My Morning Routine: Nadine Okasha, Sodic’s chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer

Nadine Okasha, chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer at Sodic: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Nadine Okasha (LinkedIn), chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer at Sodic.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’ve changed from high-speed mornings to a conscious decision to slow down. I used to wake up, check my email, get my kids ready, and fit in a 90-minute yoga session or a long walk before heading to the office — often reading EnterpriseAM before 7 am. Nowadays, I start slower. I linger over coffee on the couch and hold off on email until 8 am, though I do not always succeed. I have also moved my workouts to the evenings, which I find easier on my nervous system and better for staying grounded through the day.

I call my role brand leadership — an integrated approach that keeps our business direction and communication aligned with what shareholders and customers expect. Day to day, that means building a five-year strategy with teams across the company, grounded in analytics and market intelligence — then carrying it through into the brand communication and customer journeys that bring it to life. Sustainability shapes how we build, sell, and communicate along the way.

I trained as a chemical engineer and have spent 16 of Sodic’s 30 years helping steer it through market and leadership changes. Sodic has held a position of credibility in Egypt’s real estate market since its founding, with the same ethos of excellence and accountability holding steady since it went public at its inception. The real test now is sustainable growth: healthy sales and earnings are not hard on their own, but doing both while delivering on time and on promise is what separates strong developers from the rest, especially as affordability tightens and incomes catch up with post-devaluation price increases.

Customers have become far more discerning after several cycles of sales through delivery. They can tell developers who deliver from those who only promise, and the longest payment plan is no longer enough to secure buyers. Livability is the other big shift: what used to be a nice-to-have is now expected, built in from the start, not bolted on later. That shift is driving Sodic’s investment in sustainability and wellness, because the promise now has to be bigger and more personal than simply “live, work, and play.”

No two days look the same for me, and that is what keeps the job interesting. My scope covers strategic planning, operations, and a fair amount of firefighting, mostly from the office, with site visits every week or two. Site visits are my favorite — watching a project come to life in person is genuinely gratifying. I also enjoy the long stretches building strategy decks and the push that comes with a big deadline.

My one constant is my second coffee at 11 am. Staying organized comes down to a habit I have kept for 16 years: a single to-do page, updated every Thursday, printed out on Sunday, and scribbled on all week as new items come up. If it is not written down, it does not happen — that is how nothing slips through the cracks.

Professionally, I want to invest in my own learning again. Nearly 18 years after Wharton, I am exploring executive programs that could broaden my thinking, and I would like to explore teaching business students too. Personally, I am working on holding my forearm stand for longer than 16 counts. Yoga remains a big part of my life, and raising three boys keeps things lively.

I manage my stress levels first, and everything else about balance follows. I stay almost constantly connected given what I do, but I have learned to stay calm through most of it. A calm nervous system makes for a clear mind, and a clear mind is a productive one. That is the real hack behind my balance.

I make room for personal time as long as work is on track and targets are met. I stay agile enough to move with the workload as it ebbs and flows. Sodic’s workplace is competitive, but it genuinely values family, and that combination holds significant weight for me.

I switch off by reading, writing, and sitting outside in the quiet. Time with close, lifelong friends keeps me grounded — without it, you lose sight of why you do everything else. I am a tough grader with books, but Sophie’s World, One Hundred Years of Solitude, A Long Petal of the Sea, and the Neapolitan novels all made the cut. I listen to Eckhart Tolle and Dr. Joe Dispenza, and my husband and I are currently deep in The Tudors after falling down a 1500s rabbit hole we cannot climb out of.

Always pick the option that leaves you with the most future choices — that is the best advice I have ever received, and it came from my mother. It is a simple rule but has served me well at nearly every turn.