Ep #41 | From Stewardess to Record-Breaker on a Mission to Help Children in Poverty

So today's episode's about a crazy woman. So she's in her 40s. She's 5 foot 2. She's an Emirates stewardess. So one day she's in a plane, and the plane lands in Dhaka, Bangladesh. And she realizes that in this city, there's something along the lines of 50,000 slums. And millions of people are living in poverty. Though she's going through these slums, and she sees all of these kids with no place to live, bathing in muddy water, not having enough food to eat. And she decides she has to do something. So she decides she wants to raise money to help these kids. She ends up googling how to raise money. And she finds an article about Mostafa Salameh, who, as you know, was a previous guest on this podcast. And she discovers that he had raised up to $4 million climbing Everest. And you somehow decided you were going to climb Everest? Yeah, this is the dream. How are you? I was 34. Mostafa was a Palestinian refugee who chose to become a mountain climber. And he climbed all seven of the tallest peaks on all seven contin continents. So this inspires Maria, the stewardess, and she decides, well, I want to start climbing mountains. What she proceeds to do is not just climb mountains. She becomes one of the world's greatest athletes, holding 10 Guinness World Records. But she does all of this for one insane reason. To raise money to take kids out of the slums of Bangladesh and fund their education. So I'm so proud to bring Maria Koncesao back on the mindvalley Podcast to share her incredible story and some profound lessons that you can learn from this insane story that you're about to hear. Get ready for an extreme dose of inspiration. Maria, welcome back to the mindvalley Podcast.

Thank you for having me.

So we're recording this in Tallinn, Estonia, and I understand that your boyfriend actually wanted to take a holiday in Phuket, a nice warm place. And you convinced him to come to Tallinn in the middle of winter when we have four hours of sunlight and minus one degree weather. What's going on there? Do you just like extreme pain?

No, I came here to advance. It was an opportunity to come here and meet people. So next year, I can go next level.

I see. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad to have you in Thailand. And while you're here, I wanted to use this opportunity to get you on the show. So you've broken so many incredible records. Let me read it out. Okay. So this is directly from Maria's website. Fastest time to complete an Ironman triathlon. Fastest simulated distance climbed on a ladder machine in one hour by a female. That's a recent record. Right? What was the distance, do you remember?

Nearly double Burj Khalifa in one hour.

Damn. Twice the Burj Khalifa in one hour. Okay. Fastest aggregate time to run a marathon and ultramarathon on each continent. Fastest time to run a marathon and ultramarathon on each continent. Fastest aggregate time to run an ultramarathon on each continent. So aggregate is the, is the. If you add up the times of all the different runs. So that's seven marathons, seven continents. Right? And we go on and on most consecutive days running an official ultra marathon. Six Ironmans in six continents. First Portuguese woman to summit Mount Everest. First Portuguese woman to the North Pole and South Pole. And not only that, but you've won a string of awards. For example, Emirates Humanitarian Women of the Year. But you did all of this simply because you wanted to fund the education of these 600 kids. So let's start with that story. You were an emirate stewardess. The plane landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh and you went to visit the slums of Bangladesh. What did you see that stirred your heart in such a way?

More than seeing the poverty, All I could see was so much potential going down to waste. People, when they go to third world countries, they only see the poverty. But all I could see was so many kids with so much potential that would go to waste if no one did something to help them. I always thought I came from a very poor background myself, humble background. But I didn't know the meaning of poverty until I went to Bangladesh. I couldn't believe that four hours away from where I was living, people, they could actually live that way. So I just wanted to do something. I thought it was horrible that human beings, they could live like this.

But you grew up in poverty yourself.

I know, but I felt so privileged when I went to Bangladesh. I thought, oh my God, thank God for everything I had and didn't have.

But you grew up in poverty yourself. Tell us about that.

