PROJECT #BEYOUROWN WOMAN:​ LUANA RIBERIA

Bestselling author, speaker and orchestrator of daring publicity campaigns, Luana Riberia helps coaches and entrepreneurs to connect with a larger audience. With appearances on FOX TV, ITV, BBC and Channel 4, Luana is as comfortable in front of the camera as she is in a one-to-one situation. After becoming one of Forbes Top 21 Emerging Females to Watch in 2018, she developed relationships with many media outlets, including NBC, ABC, the Miami Herald and the Huffington Post. Luana’s latest book, Game of Phones, is set for release in 2020.

I’ve come a long way from where I started. From a quiet, shy girl with zero self-confidence to helping people get the sort of publicity that may only have dreamed of. I’ve got a best-selling book under my belt, spoken internationally on stages and major television networks and even found time to spend working on the animal sanctuary back in Portugal. Talk about bossing it!

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get here and understand what sort of woman I really am. I remember a time when I dug out my old journals and I was shocked at what I read! It’s long since I abandoned those old beliefs that were holding me back – that I had to work a certain way to live a certain way. With so much pressure breaking both me back and my spirit it’s not hard to see why my self- worth had plummeted. 

This wasn’t exactly helped when the bullies and trolls came crawling out of the woodwork. People spreading rumours, claiming I was a scammer, holding live events to ‘warn’ people against me and doing all they could to try and destroy my reputation. Throw in the fantasist business partner who wormed her way into my professional and personal life and almost destroyed the lot, and some may wonder how I am still standing.

But it taught me a valuable lesson about setting boundaries and where exactly to put the false concerns of those who live to destroy others – where the sun doesn’t shine. Taking time out in Portugal after the breakdown of my marriage, living close to the Earth without power or running water helped me naturally reset yourself. You literally transformed! 

It’s no surprise many of the women I’ve now worked with or spoken to suffer from some form of anxiety or imposter syndrome. So much is expected of us these days. We know we have it all so typically we’re expected to be spinning the plates 24/7!

To me, being an empowered, professional woman is all about having the choice, making the choice and owning the choice. From the big ones – deciding to be a working mother (they don’t call them working fathers!) and following your purpose to the smallest ones like what you want to eat for lunch, the choices women are making every day are tinged with all sorts of social judgements or political repercussions. 

Owning our decisions, and supporting the decisions of other women is how we should go forward to thrive!

LinkedIn: https://pt.linkedin.com/in/luana-ribeira

Website: www.luanaribeira.com