Building A Legacy: Kris Fade Opens Up On the Long Journey of Forging Enduring Relevance "It can take years to build a brand and seconds to destroy it. I'm aware of this and always want to be sure I stay true to myself."
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Many people tell me that I'm their Voice of Dubai, and when they come back to the city after many years and still hear me on the radio, it gives them a feeling of comfort, and that's something that I feel is so special," says Dubai-based media personal ity and entrepreneur Kris Fade.
The unofficial recognition as the "Voice of Dubai" is a stark contrast to where Fade's professional journey began. He got an on-air opportunity at Sydney's Edge 96.1 in his early 20s when -by his own admission- he was working in cafés and restaurants, washing cars, and not knowing "what I wanted to do because I didn't do too great at school." Today, Fade is the host of The Kris Fade Show, Virgin Radio Dubai's most listened-to English breakfast radio show in the city. This is not simply the story of a radio career, but a deeper look at how an accidental beginning evolved into the deliberate building of a legacy.
Image courtesy Kris Fade
"I want to be remembered as the guy who made you feel safe, happy, and loved when you heard me on the radio," Fade says. "I want my family to know I always did it all for them—the hours, the work, the companies—for them. I want them to be comfortable, never worry about money! Legacies are built. I'm still building mine. Watch this space."
In 2007, the Lebanese-Australian Fade was presented with a defining choice: help launch a new Virgin Radio station in either Kuala Lumpur or Dubai. Drawn by a desire to reconnect with his Arab roots, he chose the latter. "It was the first-ever Virgin Radio in the Middle East, I came ready to work and ready to build," Fade recalls. "It wasn't until about 2012 that the show started to really impact the city, and it was probably around then that I thought to myself, well, maybe Dubai isn't a city that I'll ever want to leave. Let's keep building and see how far we can go. Over the years, with radio and social media and interacting one-on-one with people, I've been able to build this brand that I absolutely love, and I'm so grateful for."
Image courtesy Kris Fade
To understand the scale of his evolution, it's worth unpacking what Fade's personal brand beyond radio, encompasses today, as evidenced by the ventures he transparently shares with his one million Instagram followers. In the fitness and wellness space, there are Fade Fit, a UAE-born, family-owned health and wellness brand; Enhance Fitness, a certified personal trainers platform; and Dubai-based personal training and group coaching community TEAM 365. His other ventures reflected a diverse set of interests - Pepperoni Comedy Club, an American-Italian diner and comedy club; The Code, an advertiser funded consumer goods product platform; and KS Konnect, A strategic platform delivering global talent and high-value sports and entertainment IP. Fade also a part of the DJ duo "Cancelled Music", a former Netflix's Dubai Bling Star — and, at the core of it all, a father of three.
"When it comes to my personal brand, I've always tried to just be me," he says. "Be real and authentic; don't fake things. We live in a world whereby people want to be 'famous,' and quickly. Building a brand that can sustain time isn't easy. Many of my decisions are taken with thought. I do ask myself, will this jeopardize or risk anything I've built, especially jumping into business in an unknown territory? It can take years to build a brand and seconds to destroy it. I'm aware of this and always want to be sure I stay true to myself."
As a writer, with Fade's biography being this rich, choosing my next focus is no easy task, so perhaps it s best to go back to the talent that sparked it all. While long-standing radio careers are relatively rare, Fade is entering his 22nd year behind the microphone. "I'm all about human connection. I believe once you make that connection just once, they'll listen to you and they'll be a fan of you for the rest of your life," he says, adding that he assumes he has spoken with "more people than the average human would." "I often get people telling me their deepest, darkest secrets, and through all these stories and all these interactions, it allows me to connect with someone, I believe, on a personal level," Fade explains. "So sharing those short moments to, you know, diving deeper into more serious moments allows me to create the radio that I do. I feel our radio show has made a huge impact on the country because I believe that we came in at a time where the country was growing really quickly, and we kind of grew with it."
Image courtesy Kris Fade/Fade Fit
Alongside acknowledging his co-host, Priti Malik, BIG ROSSI, and the wider Virgin Radio team, Fade stresses the importance of closely following trends, making sure radio hosts are either shaping them or keeping pace as they grow older. "You wanna make sure that you're relatable to all your audience, and your audience could be kids on the way to school, mum and dad driving to school, or a single person who has just moved to the UAE, so you want to be relatable," he says. "I really try my hardest to continue to evolve. I never want to stay still and just think that I know everything. I talk to a lot of people from all different age demograph ics, from all different job titles, and I love to learn. I love to hear stories from them, and I believe that allows me to stay well current and on top of the game."
