Self Care, Motivation & Embracing Diversity | Efe Fruci, Accenture

Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming and joining us. Another episode of Bits and Bytes. As you've noticed, we've actually added video conferencing to our episode this time. So today we have our guest EPI here to talk about a wide range of topics with us today. If you'd like to introduce yourself, Effie.

Of course. Hi, everybody. I am so grateful to be here. So thank you so much for having me. My name is Effy Furchi. I am a motivational coach, I'm an author, speaker, workshop facilitator, scientist, and also the founder of Fearless Engineering Empowered, and. Well, I'm sure we'll dive into my business in a deeper context. But just a summary of what I do is I empower and I teach women how to become self motivated, how they can also become confident and help them change the narrative of their life, especially the negative ones, by helping them eliminate limiting beliefs so they can soar and thrive in all areas of life, whether it be personal, professional, whatever that looks like to them. So that's what I do and that's my passion.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Effy, for your introduction. Well, normally, as you would know, Bits and Bytes was started where we would bring out some great, interesting cuisines for our guests to try out. But unfortunately, due to COVID lockdowns, we can physically not do that.

It's okay. We would have more time in the future to enjoy each other's gourmets and cuisines.

Maybe some sadistic games as well. So, Effie, what are some strange things that you've tried? You know, all around the world there's lots of dishes out there. What was the strangest thing that you've ever tried?

Honestly, Frog legs. Frog legs are the strangest. And because I told a friend of mine and I was like, I tried it and I can't even remember where. And I'm not sure if I had it in Belgium or I had it in Paris, but it's very. I don't know who where you originated from, but the French, they love the escargot, which snails and frog legs. And I swear that's where I had it for the first time. One of those two places sounds like.

A European thing, right?

I know, right? They always have all these eccentric things and I'm like, you know what, you go, you go, you go, girl. And I tried it and I thought it was gonna be awful because looking at it for the first time, I was like, I don't really like any of those things because you can only just picture the frog And I'm like, oh, God. So I'm thinking, okay, this has got to be awful. But then Lily was like, so common. She was like, so persuasive. She was like, oh, not in a rude way, but more like, oh, be adventurous. And she said, just try it. And I was like, okay. So I took a bite and she was like, it tastes like chicken. I didn't believe her because I was like, a frog. Is the frog. Like, who are you trying to convince that it's going to taste like a chicken? And then I did, and it really does taste like chicken. And they made it perfectly because they have, like this taste of cilantro and this taste of, like, balsamic oil. And the other one as well, there was ginger in there and there was basil. And I love all those compliments that was on it. So I was like, you know what, I'll give it to them. It's not my favorite dish. Absolutely not. You know, not by mom. But I was surprised. I was surprised at myself for trying it. And I was surprised the fact that it did taste like chicken. And I actually, like, I went through with it. So that's one.

Yeah. I mean, for me, like, I would say the weirdest thing I've tried was there's these. It's called sundae. It's a Korean dish. And depending on the region of Korea, some people normally, they have like synthetic casings. It's kind of like a blood sausage in a way. But there's actually a restaurant local to North Vancouver that they're really known for having the real intestines stuffed with the pork and, like blood and like herbs and spices. It is amazing. They put this in a hot soup, super spice. It's like you can choose the spice level, but I would say that was.

Oh, I love everything. I love everything spice. I love everything spice. So the harder the better for me. So that sounds delicious.

I feel super, like, like, proud of myself right now because for those of you guys that, like, know me a little bit, like, I am not an adventurous eater and, like, my palate is small or small minded to be very specific. But I have tried both those things you've suggested, so. So, like, I feel like, like I'm. I'm cultured all of a sudden.

What an adventure.

But like, like the frog legs thing, to me, you're totally correct in that I feel like it does definitely does have that chicken vibe to it. I think it wasn't as weird to me because, like, I'm Chinese, so I grew up with dim sum so, like, the whole chicken feet thing, which I understand.

Oh, yeah. I never did actually, like, ask that question, to be honest. I never knew.

Yeah, yeah. Like, I understood that that was, like, strange. But, like, I guess because I grew up with it, it wasn't strange to me.

Right.

Like, it was just like how, you know, some people eat drumsticks, some people eat thighs. Chicken feet. But, like, it is quite strange when I, you know, objectively look at it. I'd say of the two, sundae is weirder because I don't know. Something about the intestine thing. And the thing is, if you look at it, it looks harmless. It looks like just like sausage.

Mm.

And I think some. I don't know of what's the authentic kind. I think there's debates about this. So, Gene. Because, like. Like, one side is, like, it has, like, noodles served within. Like, like, it's built into the sausage or something. So there's some glass noodles or something like that in it. But to me, that just makes the texture even weirder when you bite in. But I don't. But some people also don't have it, so I don't know which one is the authentic one, but they're both weird to me.

