Women Of Influence 2025: Lucidya's Yara Milbes

As the Vice President of Marketing of the rapidly growing KSA-based Lucidya, Yara Milbes is at the forefront of shaping the narrative around artificial intelligence (AI) and customer experience (CX) in the Arab world. At Lucidya, one of the leading Arabic-first AI CX platforms in the MENA region, Milbes has been championing a data-driven and deeply localized approach for its global marketing strategy, which, ultimately, is helping put the company on track for an initial public offering (IPO).

Milbes, whose background spans over 20 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications sectors at industry leaders like Infobip, HID Global, and Orange Telecom, tells Inc. Arabia that a decisive moment in her professional journey came when she chose to leave her comfort zone in the corporate world and step into a leadership role at the bold scaleup.

“When I joined Lucidya, it wasn’t just a career move; it was a deliberate decision to lead from the front in shaping the future of Arabic-first AI and customer experience in the region,” Milbes reveals. “I left behind a more traditional path in global marketing to build something meaningful, local, and transformative, from the ground up. That decision changed everything: it pushed me to rethink what leadership truly means, to build teams from zero, to make high-stakes calls with limited data, and to lead with both conviction and humility. It also allowed me to create real, measurable impact, not just for the company, but for how brands across the MENA understand and engage with their customers. This moment reinforced a core belief I carry with me: growth doesn’t happen in your comfort zone. It happens when you bet on purpose, take the leap, and lead with vision, even when the path isn’t fully clear.”

And the numbers speak for the impact Milbes has had on Lucidya. In just six months, she has led a full restructuring of the company’s marketing organization, helping it to achieve a 110 percent increase in website traffic, a 30 percent growth in organic social following (with more than 2,000 media mentions and upward of 700 million users reached), and a 158 percent pipeline contribution against their targets. Milbes has also supported Lucidya’s growth into the UAE and Qatar, setting the stage for the company to launch its services for small and medium businesses in these nations. However, Milbes’ impact extends beyond company milestones. As a rising female leader in KSA’s innovation economy, Milbes can be seen as an example of how women are playing an increasingly important role in the region’s dynamic business landscape.

“The growing presence of women of influence in the tech and marketing space, especially in the MENA, has done more than just diversify leadership tables; it has reshaped the tone, the priorities, and the values we bring to the work,” Milbes says. “In industries like AI and customer experience, where understanding people is as important as building the right tools, women bring a distinct advantage: empathy-driven leadership, multi-dimensional thinking, and the ability to connect data with human nuance. In my experience, women in leadership roles tend to ask different questions, not just ‘how do we scale?’ but ‘how do we scale with integrity?’ Not just ‘what’s the next big launch?’ but ‘what experience are we really creating for our customers and teams?’ That shift in perspective is making organizations more adaptive, more customer-centric, and ultimately more sustainable.”

Milbes also points out that as women increasingly lead conversations in the business arena, leaders are increasingly seeing diversity as more than just a trend, but rather a competitive advantage. And that, she says, is helping to inspire other women to aspire to and rise up to leadership roles. “When women see other women in decision-making roles, something unlocks; it normalizes ambition,” Milbes says. “It turns ‘maybe someday’ into ‘why not now?’ I’ve seen it on my own team, how visibility and mentorship can spark confidence, curiosity, and growth. Representation alone isn’t enough. But when women in leadership lead well, with clarity, collaboration, and conviction, they don’t just open doors. They widen them.”

Lessons Learned: Q&A With Yara Milbes

Looking back on your journey, if there is one piece of advice you’d give yourself before you embarked on your career, what would that be? Additionally, if you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you should avoid or simply not do, what would that be?

Your voice is your power, use it early, use it often. Don’t wait until you feel “ready” or “qualified enough” to speak up; lead, or challenge the norm. Confidence is not something you earn after proving yourself, it’s something you grow by showing up boldly, even when it feels uncomfortable.

And if there’s one thing I would tell myself to avoid, it would be: stop over-editing yourself to fit into rooms you were meant to transform. Early in my career, I spent too much time trying to be the version of a leader I thought others expected; polished, agreeable, safe. But real progress only started when I leaned into what made me different, not less than, just different, and started leading with clarity, honesty, and conviction.

To women following a similar path: you do not need permission to lead, you don’t need to shrink your ideas, soften your ambition, or delay your growth waiting for perfect timing. The only thing you need is alignment, with your values, your purpose, and your voice. The rest, you build as you go.

Pictured in the lead image is Yara Milbes, Vice President - Marketing, Lucidya. Image by Inc. Arabia.

Yara Milbes was one of Inc. Arabia's Women of Influence 2025, a showcase of 30 women rewriting the rules of business in the MENA region. For the full list, please click here.