Over time, the genuine connections Fade built on and through radio spilled naturally into social media, where they flourished and sparked the launch of his business ventures. Yet each business seems to have emerged from a deeply personal place—and nowhere is that more evident than in his entrepreneurial journey into the fitness and wellness sector. "I was pretty much rock bottom when I created Fade Fit," Fade explains. "I had gone through a brutal divorce. I was overweight, anxious, and depressed, and it was in those moments that I turned to health. I started to hit the gym, and it started to make me feel mentally better, and then physically I became better. I worked on myself, and I became a better version of who I was, and Fade Fit really began then."
Fade Fit began as a personal hashtag, used informally by Fade himself, before gaining traction among his followers and fans that evolved organically into a small community and continued to grow from there. "One day, when I was shopping for groceries for my kids, I wanted to give them some healthier snacks, and, well, there wasn't much on the shelves," Fade explains. "So I realized, well, maybe I should create my own, and that was the conception of the actual snacks."
Image courtesy Kris Fade
Fade Fit now offers a wide range of protein snacks, kids' products, vitamins, and merchandise, available across major retailers, F&B outlets, and online platforms. Enhance Fitness and TEAM 365 were similarly shaped by personal experience. "When I was suffering through anxiety, I remember going to a psychologist and him giving me prescription pills to try to make me feel mentally better. I tried tak ing them, but I really didn't feel anything. I didn't feel better. I didn't feel anything, really," Fade explains. "But when I went to fitness, that's when I became better; that's when I felt better than I was, and that was the moment that I realized fitness is going to be part of my life forever." Fade adds, "It's not about making money. It's about people transforming their lives and helping them to do so."
Now, it is worth revisiting Fade's first business, Fade Fit, for one more brief moment, as it revealed a lesson central to building lasting momentum. "Consistency for me is everything," he explains. "Fade Fit taught me that the more hours you put in, the more you get from life. Anybody can start something. Anybody can do something for a few days, or a few weeks, even a few months, but where you really succeed is where you do it for years and years and you never stop. Creating Fade Fit has then had a domino effect onto other things that I do in my life. Hard work and being consistent, but also having passion, is vital for success."
Image courtesy Kris Fade
That entrepreneurial instinct didn't stop at wellness—so how did Fade find his way into hospitality? "Before radio, I worked in cafés in Australia. I've always loved being behind a coffee machine or behind a grill, serving customers, taking orders, so there was always a passion to own my own restaurant in the city that I call home," Fade explains. "My good friend Rizwan Kassim, who owns the Rikas Group, is one of the greatest restaurateurs in the region, if not the world. I had always shared my idea that I'd like to open up an American Italian diner in the city. A few years later, he came to me and said, "We're ready. Let's do it." So he and a few of my other partners came together and created The Pepperoni Comedy Club."
The hospitality venture introduced another lesson to learn. "The biggest hurdle would be patience," Fade says. "For me personally, I've always worked on being more patient. The hospitality industry is one that moves fast, but at the same time, you need to be patient to make sure all decisions are the right ones. I'm grateful to have great partners like Rikas and Ennismore to assist along the way. I'm a true believer in making sure you surround yourself with experienced people and trust the process."
Most recently, Fade teamed up with Abu Dhabi–based enter tainment marketing entrepre neur Sarah Omolewu to co-found KS Konnect, a strategic platform connecting global talent, sports and entertainment IP with governments, institutions, and brands across the region. "KS Konnect is definitely a long-term game," Fade says. "We're building an ecosystem that will assist in growing the region's ideas. Our success will be built on our reputation and results. We have no doubt that we will provide a different perspective than what is currently being offered. Our high-value partners are provid ing us with the key to access influential international celebrities."
Kris Fade and Sarah Omolewu. Image courtesy Kris Fade
The company has already secured strategic collaborations with The Sustain able City Dubai and the UAE's sports and entertainment–fo cused free zone ISEZA, while also producing the Middle East premiere and influencer-led activations for Pole to Pole with Will Smith. In the end, when the micro phone is off, the restaurants close, and the events wrap up, Fade is, above all, a family man. "I've raised my daughters as a single father for many years, so I've always needed to make sure they were and are my priority. No matter how busy I get, my sole role was to be their dad," he says. "Years on, I now have a beautiful family unit where my wife, Brianna, baby Kruz, are all there to support one another. I'm blessed and grateful. Dubai has also given me the opportunity to have Virginia and Marylyn, my amazing nannies, who have been part of my family for 16 years. Without them, I couldn't have done all I'm doing."