So I was abandoned when I was 2 years old. And I was taken care by a poor refugee woman from Angola. She was illiterate, she was a widow, she had six kids of her own. And once she. She didn't hesitate to offer help. So she was a part time cleaner, she worked, she earned her living by being a cleaner. But it's not like a cleaner now. These days you have a full time job. You know exactly where is your paycheck is going to Come from? She didn't. She was a free time freelance cleaner. So she never knew. She lived day by day, yet she didn't hesitate to offer help. So I became her seventh child. She used to say, when the social services, they used to come to take me away from her and put me in orphana. She used to say, who feeds six feet seven? Where six children they fit feed seven? So I became her seven child.

So she had six kids of her own.

Six kids.

This was in Portugal.

In Portugal. So she. The war broke in Angola. She came to Portugal because she was married with a Portuguese gentleman.

I see.

Unfortunately, he died before she could get the status as a. You know, her daughter, right?

Yeah. So she was a refugee.

She was a refugee. She was living.

And what happened to you that made you as a. As a two year old child, that put you in poverty?

I'm the daughter of a single mom. I don't know what happened. Only the daughter.

You lost your mother?

I lost my mother when I was my first mother. I lost her when I was two years old. She showed up in this village. She met Christina, this poor refugee woman from Angola. She shared her struggles with her and she told her she was struggling. She couldn't find a job. And it was hard with a 2 year old.

I see.

So Kristina offered help.

Wow. And your mother disappeared.

And my mother left to Lisbon, 6, 7 hours away from the village.

I see.

And she never showed up.

Are you still connected to your mother?

Which one?

Your first. Your biological mother.

So when I was 22 years old, she left my birth certificate with Christina.

I see.

So I went to the place where you make the birth certificate and I found the address and I went to meet my mother.

So you have met your mom?

I met my mom when I was 22 years old. I met her in old people's home.

I see. Was she proud of you? Could she remember?

She completely lost memory.

I see.

So the doctors, they seem to think that she's not diagnosed. She didn't have Alzheimer's or dementia. They seemed to think that she was victim of domestic abuse. And she was beaten up so badly to the point that she completely faced amnesia.

She cut everything out. And so Christina, this poor refugee woman, raised you?

She raised me.

And at one point, I understand that you were so poor, you were a toilet cleaner.

So she raised me up to when I was nine years old. Then Christina passed away of a sudden heart attack. Before she passed away, she asked my. Her older daughters and sisters to take care of. Take care of me. So from the age of 12, I stopped going to school and pretty much from that point onwards I was told the only thing I could expect in life was to be a cleaner. So When I was 18, I left Portugal and what is the jobs there for a girl who left school when she was 12 years old being a cleaner? So I was, I did all sorts. I was working in a pub, cleaning toilets. When you are an immigrant in another country, you do anything that pays the bills, right?

As a teenager you were cleaning toilets to survive. How did you go from that to joining Emirates Airlines?

So I moved to uk. I was working in UK and then I was always looking for better opportunities. I went to the job center looking for a job 9 to 5. And then the gentleman at the job center, they told me Emirates Airlines was recruiting and I would be a suitable candidate. Actually, he sent my application and then I was invited for a job interview. I went for the job interview. There was 100 candidates and I was thinking, how can I stand up, stand out, right, because there is 100 candidates. And it was very. Is a very intense recruitment process. So I went to Benetton and I got the suit that you resemble. I thought the only way I can pass this job interview is by going to this job interview. Not as I'm looking for a job, as I am already a cabin crew myself. So I went for the job interview. I had the suit that it resembles as an Emirates cabin crew and I did the makeup. I learned everything A to Z. And I passed the job interview. There was 100 candidates, only two of us.

Wow. Wow, that's incredible. And it was that experience working for Emirates Airlines that caused you to go on this incredible journey.

My Emirates completely changed my life. When I got the job Vishen, it was like I won the lottery. I couldn't believe I was being paid to travel to all these amazing destinations. Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius. Living a life.

How old were you?

I was 26 years old.

I see.

I really, truly thought, I couldn't believe. I felt like I really, truly won the lottery.