Oh, wow.

I think the. So the one that's more common is the purple synthetic casing one. So it has, like, this very dark purple color to it, and that's the one that you see more commonly around the one with the actual intestine. I think only a few specialty restaurants carry it. Like, I've heard from, like, you know, locals and, like, my friends that there's even rumors that Koreans come flying from South Korea to come to the restaurant or even just, like, locally. Like, they'll come from, like, you know, low heat or coquitlam all the way to North End. Like, drive over, like, 45 minutes to have it. Yeah.

Wow.

We're allowed to give shout outs, right?

That's determination.

Yeah.

You're talking about.

You're talking about South Castle, right?

Yeah, South Castle.

Wow.

We're allowed to say brand names.

We have no filters.

So for those of you that, you know, for some reason, have been sold completely by Gene. South Castle Restaurant. South Castle something.

South castle on East 2nd street intersecting with Lonsdale.

Wow.

We promise you this is not a paid plug.

Wow.

I mean, while we're on the topic of food, actually, you mentioned that you were actually a professional chef as well, right?

Oh, my gosh, yes. That takes me back years. I was about 18, 19 years old, and we were still living in Belgium at the time. So the whole thing started because my mom wasn't able to actually afford the English school that I wanted to go to, because in Belgium, they had English universities, like American universities, and some British college, should I say. And at that point, we were just in a very hard time. My mom had just had my sister, so the world was moving in such a fast pace. And I felt like there was so much that I wanted to do, because as a child, I knew I wanted to become a gynecologist before I even learned how to spell it. I knew I wanted to do something in the stem. I didn't know, you know, I didn't know how far I was going to go with it, but I just knew that that was going to be very expensive. Nonetheless, I felt like I had a plan. I wanted to be. I was finished in high school by the age of 13. I was like, by the time I'm 25, I will be married with kids, and, you know, all these things. But at that age, watching everything just sort of actually, like, crumble and fall apart. And the only option that I had was to basically kind of save myself and uphold that responsibility on my mom. Whether or not I was still young, it didn't really matter because I already knew that my path was a very difficult one as a child. So I wasn't trying to compare myself anymore with everybody else. And what I felt like life was going to bring me at this point, it was just more find an opportunity to save and go to school. And that was, like, that was the goal. So when my mom was walking down the street one day, she noticed this office or building, and they had a flyer at the window saying that they were taking students for the nest program. And they would pay each student to actually serve what they made during lunch hour to the people who were working in that same building. So they would come down to the cafeteria and have our meal that we've prepared all day with the main chef. So I thought, okay. She came home, she saw this, and she told me everything, and I was, like, very intrigued. My mom was a pastry chef, and she made cakes for weddings, for birthdays and occasions. So I always love, like, licking the icing. I was always obsessed with that part. Just not much of the baking part. But when it comes to cooking, I actually realized that I really did love it more so than bacon. So I was like, well, they're almost the same thing, but I just love the food part and the decoration and how grand it always looks. So she said, why not just Try it. So I said yes. We went to the place together. We did the interview. They asked me why I wanted to become a chef. And I said, because I think it's fun. Usually my answer, because, in all honesty, that's exactly why I thought. I was like, oh, it's gotta be fun. And then, of course, elaborated and said it would be a great way to also save and potentially get a job through it and save even more and go off to medical school or whatever I wanted to do at that point. So that's why that journey started. And this was in Belgium. And I worked with them, I studied, so every afternoon would serve and I would get my year. I was able to go off and do my college diploma with that same money that I saved a couple of years after I graduated. And I had my higher educational diploma in nursing and midwifery. So I started off with that, and in the end, I even secured an internship at one of the top prestigious hotel at the heart of Brussels. So for me, it was literally like having everything again. That was again, changing my narrative, right? It was changing the card that I was dealt with, the negative. And I was trying to figure out how to turn it into a positive so I could actually save myself and I can do something that I would be proud of. So that internship definitely kind of showed me a different side of the world in the industry anyways. And I just thought, oh, this is a great way. I made new contacts. I learned so much about myself, and I even sort of actually like, topped my own ambitious level. Like, I aimed higher working there and being in contact with the princess of, like, Egypt, for example, coming and, you know, talking about the chefs that he had at the time and his in his cooking and his bakery and his pedestrian. I thought it was amazing as a young woman and as a black woman, I thought it was, you know, I was at the hype of my game, and I was enjoying the experience. I was learning so much, and I was in a great company. And, you know, I had people who were supportive. So I think having that, I literally just remember one day wishing and saying, when my internship is done and I get my certification as a chef, I'm taking all that money and I'm applying for a school somewhere in the world, something good where I can study and I can be welcome, and I'm gonna come back to this hotel and stay in this hotel because I can't afford it. So I thought, if you work hard, you get the school down, you get your certification. If you want to ride all the way to PhD. You go right ahead, girl, because you can do it. But then come back here and spend a couple of those, you know, dollars or pounds or euros or whatever you, you know, you've actually made and treat yourself to, to the hard work that got you to where you are in life. And two years later, my husband was able to do that and he surprised me and he booked the hotel. So that's, you know, longer much story, but which is so good. But yeah, the whole chef story kind of actually. Or the chef experience sort of actually like opened a huge door and a huge opportunity for me to create my own table in a way where I wasn't offered, I wasn't welcomed to a lot of tables because just didn't fit in and people didn't. People weren't ready to support us financially or support us mentally. So I had to figure it out. And rather than doing something that I knew would compromise who I wanted to become, I chose a different path. And not everybody would agree, but it is my long and windy road and I'm happy about it because it got me to where exactly I was always meant to be.

