Gabrielle Omar
Gabrielle Omar is not only a pretty face, she has the smarts too. She has battled her way through ‘The Apprentice’ process but left last night in a double elimination after her team failed to raise the most amount of money for an online deals website.
Having an impressive background of being an architect and owning her own business, wasn’t enough. Gabrielle continues to strive and gave the men of the business world a run for their money.
I don’t think the process is harder as a woman. I think it is harder if you are nice.
I spoke to Gabrielle to find out what being a woman in business is all about. “ It was a really good, crazy, intense, insane period of my life and I learnt a lot about myself. I went in thinking I was just creative but I learnt that I’m a good saleswoman too. I found that I have a weakness with numbers and that I need a really good accountant with me so we can rule the world together.”
Gabrielle was one to be recognised right from the start and was one of the project managers for the first task, putting her on Lord Sugars radar. She commented: “I didn’t want to sit back and see what happens, I took on challenges. Luckily that meant Lord Sugar knew who I was right from the beginning.”
As ‘The Apprentice’ process is coming to an end, the contestants are losing steam. Lack of sleep and stressful situations can lead to a failure of a task. Gabrielle said: “I needed sleep, I was exhausted. Stephen and I clash like titans and that added with lack of sleep, pressure and an already difficult process, wasn’t a good combination.”
Gabrielle’s bubbly personality and enthusiasm wasn’t just for the camera however, she was rushing to tell all about what has happened since the process. “One of my favourite tasks was the Art Seller one, after that I created my own agency, which is a gallery at night. We are booked up now for 2 and half months. I would ever have done that without going into the process.”
Business can still be seen by some a mans world, but Gabrielle is one of the growing number of women who have decided this viewpoint is a thing of the past, she said “I don’t think the process is harder as a woman. I think it is harder if you are nice, people can see that as weakness, which makes you an easy target. If you are ruthless and manipulative, in the short term works great and works well with this process but long term you need to be nice so clients keep coming back.”
The double elimination was an unexpected shake up on the show, Gabrielle told us: “I think I was a more well rounded candidate than the other two and I’m gutted I went, but I’m glad I went with Stephen, if I’m going down, then he is coming with me. I think people will be shocked we both went.”
Taking Gabrielle away from shop talk, she spills all on the other contestants behind the scenes. “Stephen is actually a really great guy. I think Nick and Adam have a good chance of winning. Nick is very good at what he does but Adam is someone who has learnt a lot. He is always out of his comfort zone but with the right direction, he comes up trumps. I think Ricky will do well too. Good luck to them.”
With so much going for her and a personality that is infectious, I don’t think this is the last we will be seeing of Gabrielle. With an already impressive resume that keeps getting added to, Gabrielle is one to watch.
FemaleFirst Emma Chaplin
Tagged in The Apprentice