Now, as you started on this journey to break records, to pull these kids out of poverty, it wasn't always easy. And I know your story. And there was a moment when you were $200,000 in debt. You'd given everything you had to help these kids and you were $200,000 in debt. And something happened. A near miracle. Tell us that story.

So I was looking for solutions. I went on Google, I always go to Google for solutions. And I typed and I came across that if I swam from England to France. I could make a lot of money by getting endorsements and sponsorships. So I signed up to swim across the English Channel. Three things that you have to do when you swim the English Channel. You have to sign up with the Channel Swimming association, tick the list, you have to find a pilot to escort you. I've done it. And then you have to get a medical certificate to say that you're fit to swim across the English Channel. So I went to the doctor, I got to my medical certificate, and then obviously you have to start training. But that was just a tiny little problem. I didn't know how to swim when I signed up to do all this. Why would it be a challenge? Why would not knowing how to swim be an obstacle to swim across the English Channel? So I just thought, you know, a lawyer is not a lawyer when he's born. It guy is not it. A doctor is not a doctor. And certainly no one learned how to swim when they were born. So I just thought, what do people they need to do to learn how to swim? They find a swimming coach. So I found Kevin Miledic, a lovely American swimming coach. So I went to him to teach me how to swim. I have to be honest, I totally, totally underestimated how technical and how difficult it was going to go to learn how to swim. So I started swimming. I started by learning how to float in the water. Then I started learning my 25 meters, 100 meters. So I kept going. Three months later, Kevin sits me down and he told me, maria, I have taught you everything there is about swimming and you're still not moving in the water. I went home and I cried. And Kevin thought he will never see me again and that I was going to cancel to swimming, swimming across the English Channel. But canceling to swimming was not an option because I needed the money. So I went back to Kevin and Kevin told me, you know, Maria, I'd always thought after the last shot we had, I was not never going to see you again. Most people, most swimmers, after the talk I had with you, they would not come back. They would just give up. I don't know how long it's going to take me to teach you how to swim, but I'm going to teach you how to swim. So we kept training, kept training, kept training. And then finally one day he tells me, maria, you're ready for swimming on a open water. Because up to that point we were all doing all my training on a 25 meter pool. And I did what I do always. I registered for my first race. I went to the race with Shuli, one of our 15 year old kids, one of the first kids joined the project. She was living in Dubai, studying at the time. And my boyfriend, they came to support me and to give me a lift. I started to swim. Oh Vishen, I was so excited. Butterflies. I put my hat, my goggles and I started swimming. My first swimming in the sea. And I'm swimming, swimming, swimming and I don't see anybody.

So this, this was the English Channel?

No, this was in Dubai. My first race.

This was in Dubai, okay.

So I thought to myself, oh my God, I'm such a gift at open water swimming. I know I'm gonna even win this first race. And when I. And meanwhile on a shore, my partner, he tells Shuli, look, there goes Maria. And surely said, there is so many swimmers. How do you know he's Maria? Because he's the only swimmer going swimming the wrong direction. You see when you swim in a pool there is a black line and you just follow the black line. When you swim on an open water, there is no. So I was zigzagging. So I finished the swim and people, they were laughing at me. How is she going to swim to English Channel? She cannot even go the right direction. And I told myself, you know how I'm going to swim to English Channel? I'm going to swim to English Channel, know, one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time, one second at a time. And people, they were making fun, but I never stopped believing that I could. So one year later, finally, I mean eventually, 31st of August 2016, I'm ready to swim across English Channel. Today came and it was really important that I swim across English Channel because I woke up that morning and I had emails from the school saying if I didn't pay the school debts, they were going to take me to court.

Wow. So this was from a school and how many kids education were you funded at the time?

I had 200 kids in that school.

So if you didn't swim the English Channel, if you failed, 200 kids that you supported were going to be kicked.

Out of school, school and they were going to be forced into child labor.

Cuz they'd be going back to the slums. Where, where was the school? In Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh. And they would be forced to get the girls, they would definitely be forced to get married with someone two, three times their age.

