A Lifetime of Empowering Women

For Liesa Euton, empowering women has never been a slogan or a single initiative. It has been a thread running through more than three decades of her professional and community life—from New York to the Caribbean and ultimately to Dubai.

Born in New York and educated in New York City, Liesa built much of her early career in St. Maarten, where she became a successful hospitality executive and spent many years as General Manager of the Sea Palace Resort. At a relatively young age, she found herself leading in environments where women were not always equally represented at the decision-making table.

Rather than allowing that to limit her, it helped shape the leader she would become.

Throughout her years in St. Maarten, Liesa served on numerous public and private sector boards and held senior positions within the tourism and hospitality industry, including President of the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association. But some of the work closest to her heart centered on women.

In 1998, she founded and served as President of the Safe Haven Foundation, established to provide a safe environment and support for women and children affected by domestic violence. The initiative reflected something Liesa had come to believe very strongly: women sometimes need more than encouragement—they need practical support, opportunity, safety and someone willing to advocate for them.

That belief followed her when her life took another major turn.

In 2009, Liesa moved from the Caribbean to Dubai and began rebuilding her professional and community life in a completely different part of the world.

Only a year later, in 2010, she became one of the driving forces behind the Dubai Women’s Run, serving as Race Director and event organizer. The inaugural event brought together more than 1,500 women. Within a few years, participation had grown to more than 5,000.

For Liesa, however, the Dubai Women’s Run was never simply about running.

It was about creating a space where women of different ages, cultures, nationalities and levels of fitness could come together, challenge themselves and celebrate what women could achieve. She remained involved as Race Director through 2018, watching an idea centered on women’s health and empowerment grow into an established event within the UAE.

Her work with women has continued to evolve.

Today, through EHP International, where she serves as Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa and Caribbean, Liesa works with organizations and individuals in leadership development, corporate training, customer service excellence, communication, management development and executive coaching.

An important part of that work is developing women professionally.

Liesa mentors women at different stages of their careers, from those discovering their confidence and professional direction to women already holding leadership positions. Her mentorship focuses strongly on positive mindset, self-belief, personal development and financial independence.

She is particularly interested in helping women understand that financial independence is an important part of empowerment. Her mentoring has therefore also included financial literacy and financial technology, encouraging women to educate themselves, understand new opportunities and become active participants in decisions affecting their financial futures.

Her philosophy is that empowerment must be practical. Confidence matters, but women must also have knowledge, skills, financial awareness and access to opportunities.

Today, Liesa’s contribution extends beyond training and mentorship into governance and advisory leadership. She serves on supervisory and advisory boards, including her involvement with the Strategic Youth Development Program (SYDP), where she contributes her international experience, leadership perspective and commitment to developing the next generation. She sees this stage of her career as an opportunity not simply to achieve more personally, but to use what she has learned to open doors for others.

Her journey has given her a particular appreciation for the achievements of women in the United Arab Emirates.

Having made Dubai her home for many years, Liesa has witnessed the extraordinary evolution of Emirati women and their growing presence in government, business, entrepreneurship, education, technology, aviation, healthcare and leadership.

She believes there is something particularly powerful about women seeing other women lead. Representation creates possibility. When a young woman sees another woman sitting on a board, running an organization, building a company or participating in decisions that shape society, she begins to understand that those opportunities can belong to her as well.

This is also why Liesa believes strongly that successful women have a responsibility to support the women coming behind them.

Her own journey has taken her from helping provide a safe haven for vulnerable women in the Caribbean, to bringing thousands of women together through the Dubai Women’s Run, to developing women professionally through EHP International, mentoring women toward greater confidence and financial independence, and contributing at board level to initiatives focused on future generations.

On Emirati Women’s Day, Liesa Euton celebrates the achievements of Emirati women and the vision of a country that has continued to create opportunities for women to lead, contribute and succeed.

She is equally grateful that Dubai gave her, as a woman arriving from another part of the world, the opportunity to create a new chapter of her own story and to contribute to the community she now calls home.

For Liesa, the next chapter is increasingly about legacy—not simply what she can accomplish herself, but how many women and young people she can encourage, mentor and help move forward.

Her message to women remains the same message that has guided much of her own life:

Believe in yourself, become financially independent, support other women, and never be afraid to begin again.