Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Welcome everyone to another wonderful interview onthe Women Excelling Everywhere Podcast. As always,
I am so excited to bring peopleto you, especially wonderful, amazing
women whose purpose and goal and functionis helping other women excel where they are
(00:30):
at and what they are doing.And that is what my wonderful guest today
Leela Ronga, and she is anentrepreneur, she's an economist, and she
is the founder of the Bright Academyand she is joining us all the way
from Hungary. So welcome Leela tothe Women Excelling Everywhere Podcast. Thank you
(00:51):
so much for having me. Iam so happy to be connecting with you
on this level. We met aVirtue several months ago and she came into
a mastermind that we have and wastalking about some of the wonderful things that
she is doing to support women,to support women with their internal growth,
(01:11):
with their head growth, and Iwas so impressed. I was like,
we need to get her on theWomen Excelling Everywhere podcast. So Leila,
let us know a little bit aboutwho you are, Like, where are
you from and where were you raised, you know, big family, small
family, tell us a little bitabout Leela. Sure, thank you for
(01:34):
the introduction. So I founded theBright Academy four years ago and my main
motivation was that I liked certain thingsin traditional schooling, such as the discovery
of my unique talents and the nurturingof those. And my main mission is
to help people find their light.And so far we have fifteen thousand students
(01:57):
in the Hungarian side hunger and business, and my mission crystallizingto wanting to help
women globally. So We're just launchingthe Bright Academy dot com with the first
five courses right now, and I'mreally excited to get all the knowledge that
we might have not received in schoolbut would be beneficial for women to build
(02:17):
a strong foundation on. So thisis a huge journey for me because I'm
coming from a really small town inHungary. But I'm really lucky because I'm
from an entrepreneurial family. So myparents have always been really supportive with me,
and I have seen a lot ofstruggle and a lot of victory through
(02:38):
their path and their journeys. Soit was always kind of natural to me
ever since I was little to workon something a little project and to make
my money, and I was alwaysreally excited to build so I knew I
wanted to be an entrepreneur from avery very young age, and I knew
I wanted to support people finding theirpath. So that's how the Academy came
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alive four years ago, and that'swhere we're at right now. I love
it. So your early childhood experiencesor life growing up definitely had an impact
on the journey that you are takingnow. It sounds like most definitely.
For sure, I was really blessedwith that background because we started from from
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zero. Honestly, there there wasnot a lot of support that, for
example, my parents received, andI saw the struggle and I've experienced i
could say, poverty, but wealways had everything that we needed because my
parents did a great job, youknow, just giving us everything that we
actually really needed. But then itwas really beautiful to see the growth of
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you know, themselves, but alsothe business and at the same time also
staying true to themselves and always beingable to spend enough time together and seeing
what's really important in the meantime.So I'm trying to keep those values as
I build my life and my business. You know, that's a really,
really good point because as entrepreneurs,sometimes our businesses can like to be all
(04:15):
engulfing and they like they're just partof everything. And I was telling you
before we hit record that it wasthat way for me last month, right
because we had this big launch ofour collaborative book, Women Excelling Everywhere,
and I just felt like it wasI was spending Sunday evenings in the office,
I was spending long days. Itreally does at time for entrepreneurs,
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it tends to kind of override ourlives. What have you found? I
mean, I love that it wasyour upbringing that helped to instill those values
in you as well at the sametime the entrepreneurial spirit. But what are
some of the things that you doto make sure that you see stay in
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as much harmony in your life asyou can, Because there's gonna be peaks
and valleys, There's gonna be timeswhen we have deadlines coming and we're gonna
do that little extra work, butwe have to kind of come back to
that. You know that I hateusing the word balance, but come back
to that neutral line where we're takingcare of ourselves and having a personal life
as well. What have you foundworks well for you? That's a great
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question, and I have to addI always giggle when somebody says I started
my own business so I would havemore free time, and then we always
end up working all the weekends foryears before that would happen. Usually maybe
that's a limiting belief, but that'smy experience as well. So it is
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very important, indeed to have thosetools that we discovering ourselves or that we
have around us to help us findI don't know better word for it,
as well, with balance, butpeace maybe you know, in our everyday
yes, and so I have afew of those, and those are really
important to me because otherwise I don'tthink I could handle the stress of it.