So these 13 year old girls would have been forced into marriage, 10, 12, 13 year old. So let me get this straight, you had to swim The English Channel. Because if you didn't swim the English channel, these 10, 11, 12, 13 year old girls, 200 people, 200 kids that you supported were going to be kicked out of school because you were paying for all of their education. They would have to go back to the slums and they were going to be forced into marriage. The girls at least were going to be forced into marriage to men in their 30s and 40s as child brides.

This is how it is and this is what's happening.

That is an insane amount of pressure. I can't imagine anyone going through that intensity.

That is my day to day life. Every single day, every single hour, every single minute, every single second. The last 18 and a half years fishing.

So let's go on to that moment, attempting to swim the English Channel.

So I started to swim. Everything was going well. It was a beautiful day. But unfortunately I underestimated currents. So I swam seven hours direct, you know, 15 kilometers. And seven hours later the pilot told me the currents, they were shifting me to a different. So they aborted to swim. It was horrible. When I came on the. When I came back on the boat, I just started crying because I knew then, now how am I going to go home.

How close were you? You swam?

I was halfway.

Halfway there. So it's around 30km?

Yes.

And you'd swam 15. 15, 15km.

Tide assisted.

Right, Right. And then they had to abort the swim because you were moving in the wrong direction.

I was moving in the wrong direction and I thought it was not safe. They thought I would never.

So they pulled you out of the boat and as you get in the boat, you realize that these 200 kids, you fail them, they're going to be cast out of school. Tell us what happened.

I just thought that I had failed the kids, I had failed the parents. I had felt the sponsors that they supported me during that one year of training. And I just cried like they all had died, you know. So when I got home, I thought I have to roll up the sleeves. And I couldn't believe. Meanwhile, the time that I got home, it seemed that it was a failure on paper. Actually had been the best one of my biggest success in life.

How so?

Because Portugal was on the Portuguese radio was treating my swim as a national emergency. I didn't know while I was swimming these seven hours, people they were texting my boyfriend that the WI fi was not working, telling him, please tell Maria to stop swimming. We will support her, we will pay the school fees of the kids for her to tell her to Stop swimming.

So the people of Portugal were like tuned in to this entire event on.

Radio during seven hours.

For seven hours, they were following me.

I think they were just following me because they really thought I was going to drown, right? And that morning when I left for the swim, I have 500 followers, right? When I came home, I couldn't believe it. I had 12, 000 followers. And these 12 follow 12,000 followers each invested. And he paid my. The school. He paid all the school debts.

Wow. So. So think about that. That's incredible. So these 12, 000 followers on Instagram from Portugal who were cheering on for Maria, they banded together and put up $200,000 to fund the education of these girls.

And then I want GQ Woman of the Year awards.

You won GQ Woman of the Year?

I didn't know GQ was following my story. So they were following all to swim. And they were had planned. When I swam successfully, I swam across the English Channel, they were going to give me the award. Normally they give the award to a man, right? But that year they decided they were going to give it to me. So the editor and the GQ staff, they were following the swim. And then when they saw that the swim had been aborted and canceled, they thought, oh, we have to give the award to someone else because she didn't make it. And then the editor, Jose Santana, said, no, we have to give it to her. She learned how to swim to help these kids. She made it, right? Either she made it to the. So they. They decided to give me the award. The first time that they gave an award that is supposed to be to a man to a woman. And that really gave me a big lifeline in 2016.

That's incredible. So what did you learn from that experience?

What I learned with the English with English Channel is keep swimming. Even if you are going to wrong direction, keep swimming because the tides, they will eventually change. If the pilot had not canceled my aborted my swim, the tide would eventually take me to the right direction. So just keep swimming because eventually the tide will change in your favor.

