The name AY AM came to me during a period of deep reflection after selling my company, Grow Property Group. I was grieving, not just the sale, but the loss of identity that came with it. My business had kept me safe for years. It gave me purpose through the hardest chapters of my life. And when it was gone, I found myself asking, Who am I without my work?
Through healing and meditation, I began to see that my entire identity had been built around doing rather than being. One day, in complete stillness, I had a moment of absolute clarity: I realised I wasn’t defined by my business or my success. I simply was — whole, powerful, and enough.
That realisation became the foundation for everything that followed.
AY AM was born as both a brand and a movement to help others rediscover who they are beyond what they do. It’s about rebuilding your power, identity, and freedom from the inside out.
Ayda Shabanz is an international entrepreneur, investor, and award-winning businesswoman with over two decades of experience in property, property development, finance, and business growth.
By 30, she had built a $10 million property portfolio.
By 40, she had exited multiple seven- and eight-figure ventures, creating the kind of freedom she once only dreamed about.
But Ayda’s story didn’t begin with privilege. She was born in Iran and immigrated to Australia as a child. Growing up, she learned how to survive before she ever learned how to succeed. Moving often, not speaking the language, navigating life with an alcoholic father, and spending time in safe houses became part of her reality. She left home at 14 and became her own legal guardian at 16. Those early years of instability built the strength and drive that would later define her journey.
From those beginnings, Ayda built her first company from scratch. She learned to raise equity, acquire businesses, and expand operations across Australia and Asia. Today she is focused on expanding her work throughout Dubai and Europe.
She became known not just for growing wealth but for creating sustainable structures and intelligent systems that allow businesses and people to thrive.
As the founder of EXIT-ABLE™, Ayda now helps business owners design companies that can grow and run without them. Her process combines advanced systems, automation, and AI with practical structures that increase profit, improve efficiency, and give founders more time to focus on what they love. Some clients choose to sell later for higher valuations, but for many, the real win is having a business that supports their freedom and wellbeing.
Her insights have been featured in the Australian Financial Review, Sky News, Domain, Yahoo Finance, and Australian Property Investor. She has collaborated with global brands including HP, Blockearner, Swyftx, and Raiz, and has delivered workshops and keynotes for organisations such as Hays Recruitment, Ignite Women’s Events, and CUB Business Club.
For years, I chased success the way the world told me to. More growth, more profit, more recognition. And for a while, I achieved it all. But when I finally had everything I thought I wanted, I realised I had built freedom on the outside while feeling trapped on the inside.
After selling two companies I had built from the ground up, everything I knew fell apart. My business partner was my family, my team was my family. When it ended, I didn’t just lose my work, I lost my identity.
Not long after, I faced heartbreak, deep trauma, and health challenges that shook me to my core. I was hospitalised multiple times, diagnosed with emphysema in my lungs, and even lost feeling on one side of my body after what doctors called a mini-stroke. For months, I felt like my body was shutting down. But after 12 months of seeking alternative treatments, deep healing and inner work, my scans came back clear. I was told I was no longer terminal and I knew I’d been given a second chance.
When I finally moved countries to start again, I was lost and broken. But in that stillness, something powerful happened. I realised that even when I had nothing, I was still free. I had built enough wealth to not have to work, but I finally understood that my businesses had never truly been about money.
They were about purpose, connection, and contribution. My fulfilment came from mentoring my team, helping clients grow, and building something meaningful with people I cared about. My business was how I loved, how I created, and how I made sense of the world.
That moment changed everything. I realised that real freedom isn’t about stopping work. It’s about working in alignment with who you are.
For me, that freedom has always been rooted in relationships. The partners I built with, the colleagues who became family, and the clients who became friends. Those connections gave everything I built its meaning and made every success worth it.
