What does it take for first-generation immigrants to build thriving careers in a new country? Ragda Tabet shares how she helps expat professionals overcome fear, find visibility, and stop blending in. Learn why owning your unique identity is the key to standing out abroad.

Ragda Tabet is the founder of Shift to Strategic and a Career Strategist who helps immigrant and first-generation women in corporate get visible, get valued, and stop feeling “lucky to be here.”

Her story starts in Dubai, where she was born and raised as a first-generation immigrant. Over nine years at AXA, one of the world’s largest insurers, she climbed from customer service agent to corporate communications manager — learning firsthand that hard work alone doesn’t get you seen. It was a near-layoff experience, where her own manager told her “Raghda, they don’t know you,” that taught her the most important career lesson she carries today: performance without visibility is invisibility.

In her thirties, Ragda moved to Sweden as a trailing partner with no network, no local language, and no plan other than to start over. She learned Swedish from scratch, became a mother of two, went back to school, and re-entered the workforce in a country where trust and relationships come before credentials. When she finally landed a role that checked every box — flexible, stable, well-paid — she left it after four months because she recognized a pattern: the system wasn’t going to make space for someone like her.

That decision led her to build Shift to Strategic, where she now works 1:1 with immigrant and first-generation women who are talented, hardworking, and invisible at work — not because they aren’t enough, but because their fears are keeping them from the version of themselves they’re meant to be.

Ragda has been featured on Swedish National Radio, where she almost turned down the opportunity because of her accent — then went on air anyway, because she decided her voice mattered more than sounding perfect. That moment captures everything she stands for: you don’t need to be flawless to be seen. You need to be heard.

Connect with Ragda Tabete
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ragda-tabet/

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee

Credits:
Host: Meredith Eisenberg
Editor: Marvin Del Rosario
Executive Producer: Danny Iny

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