Unchain your authentic soul Claudia Tinnirello Interview Part 3

You're not just a girl because you come from a place where women usually do the same thing. Doesn't mean you can't fulfill your dreams and become the person you want to be, which is like something I could never have imagined in a million years. And you will regret it for the rest of your life to say, what if I did it? The struggle with the language, not understanding the language and nobody understanding me to becoming the president of Toastmasters, an English speakers club.

Thank you so much. This is really, really intriguing to say confidence and communication are the key to success. So thank you. And you are an example of that. Now, next question, and I think we talked about before this interview that you recently were part of a book. So you want to talk about what the book is all about and how it will help in a bigger cause.

Yes, absolutely. Because of my job as an entrepreneur, I managed to talk to people everywhere in the world. It's not just within my industry, any industry. I always wanted to write a book, always, but I was always confident. I was like, I'm not very good at writing, and you know, my English is— I should write in Italian, but I've been in England for too long, and you know, writing, always all these doubts. And an opportunity came about. A lady I know said, look, I'm putting together a collaboration book with women all across the world where we all share a chapter of the book and we talk about our experience. Would you like to come on board? I was like, yeah, this is something I was looking for and I was too scared to do it on my own. So yes, let's start with a collaboration. So it was 12 ladies all across the world. We wrote it during July, between July and launching November. So I never met, because we were in lockdown because of COVID I never physically met any of these women. They are everywhere. There are some in the US, Canada, Argentina, UK. So, but we, thanks to the power and beauty of Zoom, we managed to talk to each other and we came up with this collaboration book that's called Unchain Your Authentic Self. I got a chapter in that book, that's the one, I speak about my story where I meant something I mentioned already tonight, today, tonight, I don't know what time of the day it's gonna be today, where I started going like from Sicily of the culture, moving to the UK, adjusting, the struggles, the struggle with the language, not understanding the language and nobody understanding me to becoming the president of Toastmasters, an English speakers club, which is like something I could never have imagined in a million years. So this is my story of hope and resilience, say you're not just a girl because you come from a place where women usually do the same thing, doesn't mean you can't fulfill your dreams and become the person you want to be. And this book became bestseller, so number one bestseller on Amazon in the UK, US, and Canada. And I wasn't expecting to become a bestseller author either. I just, I wasn't expecting to write a book this year, last year, 2020, then become a bestseller, international bestseller. So yes, this is proof that everything is possible. Anything is possible. And you just, opportunities come in when you open to opportunities. I was open to do something great and the opportunity came in to say, would you like to write with us? Yeah. So that was great.

That perfectly goes with one of the speeches, if you remember, of last season, that I say whenever you get an opportunity, say yes and figure it out. But yeah, at that time you need to say yes, because if you don't say yes, the opportunity will go to someone else and you will regret it for the rest of your life to say, what if I did it?

So yeah, absolutely.

I'm loving this interview. So now we are coming towards the end of the interview. Uh, one of the questions that I typically ask my, all my guests is, uh, what are the top 2-3 tips that you want to give to the younger folks, people who are graduating or people who are joining a job or maybe going on an entrepreneur journey? What are those, those top 2-3 things that you would like to give them as an advice?

So first of all, if you know that you struggle with confidence, there are— there's so much help out there. Don't feel like, "I'm not confident, so I'm not gonna do it." There is help out there. I was one of those people, and if I knew that there was help out there earlier, I would be in a different place today, probably. So if you're just graduating and you feel like, "I feel overwhelmed, I have no idea where to start, I don't know how to speak Pick up, join a Toastmasters group anywhere in the world, online. There are so many clubs out there and it's free to attend as a guest. So that's my recommendation. Just do it. And it does, it won't even just open up doors from a business point of view. It's anything from the relationship, talking to your neighbors, negotiating, anything. So that's my key recommendation to any younger person, that male, female, any race, confidence, Toastmasters is gonna fix that. I promise that that worked for me. And the second recommendation, especially for women, don't let anybody put a label on you just because you're a girl. And I remember I used to tell myself, I'm just a girl, that's what I can't do anymore because I'm just a girl. Don't let anybody put a label on you because you define who you want to be. If I— one of my dreams one day is to have an office in New York, I can do it. Who is saying I can't? But before it was like, no, because, you know, I'm in Sicily, I can't go anywhere outside. There was just a limitation I was putting to myself. There are no limits. All the limits are in here. So it's like, especially if you are a girl, don't let anybody tell you you're just a girl. You're not. So don't let anybody label you. And the third one is probably a repetition, it's like you can be whoever you want to be and there is so much support out there. Just talk to an adult, everybody's happy to guide you. Nobody's there to say, oh no, especially the people that have gone through experience, they're always happy to share it with somebody else. So there's so much help out there. And just, just ask and opportunity will come up. They will always come up only if you're open to opportunities, which is what we mentioned earlier. So that's my third tip, just always open-minded. If it doesn't work, doesn't matter. You learned that that doesn't work. It's like a lesson learned, but if you just decline the opportunity before even starting it, that's a failure. That's what I would say. So, Yeah, these are my top 3 tips.

That's amazing. Amazing. So communication and confidence, and then yeah, don't let anyone put any label. And then yeah, just say to opportunities. Awesome. So Claudia, it was a pleasure and honor to have you in this show. If somebody wants to connect with you, do you want to put your contact information and other details over here?

Yes, absolutely. So I can put my contact details, or you can probably write them on the video. Otherwise, yeah, my website is www.sophisticatedcloud.com and you'll find all my, my story there and my contact details and much more. But yeah, I'm very happy to share the details and add them to the comments on the video.

Awesome. Awesome. So all the details and your book link and everything would be in the video description. Thank you so much for this interview. I know it's really hard when you have, when you're doing homeschooling and you have to take care of kids, but thank you. Thank you so much for agreeing to this.

Thank you, Haritosh Srivastav. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you. So this was Claudia Tirano for our inspirational interview. Stay tuned for the next episode. And until then, as I say every time, Keep learning, keep growing, and keep going out of your comfort zone. This is Haritosh Srivastav, and I'll be back.