21/05/2026
I almost wore black.
Everyone wears black to these things. It’s the default. The safe choice. The dress that tells the room you belong without making them actually look at you.
I went red.
Emaar’s Quarter 1 Broker Awards 2026.
Xperience Realty placed in the top 20.
The timing was strange and I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t. There’s a war in the neighborhood. People have been messaging me — quietly, in DMs — asking whether Dubai is still the right bet right now.
I walked into that ballroom and got my answer.
The top 20 brokerages in Dubai, all in the same room. Emaar leadership in the front row, off the back of their biggest first quarter on record,AED 22.4 billion in property sales, up 16% year-on-year. The agencies that would normally be competing for the same listings on a Monday morning, all here in formal wear, all still on the board. Brokers from a dozen passports. Champagne. A step-and-repeat. Speeches about the year ahead like nothing outside the building had shifted.
Nobody in that room was pretending the world isn’t loud right now.
They were just carrying on anyway.
I wore red because I wanted to remember walking into that room the first time. And because some weeks you need a dress that doesn’t apologize for being there.
Q1 is in the books.
Onward. 🧡
