Lounge

1. Currently, I have 6 employees working part-time and one will be full-time from April. I don’t think I have any challenges in managing my business, but I think in other spheres there might be a visible disrespect from male workers, which is not my problem, we have very nice harmony in the team. (4 women, 4 men). I find it very nice to have these people by my side since guys are able to fix „mechanical“ problems.

2. You can clearly see that in the hookah industry men are the majority. As it is visible in any other business. It doesn’t affect me in any way. In the Czech Republic, it’s getting better every day and more women are starting to like hookah. Even tho it’s more in the consumer sphere, we have few female owners of companies, and also few influencers.

3. Don’t be scared! Find yourself people who will be able to help you with any troubles that might come! Hookah industry is lovely and it’s getting bigger every day. Keep calm and everything will come if you work hard.

(🇺🇦 Ukraine) Irina Pavlova (Kira Smoke) – founder and CEO of hookah lounges and organizer of hookah festivals (Spring Hookah Fest)

1. I am the organizer of the largest hookah festival in Ukraine “Spring Hookah Fest Odessa” and I was also the owner of restaurants and hookah lounges. Before the COVID 19 crisis, I had about 50 employees. During the quarantine I had to partially abandon a large hookah restaurant and many hookah-outsourcing points in favor of a small cozy hookah bar with a staff of 5 people. Morally, it was very difficult, all my employees became members of a large family and it was very difficult to fire them …

Now in 2022, without having time to recover from covid, the war came! The real war at 5 am, we all woke up from rocket explosions. Now there can be no talk of any business, everyone supports each other in any way they can and we hope for a peaceful sky above our heads.  It is absolutely not difficult for me, as a woman manager, to find a common language and understanding with employees, at the internship stage it is immediately clear to me who we will work with and who we won’t.

2. Indeed, in the hookah industry, there are more male representatives, and in this case, being a girl is just fine) everyone is treated with respect and sympathy. I have not come across those who would criticize and somehow condescendingly treat the fact that I am a girl.

3. For girls who want to open this kind of business or go to work as a hookah master, I can only safely say that this will be one of the best decisions in your life! Hookah culture is limitless, you can show creative and technical skills (for example, come up with your own unique hookah or accessory, etc.), become more sociable because a huge number of people will support you around the world and you will find many new friends, reveal yourself as a mixologist (to score unusual, tasty and smoky hookahs) and much more!

(🇹🇷 Turkey) Nur Ocak – co-founder of „Queenhookah“ retail and destribution company. 

1. I have been working in the hookah industry for 12 years, 10 people work under my supervision.

2. Since this sector came from the Middle East and the consumers were men, therefore there were no women in this industry. The main problem is the stereotype that women do not understand anything and cannot be successful in this business.

3. I want to tell women that there is no male or female work, if women want this work they can do it better than men.

(🇧🇾 Belarus) Olga Krivablotskaya – co-founder of The office Minsk hookah lounge

1. There are 12 people under my direct supervision: hookah masters, administrators, bartenders, accountants and additional staff)
I can’t say that I face certain difficulties in my work, as I am a woman leader. Let’s just say I prefer finer control methods)

2. I am not the only founder of a hookah bar, I have partners)
Partners are male, so they solve issues related to the hookah industry more.
My responsibilities include organizing the work of staff, working with bar suppliers and intermediaries. And everything related to the hookah bar, ordering tobacco, coals and everything else, is handled by my partner.

3. This is a great idea!) Especially when there are male partners or just male support.
In fact, we women can do everything, I get great pleasure from the work done.
Therefore, do not be afraid, just go ahead!) You can deal with all the difficulties.

(🇪🇸 Spain) Sonsoles Gil – CEO & Founder “1001 Cachimbas” chain of shops

1. Currently we are 15 workers in my company and as its representative I am their supervisor, although we have a scale of commands where we have both women and men at the helm. As a leader, I think that the most difficult part of running a company is the human team. I like my workers to be comfortable in their position and to be like a family in which we help each other. In terms of gender, I think we are one of the few hookah companies that tries to maintain an equal number of women and men on the workforce. Although it is true that it is more difficult to find women in this sector, the girls who work with me are very competent and I am proud of them.

2. It is clear that this sector is represented mostly by men, both in business and as consumers, in fact, in our statistics they always represent 86% of the public.

As a woman, it is true that on many timees I have felt undervalued and it is much more complicated to generate commercial ties as a woman, since sometimes it is difficult to guess whether the true interest is professional or of another type. When I meet people for the first time, they always have the pretext that my success is due to a man and many times I have heard sexist criticism about me and my colleagues, not to mention the sexist promotion of hookah products. But this issue, fortunately, happens only on a few cases. In general, the hookah community has always been better in this sense and it is more and more common to find women in the sector to give our perspective.

3. Forget stereotypes and not be afraid to start working in this very exciting sector. There are more and more of us and we have the same skills as any man to go as far as we want.

(🇨🇿 Czech Republic) Magdalena Nicolaou – founder of Edgar’s Prague hookah lounge, Resolution Tobacco Group – tobacco importer

1. I used to have around 10 employees under my supervision and it was a pleasure to work with them. If mutual respect is established rarely you have to deal with deep issued problems.
Women leaders face the same management challenges as men. Management is a question of abilities and the gift to really see and understand people so work can become as efficient as it can.

2. Yes that is true however during the last years we can see more and more women entering the hookah community and the hookah industry.
Smoking hookah used to be a „male activity“ that has throughout the years thanks to according equal rights became a point of interest for women too.
Today we see women that own their own lounges, work at tobacco factories, own tobacco brands, create online content for the hookah community etc.
This is a nice thing to see since women bring a different side of view to the topic that appends the male view.

3. I would definitely recommend talking about their ideas with someone already experienced in this particular field and not to let anybody dissuade them from their dreams. If you are good at something and you are passionate about it you should definitely chase it.

Comment Contest:

If you are a woman working in the hookah industry – write a comment about your own expirience. The author of the highest rated comment on the date: 06th May 2022 will get a hookah battle gift box.

P.S. Special thanks to Alejandro Castaño and Jakub Kopáček for your help in preparing this article

#business
#chichamaps
#woman

2 Comments

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This was a fantastic spotlight, and each was interesting to read about, learning more about the people behind the scenes is always interesting. Thank you for this.

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Great Content! Thank you!
Congrats to all womens for the womens day 🎉

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