Yeah, and I mean, speaking of that too, like, I know there's right now you're juggling a lot of projects and titles like motivational speaking, author, and you're also working at. So you would say, like becoming a chef, you kind of came that like, you know, beginning, like step that you needed on that journey. So how did that eventually build into starting peerless and empowered? Because I know it started back in 2012.

Yeah. I think everything kind of come back and you would, you will get to understand this about my life. Like every story that I have shared have been preparing me for this life. I always knew that I wanted to work in the science industry. Yes. But I also knew that I wanted to work for myself. The goal as a child, when I was 10, was to buy my own hospital with all my best friends and we will run the hospital. And I don't think I've actually ever shared that, actually, to be honest. And we would run the hospital side by side and we would help millions and millions of people. And that was the goal. And I would be able to travel around the world because I love traveling and I'll be able to help people medically and be able to help people by actually giving motivational talks because I used to work at my church at the youth, just talking to younger children who were from broken homes and who have similar traumatic experience like I did and just encouraging them through it. So I thought, oh, having a hospital, speaking, awesome. You know, you're 10 years old and you have all this idea and you build it up. But of course, owning a hospital was not initially the dream as I grew up. And for 2012, I was just, I was in school, I had just moved to Oxford and I loved the city, it was beautiful. And my first year of undergrad and I was so shy because I was in my 20s, my mid-20s, and there was a classroom. My first class was Chemistry of Cells. And I remember just sitting there feeling as if I was the dumbest human being on the planet, because there were students who were, who've already just finished their sixth form or their SATs and you know, their GCSE in the UK, I still call them fresh out of pre college courses. And here, whereas I haven't even touched a notebook, scientifically touched anything for years. Almost 10 years, right? So for me, I was so scared, I was intimidated. Everything scared me. But nonetheless, I felt like I had to get out of that shell. And I was so traumatized. I was like, if I'm gonna carry on like this, then I won't graduate and I won't have anything positive to talk about my experience at school. So I decided, rather than feeling sorry for myself, why am I just actually put up a flyer in the library and find out if someone is going to be willing to study and be my study partner. So the idea was just to put it up, invite people come along. I'm new, I'm just actually like, I just want to make some friends and make sure that we can all motivate each other and encourage each other to. If you're mature, especially if you're a mature student and you're feeling this sort of way, I just left a couple of bullet points and to my surprise, people came. I thought it was gonna be empty. So I showed up looking or trying not to be, look nervous. And yes, one person walked in, another person walked in, and you know, 15 people walked in and then it was about 20, 25 people and it was insane. So I was like, oh, that's perfect. And out of that whole entire people that showed up, I would say, at this point, I'm still best friends with about six or seven of those people. And yeah, it just sort of actually like sporadically sort of birthed from that experience. So I felt like if I could do something so small to encourage and empower myself to not feel dumb or to not feel like I wasn't enough or I wasn't smart enough, like everybody's supposed to be when you're even living in the city of Oxford then. And people showed up to hear what I had to say then of course, let me see what else I can do to also empower other people and tell them about my journey and how I, you know, how I survived this first few months of being a mature student. So I started hosting workshop on the app meetup and I would host workshop for public speaking and helping people with the confidence issue. Because the more I helped people, I realized I was my confidence level was elevating. I was different, I was more upbeat and I felt like I took on challenge very easily and I wanted to find a solution, but it wasn't scaring me. So I felt like I was having a new understanding of war. Fear looked like and I was trying to make it my friend without even realizing that that was what I was doing my entire whole life. So I did that. People came and they were really interested. They would basically meet up and say, hey, we want to talk to you. We want to book you for our workshop. And literally that's where it started from. And it's been going on since then. And in the end, in2017, I registered that in the UK and I just went, you know what? I'm going awful in and making this something that I am going to do for the rest of my.