(06:09):
You know, I'm an introvert,so to me, for example,
being on a podcast like this isa really big deal and it's not easy
for me. So for example,let's take this morning, I had to
go for a run, I hadto work out, I had to do
well. I call it meditation.But it's also a bit funny because I
mainly just lay in bed and Ijust try to pay attention to how I
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feel, honestly, So it's notsome type of perfect method, but it
helps me a lot. So themore stressful the work or the higher goals
I set, the more I needthese tools. So if I don't do
them for a day or two,I can already feel a huge difference.
Oh amen, yeah, sure,yes, yes, totally excuse me,
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no, go right ahead. Yeah, it's a workout for me. Is
a really big part of it.And then I really love the sun.
So in Hungary winters are quite rough, so as often as I can,
I try to go to a sunnyplace and then I recharge. Reconnecting with
nature is really important. And thenkind of meditation or paying attention to my
feelings and taking some time off oraway from the screen are the things that
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helped me the most. That I'mjust like, yes, I want to
applaud you on that because it's funnyI'm doing a or it's the timing is
has some irony too, because I'mdoing a presentation next month that I had
to get the PowerPoint into into thegroup that hired me to do the presentation,
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and it was that's exactly what it'son is really managing for that.
It was specifically managing the stressors inyour life. But so much of what
you said are actual tools, neurosciencebased tools that shifts the chemistry in your
brain that are so healthy for you. Exercise right number it's like daily.
I agree, my life is notthe same if I don't get on my
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elliptical every day or you know,nature. One of the highlights of my
days is to go down and feedthe horses twice a day. Right,
that's getting out and smelling the freshair. And I'm a big proponent of
what I call mindfulness meditation as opposedto that deeper which really is what you
described just being present, just beingaware, taking a few minutes to unplug,
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push everything out aside, and justyou know, just enjoy the sunlight,
or enjoy the smell, or enjoybreath. Really just appreciate that.
So those are all excellent ways.I think that for entrepreneurs, especially all
women really because if you're a mother, if you're listening to this podcast and
you're like, well, I'm notan entrepreneur, but I'm at home and
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got kids. If you got kids, you need this. It's something something
important and we will perform better inour other areas of our life if we
keep that, keep good health onus. So I applaud you for that.
That's excellent, excellent tips in yourjourney as you're going. Because creating
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an international business on the scale thatyou are creating, and you said you
have some what you say, fifteenthousand something like that members in Hungary,
that that's huge, and now you'retaking that global. That's such a big,
big, big undertaking. Is therea was there a role model?
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Was there a book? Was therea something that helped you envision in your
mind? I can take this,I can do this, I can take
it to this higher level and moveoutside of my backyard. Such a great
question is so important because it doeshelp me a lot to have role models,
(10:01):
to see that somebody has already doneit, and to acknowledge the fact
that the only difference between them andI is time. It was a really
important teaching from one of my spiritualmentors. And so there aren't that many
role models, for example, inHungary of let's say, female leaders or
female entrepreneurs, especially those who remainedto stay true to themselves, to their
(10:26):
feminine sides. And that's really importantto me, to not turn into toxic
masculinity, but to use what wehave, what we were given, our
feminine healing energies, and to buildwith that. And obviously it's a challenge,
but I do have one in Hungary. Her name is Sabina Toman.
