Svenja Maltzahn
CEO and Founder, Sumea SocialSvenja Maltzahn is a LinkedIn Top Voice, strategic communications consultant, and the founder of Sumea Social, Dubai's leading personal branding agency for executives and founders.
"Everyone has a personal brand. Big or small."
The Story
Svenja spent years being the invisible voice behind some of the most powerful people in the room. In government communications across Saudi Arabia and the UAE, she wrote the speeches, shaped the narratives, and built the messages that moved audiences through press releases, websites, and X, formerly Twitter.
But what she kept noticing, across clients and organisations, was the same pattern: brilliant leaders and serious experts with decades of hard-won knowledge, who simply didn't talk about what they did. Not out of a lack of ambition, but out of a genuine belief that good work speaks for itself.
In 2020, LinkedIn emerged as the place where careers were made and reputations were built, and it became a genuine opportunity magnet. Journalists scouted it for expert voices. Event organisers used it to find speakers. Investors made decisions based on what they found there. When leaders stopped waiting to be discovered and started showing up with their real voice, it changed everything.
People connect with people, not logos or company pages. The most powerful thing a leader or an organisation can do is let others see how they think. And the executives who embraced that built something no marketing campaign ever could: genuine trust.
That is what Sumea Social exists for. To help leaders find their voice, own their story, and build the kind of presence that opens doors and attracts the right people. Because the best kind of marketing never feels like marketing at all.
Private Coaching
Private coaching with Svenja is for leaders who have done the work but are not yet getting the visibility their expertise deserves. Whether you want to build a stronger presence for your business, position yourself for your next career chapter, or simply start showing up in the right conversations, this is where we start.
One-on-one, focused, and built entirely around your goals.
Keynotes & University Lectures
Svenja is a regular international speaker on personal branding, communications, and professional visibility. She speaks at conferences ranging from industry events like the Global Media Congress to policy and communications forums in Washington DC. Her core message is consistent: in a world where opportunity flows to those who are visible, waiting to be discovered is not a strategy.
Her talks are designed to both inspire and equip. Every audience leaves with a clear understanding of what to do next, not just why it matters.
She also lectures at universities across the world, from the American University in Bishkek to Symbiosis University in Dubai, helping students build a professional presence that opens doors before they even enter the job market.
Corporate Training & Workshops
Svenja designs and delivers tailored, hands-on training sessions for organisations and professional communities. Whether working with a global hotel group on employer branding, coaching a communications team on LinkedIn strategy, building executive profiling programmes, or running personal branding workshops for real estate agents and medical professionals, every session is built around the specific goals of the group.
The format is always interactive and practical. Participants leave with concrete tools and a clear next step, not a slide deck they will never open again.
Official Bio
Svenja Maltzahn is the founder of Sumea Social, Dubai's leading LinkedIn and personal branding agency, and a LinkedIn Top Voice recognised for her work in executive communications and professional visibility.
Her career spans over a decade in strategic communications across London, Riyadh, and Dubai, where she advised government ministers, senior executives, and public sector organisations on how to communicate with precision and impact. Before founding Sumea Social, she held senior roles at global communications agencies including Burson, managing social media strategy and communications programmes for Saudi Ministries and leading figures across the Gulf.
Svenja studied at some of Europe's and the Middle East's leading institutions, specialising in Arabic, media, and strategic communications. She was awarded a scholarship by Germany's Academic Foundation, granted to fewer than 0.25% of students nationwide, and received a fully funded Arabic language scholarship in Jordan through Germany's largest international academic exchange organisation.
She is a regular international speaker and keynote presenter, appearing at conferences from the Global Media Congress to policy forums in Washington DC. She lectures at universities across the world, including the American University in Bishkek and Symbiosis University in Dubai, and delivers corporate training sessions for global organisations on employer branding, executive profiling, and LinkedIn strategy.
Svenja founded Sumea Social on a single conviction: that people don't follow faceless brands, they follow people. And that the leaders who communicate strategically will always hold an advantage over those who wait to be discovered.
