“I decided to do my thing and see what happens. People have been so supportive,” Kay Habib

Not all girls went to school when Kay Habib was growing up in Lahore, Pakistan. But her dad wanted his daughters to have the same confidence and opportunities as their brothers.
And he knew that would require an education. So, against the wishes of many friends and relatives, Kay and her sisters went to school. And Kay kept going to school, earning a Master’s degree in interior design in Pakistan, then a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Australia, before immigrating to Canada in 2006 with her husband and son
“Education enabled us to find our way, it changed our lives,” says Kay, owner of London interior design company Skill Décor.
These days Kay is helping others find their way. Early this month, she held a grand opening for her new social enterprise called Skilled Accents, which hires women who came to Canada as refugees to sew stylish decorative pillows. Nearly 130 people turned out to the grand opening at Kay’s Hyde Park showroom.
In six years, Kay has achieved more than she was dreaming of, when she moved to London from Toronto in 2013 and set out to start her own interior design business.  
“At first, in London, I felt like I really had to prove myself – being a woman and also being a brown woman,” she says. “A lot of people told me London is conservative and not as open as Toronto, and because of your last name people might not call you.”
“I decided to do my thing and see what happens. People have been so supportive.”
Kay started getting to know people by joining groups for entrepreneurs. The reception she received from Londoners turned out to be the opposite of what she had been told to expect. 
“”There are always people who treat you differently when they see the colour of your skin or find out where are you from, but if you look past the filters people have and focus on your thing – people will see that.”
Her business was growing, but she wanted to do something that had more purpose. She had seen some refugee women who appeared to be struggling in London and started to think about women from her own home country, who may not be having an easy time getting settled.
A friend referred Kay to London’s Cross Cultural Learner Centre, where she met with a sewing group for refugee women. “I went there, and I was like ‘That’s it! These are the people I need,’” says Kay, who launched the social enterprise in May 2018, providing each of her employees with a sewing machine and fabric that had been donated from London stores.
“I felt like I just have to work with them.”

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