PEOPLE · HOSPITALITY · KUWAIT
Hena Fulin
A passionate hotelier with a strong luxury hotel background, Hena leads sales and marketing at Four Seasons, one of the luxury hotels in Kuwait. Born in Bosnia, she moved abroad at twenty-one to build a career in service. A conversation on patience, the long work of becoming, and an unwavering motto.
ON STARTING OUT
Leaving Bosnia at twenty-one.
What is the most courageous thing you have done?
Leaving my homeland, Bosnia, at twenty-one. Leaving your whole life and family to move so far away is not easy, but it gave me the strength I used to develop myself into a whole person.
Advice to your younger self?
Never give up. Give one hundred and ten percent on everything. Because everything ended up the way I planned.
ON CHARACTER
Patient. Cautious of perfection.
Your greatest strengths?
Being extremely patient, in many aspects of life.
Your weaknesses?
Wanting everything around me to be perfect. Some would call it a strength, and from one angle it is, but from many bad experiences I know perfection can be a weakness. Everything that looks too perfect is too perfect to be perfect.
What makes you lose your temper?
Injustice. I am a fighter for it.
FEAR & INSPIRATION
Time, taken for granted.
Two things you are scared of?
Time. We mostly take time for granted, without valuing it enough.
Who inspires you?
My father. He is the king of my world. He made me the strong and independent woman I am today.
ON BEING SEEN
The tip of the iceberg.
Craziest rumour you have heard about yourself?
That nothing has worked in my life. It is funny how people see only the tip of the iceberg, not realising there is a lot underneath. I have been working since I was sixteen, because I always wanted an independent life.
DAILY LIFE
Stretch. Coffee. Call family.
Three things you must do every day?
Stretching before work. Me-time with a coffee and articles after. And calling my family to check that everything is okay.
Three things in your purse?
Makeup. iPhone. Perfume.
FAVOURITES
Desert Rose, and a meeting with Sting.
Favourite song?
Desert Rose, by Sting. The songs bring me a feeling of a past life I never had in reality. I met Sting in person at the end of 2017.
Favourite movie?
Leon the Professional, for old ones. For new, Molly’s Game.
Fashion trends you do not understand?
Too many sequins. I love bling fashion, and Kuwait had a huge impact on my style, but too many sequins were never my thing.
First celebrity crush?
Ashton Kutcher.
Best beauty tip?
Be happy and confident with yourself. That is how you glow inside and out.
THE FUTURE
I did not come this far to only come this far.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
With my own family, and leading my own business.
What motivates you the most?
Seeing that you can manage and create everything with your own two hands. You cannot defeat the one who never gives up.
FOR BOUJEEZ
A Balkan hotelier rebuilt herself in the Gulf, and credits her father for it.
What makes Hena Fulin interesting to Boujeez is the path. From Bosnia at twenty-one to Four Seasons Kuwait, with a career built on patience and an unsentimental view of perfection. The Gulf hospitality industry is full of profiles like this, women who arrived young, stayed, and shaped the service culture that now defines the region. Hena speaks of injustice as a temper trigger and of her father as her compass. That combination, sharpness and gratitude, is what good hoteliers carry. It is also what Boujeez looks for.