There’s the kind of story you expect on a business podcast—and then there’s the kind Seneca tells. Her career-defining moment didn’t start with a sustainability framework or an MBA thesis. It started in the Atlantic Ocean. Alone. At night. Having just been flung from a sinking boat.

The experience left her with PTSD, temporary memory loss, and a recalibrated view of value—personal, professional, and environmental.

“I realised I couldn’t just make money—I had to leave a legacy,” she reflects.

That moment didn’t just mark her survival; it sparked a transformation.

Today, as Head of Sustainability at Alshaya Group—one of the Middle East’s largest retail franchise partners—Seneca isn’t just driving ESG from within; she’s reimagining what sustainability leadership looks like when it’s grounded in lived experience and systems insight.

🔄 Circular Thinking in a Linear World

At the core of Seneca’s philosophy is a simple but powerful idea: most waste isn’t rubbish, it’s misrecognised value.

Drawing on the article “Zero Waste Isn’t Just an Environmental Strategy—It’s a Business Strategy,” she underscores how waste—whether plastic, packaging, or people’s time—starts with procurement decisions. “Buy smarter, waste less,” she says. It’s not just about being lean. It’s about being honest.

Seneca recounts a pilot with Ericsson that slashed landfill waste by nearly 40%. Scale that, and you’re looking at over a million dollars in savings.

“But it still took me nine months to convince the right people,” she notes.

That delay? Not cost. Not tech. Just the drag of disbelief.

Her magic wand, if she had one? Not more regulation. Just awareness. “I’d wave it and everyone would go: ‘Ahhh.’ That’s the shift. That moment of realisation.”

🛍️ The Myth of the Virtuous Consumer

Seneca’s realism extends to the market. She’s seen enough to know that sustainability doesn’t sell itself.

“Consumers say they care—but they still shop for value. That’s not hypocrisy. That’s human.”

Referencing a BCG study showing the gap between climate concern and consumer action in the Gulf, she calls on brands to ditch eco-performative marketing. “Don’t lead with guilt. Lead with utility. No one pays more for less—no matter how green the packaging.”

Her call isn’t for less ambition—but more behavioural honesty.

🧠 Recovery, Systems, and Emotional Labour

What sets Seneca apart isn’t just technical competence—it’s her willingness to bring her full humanity to the table.

From navigating post-traumatic stress to completing Harvard Extension courses at 1am from Kuwait, she models a rare integration: academic depth, operational grit, and emotional insight. Every story she tells is a lesson in the unseen cost of change.

Whether it’s pushing back on inefficient legacy systems or holding space for team wellbeing, she sees transformation not as a directive—but as an act of seeing.

“Change doesn’t come from pressure alone,” she says. “It comes from people being able to see.”

Final Thought

Seneca’s leadership is quietly radical. She’s not broadcasting slogans. She’s modelling a different way of thinking—where clarity is hard-won, waste is reframed, and courage looks a lot like consistency.

In a world hungry for breakthrough solutions, her gift is something subtler: behavioural clarity forged through lived experience. Less hype. More vision. And a deeply human kind of wisdom.