She has a diet lifestyle business,and to me, she's really wonderful because
(10:54):
she managed to build something that isknown by potentially every single woman in Hungry
while staying and remaining true to herself, to her feminine side. And I'm
sure that took a lot because itis, at least in Hungry is still
definitely a very masculine country, soit's rare to have that, and she
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managed to stay true to herself likethat. Internationally, I would say I
resonate the most with the Marie fourLeo because I just love her energy and
the way she built her business,and there are so many common points of
our journey that it does give mefaith, especially on difficult days, because
she talks about her journey and herdifficult days in her path and I'm sure
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in her present as well. SoI would mention them two yes. So
I think that's beautiful, especially becauseyou said something. You said that she
is in a similar industry as whatyou're doing, right, And I think
that's that's an important thought process thatwe as women need to have, is
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we don't it's being able to It'sa nice skill to be able to look
at other women who are accomplishing greatthings, doing the exact same thing you're
doing, and looking at them asmentors versus competition, right, Like,
what can you learn from these people? And what can you learn that is
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is gonna you know, what arethey doing that you can emulate or that
you can add your secret sauce to? Obviously, but but how can you
watch what they do instead of going, oh, I wish that I was
doing. I do the same thing. Why am I not as popular or
whatever? You know, It's it'sa it's a really important way to look
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at things, to pay attention tothat I think too so I and and
it was so so I have tomention somebody who is really close to my
heart and who has been helping mea lot along my journey. I do
have a mentor, and that's oneof the reasons why it's important to me
to build the mentorship element of theplatform, because it is such a huge
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game changer to have a mentor onyour side. Mine is called Vieta Chielette,
and she's just one of the mostamazing ladies, and she actually introduced
me to you as well. SoI got to meet her in Budapesta about
a month ago and it was suchan amazing experience. It was beautiful and
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we had a great time. Andso her journey and everything she's been through
and how honestly she talks about itand what she achieved as well is so
inspiring to me. So I wouldsay having a personal mentor is a game
changer, and I definitely recommend itbecause it saved so much time and energy
and money, and it also inspiresme to do something very similar in the
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future. When I gained those experiencesto help young female entrepreneurs, yeah,
you know, and I think that'sit's I'm connected to a networking association,
which I strongly always encourage people,whether it's you know, joining the Women
Excelling Everywhere or local networking or youknow wherever, right, because if you're
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a female entrepreneur, you have tobe able to go out and network and
connect with other people. But shehad the owner of the business. She's
been in the business for about twentyyears. I think her name is Sander
Yancey, and she has built amulti multi million dollar company, and so
she is up there in the youknow, I think she told me she
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hit seven figure. You know,she's she's definitely in the million dollar range
in her millions of dollars in herpersonal life and her personal income. And
you would look at someone like thatwho has built this international networking association,
Okay, they're past mentorship, right, they're past that, and not at
all. Here she is in herearly sixties. She's been she's solid in
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business, and she has always hada coach. She has always had a
mentor. She has right now,she's in a mastermind that she pays six
figures for. She pays over onehundred thousand dollars a year to be a
part of this mastermind, and sheswears by it like it's she knows that
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you need to constantly grow, thatyou're never going to stop growing. So
here she is a mature woman.She's got grandkids, she's you know,
accomplished so much in her life.She's been married for forty plus years,
you know, and yet she stillsees the benefit of that. And I
think there's a big lesson in that, right, is being able to avail
yourself of other people, even ifit's just someone who's perspective is different.
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So true, yeah, it givesand I love what you're doing. And
a great way to start in thatis to do be a part of something
like what what you have there withthe Bride Academy. So you know,
if the listeners are going, well, I can't afford six figures for you
know, for for a mastermind.We got it. That's okay, that's
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okay. There are a lot ofresources out there like what what you have
built and are continuing to build.Uh that will that will support support women.
