Why people-first leadership is still smart business

When Shazma Charania graduated from the University of Alberta, she had a career path mapped out in her mind, but more than two decades on, her contributions to helping shape the hospitality industry in Alberta and broader company cultures have found her breaking new ground when it comes to giving a voice to women’s health and recognition in the workplace.

As president of Zainul & Shazma Holdings Ltd. (ZS Holdings), the award-winning company her family has owned and operated in Alberta since the early 1980s, Charania, ’04 Bcom, now oversees seven hotels and one restaurant with locations in Red Deer, Hinton and Edson.

While she started her career with an understanding of what it takes to run a successful hotel business from watching her parents, Charania attributes her time at the university with helping to strengthen that foundation and better understand what her role would be in its success.

“From the moment I entered into the faculty, there was a lot of support in that you're young and trying to figure out what do you want to do with your life. The faculty really helped me start asking ‘what makes sense for me, and what kind of career would I want to build?’”

It was in her final year of study that the course, Managing Family Enterprise, taught by professor Jennifer Jennings, became a turning point in how she thought of what her role would become at ZS Holdings. The course challenged Charania to look at her future within the company and how she could lead it into its next chapter.

“When I made the decision to join the family business, I knew I didn't want to just be the owner's daughter. I wanted to make sure that I learned from my parents, but I also wanted to put my own spin on it.”

Since joining the family business, Charania has shaped the company through a leadership style defined by respect for legacy, modern decision-making and a people-first culture.

“I am proud that we're still operating like a close family business in that we value our people. We’re in the people business, not just internally with our team, but externally with our guests. And we understand that, although the hotel business is a real estate business, we don't build to sell, we built to operate.”

The next chapter

Years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Charania reconnected with professor Jennings through a conversation that sparked an important turning point in her role as a business leader.

Professor Jennings invited her to participate in research focused on perimenopause in the workplace. Through completing the surveys, Charania experienced a revelation: symptoms she had dismissed as stress or burnout were common experiences shared by countless women.

“I realized I wasn’t alone.”

Perimenopause, which can begin in a woman’s late thirties or early forties, typically coincides with the time when they are pursuing leadership roles and often balancing the demands of careers and family. Symptoms like brain fog, sleep disruption, anxiety, hot flashes and fatigue can impact a woman’s confidence and productivity, yet these experiences largely remain unspoken in the workplace.

Charania recognized this silence is detrimental to women aiming to advance it their careers. “The biggest factor is that women are dealing with all of this and are still expected to go to work and really deliver. It's also the time in life to shine because you're entering your highest earning potential years and you don't want to mess it up.”

Determined to make a change, Charania partnered with Jennings on a series of Perimenopause at Work events. Through this partnership, the two hosted gatherings for business leaders and decision-makers, both men and women, who possessed the influence to create real workplace change. “I wanted the right people in the room. I wanted people who could listen, understand and act.”

The events created safe environments where participants could learn the science behind perimenopause, hear personal stories and discuss practical ways to support staff, ranging from flexible scheduling and improved temperature control to uniform changes and workplace policies grounded in dignity. For many attendees, the conversations were transformative, bringing long-overdue understanding to a topic often relegated to whispers or jokes.

“The feedback has been very rewarding in that they got the message,” says Charania. “There are things you can change in your company handbook, but sometimes, it's about creating an open environment where we understand and we're aware of what people need. These are the kinds of supports that you can get by having people comfortable enough to ask questions and understand that sometimes people need different things than what we would normally think about.”