Did you have a personal like Iknow that you said that you noticed
in school they they weren't teaching thisin in your growth in school, it
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was basically academics, right, Andthat's that's that's the sad part about school
systems right now is even your betterschool systems in your better countries, which
the US is not one of them, but you know they they have they
don't always teach some of the basicsal care self development. Did you have
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like a pivotal point or a specificthing that happened in your high school years
that made you think, wow,there's something really lacking or was it just
the general education that you weren't receiving. I feel like it was more a
process than one moment. And it'svery interesting because I started to build just
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intuitively this platform and the courses.I on the journey realized what am I
building? Really? So I thinkit's really true to start before you feel
ready, because you know, Istill don't feel ready for any of these,
but I feel like I can,I can build, and I can
provide a value by connecting people toeach other who might benefit from the teachings
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from the connections, from the knowledgeand experiences. So I felt like a
place where it's safe to make mistakes, where it's safe to give the time
to discover yourself, where it's acknowledgedthat yes, you are unique. So
therefore you have some type of uniquetalent and the world can be served through
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that is needed. And so Ijust started to build it and gather all
the knowledge in order courses that Ifelt like I could benefit from. And
I did not have that knowledge before. Yeah, that's I see that.
It's uh, or you hadn't gottenthat knowledgeyet, I should say that's It's
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It's so interesting what what is outthere that is praised and is looked at
as this is solid education and wedon't a lot of these in our you
know over here they call them softskills, personal development type things are don't
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have the the perceived value and thereal is the value is huge because if
you're not good in here, oryou aren't growing internally, then you're not
going to function as well as aworker, as a teammate, as a
leaders, as a parent. Allof those things can tend to be can
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tend to be very lacking. SoI applaud you for what you're doing.
So what are you building on thebride Academy? What? Like what are
some of the courses that are therefor the individuals locally to you? And
what are some of the courses thatyou are bringing on like more specifically,
like is it mindset? Is itidentifying your your talents? And then how
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do you maxi it? Like whatare some of the actual courses that are
there? Yes, So there arethree stages and the first step is self
discovery. We offer free tests,a free workshop for that with a workbook.
And the second step is self development. That's very offen the courses that
I feel are missing from the marketor are not on that level or quaranty
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that I would love to see andexperience. And so some examples would be
financial planning for women for security,and I feel like that's such an important
part to make us feel more secure. There is one course on finding your
super skill and building your career aroundit, and there is a course on
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meastro cycle consciousness. That was ahuge thing that I had zero knowledge on
or close to zero knowledge on outsideof biology class. Pretty much, I
just wanted my cycle or my peersto be just over and done with,
and I hated them and I didn'twant to do anything with them, and
I just kind of suffered through them, and I had no idea. There's
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so much self care and self lovewe can experience and practice through them,
and there's so much power in itas well. So now, for example,
I planned my month according to mycycle so that I don't cancel everything
two weeks later because I was ovulatingwhen I planned everything, and I was
so high on energy and I didn'thave to just cancel everything. There I
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don't feel like doing anything. Sothere's some consciousness we can experience and we
can practice through measure cycle consciousness.So that's an important course we're teaching as
well as life design, so ingeneral, finding out what are the areas
of your life that you could usesome extra attention on and then focusing on
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that with some coaching to develop thata bit better. And the third part
of the business is own mentorship andon the community part, and so that
provides you with the momentum, withthe motivation, with the extra support so
that you can carry on long term. And one thing that I was lacking
is a supportive community that was notjust about sharing each other's instagrams and following
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each other and similar, but whatwe offer our monthly challenges, a book
club, monthly planning together, quarterlyplanning together, yearly planning together, as
well as live interviews, and sothere's so much activity in there that it
can really give you a lot ofstrength, a lot of motivation, and
a lot of energy to carry onwith your journey. I love it.
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I love it such a wonderful resource, and I myself, I am looking
forward to doing and recording some ofthose courses and really helping people tap into
those natural gifts that they have,especially women. You mentioned it a couple
of times in the conversation that they'rejust aren't you know, the perception in
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your country or the opportunities for entrepreneurialismand all of that in your neck of
the woods is not as supportive.And I think one of the challenges often
times, or I know one ofthe challenges oftentimes is that we walk away
from, as you said, ourfemininity, and I put it from a
brain point of view, right,we tend to suppress our natural gifts as
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a woman and think that we haveto think like a man in order to
succeed, when in actuality, weboth men and women have beautiful natural talents
in our brain and the best wayto come up with the best outcome is
to maximize both those talents individually.And I think that's really important is that
women understand that, Look, Idon't have to feel like I have to
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communicate as a man or you know, fight as a man I have.
I have to really tap into thosenatural wiring gifts that I have in my
brain as a as a female sense, because all those all those hormones that
rush through us that give us thatyou know cycle that we have to think
about, those are also hormones andbrain wiring and thought patterns that make us
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more gifted in some areas than thanmen. So it's important to tap into
that I think so. I lovethat. I love that. All right.
I want to ask you kind ofa funny question because you talk about
your brain, your your your naturalstrengths or your natural gifts and in different
ways, but if you had asuperpower, like if you could have a
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superpower for a day, what wouldthat be? And why m question?
Because all my life I would haveanswered time travel and I don't know as
a kid, you know, forfun reasons, but as you ask the
question, I had something very differentcoming up. And uh, it's really
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kind of so making me emotional becausehonestly, I would keep the superpower I
feel like I have right now,and I feel like my superpower is unlimited
deep faith in people, and Ithink that's what I'm here for and that's
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what I would like to channel throughthe right academy. I love that.
That's beautiful. That is so beautiful. All right. Well, we are
going to wrap up the interview here, and so many wonderful things that you
have already accomplished, Leela, andyou have coming forward. So congratulations on
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the success of the Bright Academy inyour country, and big hopes and support
as much as we can as youmove international and take it into the English
speaking countries and just globally because there'sa lot obviously a lot of benefit to
that, so wonderful job and congratulationson all of that, and thank you
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for being here. So if youwant to see connected with Leela, they
Leela, the easiest way to dothat is to just go to the Bright
Academy dot com. That's where you'regoing to be able to find contact information
and learn more about this program andthis platform and the community that she's building
there. So check her out.And thank you very much Leila for being
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on the Women Entrepreneur Women Excelling Everywherepodcast. Thank you so much for having
me, and also congratulations on whatyou're building is truly aspiring. Thank you,
thank you. We're just going tobring support everywhere we can make that
a movement that'd be wonderful, helpwomen excel wherever they're at right beautiful,
(26:42):
Thanks for sure, absolutely, Andas we wrap up, I want to
remind everybody to check out our communityWomen Excelling Everywhere dot com. There's different
resources there on that website as wellas our private community Women Excelling, the
Women Excelling Everywhere Success Collective where weinteract and we do a lot of networking
(27:04):
and support and business growth and personalgrowth in there. Our topic for February
was relationships. Our topic for Marchis your relationship with yourself. So taking
a look at that. If yougo to Amazon and you feel like downloading
the Women Excelling Everywhere. What definestheir discover what defines their passion and success?
(27:26):
Please do that. That is ournew collaborative book that is out.
You can order it on paperback hereor digitally, so check that out in
the many different countries that you areat. We will put those I think
we've got it on twelve different Amazonplatforms throughout the world. So give that
a look. And if you haveany questions, or you have an idea
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for a great interviewer on our intervieweeon the show, someone that you would
like to see interviewed, or atopic you would like to see covered.
Right, maybe you heard a topictoday discussed by Leela and I and you're
like, oh, I'd like Leelato come back. I can dive deeper
into this particular topic. Then letus know and we'll make it happen.
All right, So until next weekor until next time, I should say,
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I want everybody to do as wealways finish up our shows. Roll
your shoulders back, open up thoselungs, take a nice deep breath,
go out there and simply enjoy everymoment. Thanks for joining us, until
next time.