That's a beautiful message. Keep swimming because even if the tide is going in the wrong direction, the tide will eventually change in your favor. I love that. That's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful message. What I like about you and what I appreciate about you, Maria, is that I know so many people who are breaking Guinness records. I know so many people who have done incredible feats of endurance, David Goggins type people, mountain climbers like Mostafa Salamer, all of these are incredible individuals. But what's curious about you is a lot of the other people who are achieving records are doing it for, I don't want to say for themselves, it sounds selfish. They're doing it because they want to push themselves to the limit, which I think is. Is a noble act. But you are doing it for a different cause. You're doing it almost because you are so determined to help these kids graduate, to help these kids get to university. And that's something that I find just so awe inspiring. In fact, you're one of the most modest people I know. You rarely talk about yourself. You only recently started coming out when I started pulling you out of the shadows and putting you on stage. But I think it's just so inspiring to meet someone who is showing the rest of us just how much our bodies can endure, just how much the human mind can be focused on a target. But you're doing it not for self gratification, not for awards. You're doing it because these kids need you to do it.

No child should be forced to get married at the age of 10, 11, 12.

And no child should be deprived of an education.

No child should be deprived from the. From an education.

How many kids have you thus currently put through?

600 children.

All the way through college?

Not yet, no. We have 35 kids in college, in.

University, and the rest are going through high school.

Going through high school.

Wow. And I understand that many of these kids are going to universities now in Emirates, in Portugal, in incredible places.

Dubai, Portugal, we had them on the Erasmus project, going to France and Italy for a university, Australia.

So for the audience that's watching out there, I know so many people are inspired by your story and so many people want to help. When we had our last Mindvalley event in Estonia, we raised, we raised close to $50,000. And that $50,000 helped how many kids come out of the slums?

I have brought so far, 22 kids.

So from the $50,000 that the Mindvalley community raised, we got 22 kids out of the slum.

Out of the slums.

Now imagine that. That's almost like 2,200 bucks or so per child. For 2,200 bucks, you're taking a human being out of a slum and transforming their life. And if you can roll this clip of some of the kids who were on stage and listen to what they say.

Currently I'm doing my bachelor in Chemical engineering in Portugal. In 2006, my father got separated from us and I saw my single mom suffering with four kids. And then in 2007 we met her blessing for us and she gave us all the basic needs we need and education, the most important thing. And with her help I managed to complete my 12th grade and also my siblings, my two sisters and one brother. And in 2020 I went to Dubai with her help. And then I got internship in Chanel Luxurious fashion brands. Hello everyone. Today I am Chadni and my mother got married at the age of 11 and now I'm 17. I will be 17 on October. I'm not married, have no kids and I'm studying her to have my dream come true. I want to be a dentist.

So I completed my grade 12 from.

Bangladesh and then currently I am living in Dubai and working in a fashion company. And everything came to possible because of mom. Maria. That's incredibly inspiring. And so for the audience out there that might want to help, what can they do to help these kids in their education?

Just book me as a paid speaker on your next event.

Right. So that, that's a really good opportunity. So I was talking to Maria and I was telling Maria that, listen, you've made raised money, breaking records, but Maria is too humble. You're way too humble even to put you on stage. The first time I put you on stage, you refused. But when I did put Maria on stage at Mindvalley Live in Dubai in front of 2,000 people, she was voted best speaker. She actually got the highest ratings as a speaker. Then I brought you to Estonia and we sponsored how many kids to come to estonia as well?

Tens.

Yeah, we put in around 20 grand to bring 10 kids to attend Mindvalley University in Estonia. We put you on stage and again, Maria was one of the highest rated speakers at all of Mindvalley University. Every time this woman is on stage, she just inspires people. Don't let her humility fool you. So one of the things I think you can do if you're enjoying this episode, if you're looking for a really great speaker, book Maria. And how can they book you? What is your Instagram?

Maria Trugrit.

Maria Trugrit. Okay. T R U G R I T True Grit. Go check it out. Book her as a speaker. I've seen this for real. The money that Maria makes speaking goes straight to the education of these kids. We have visited her home, we have met the kids in Dubai and it's just amazing to see what this woman is doing. Okay, so now you know how you can help Maria. I want to go back to your story when you first got On Google, right. And read about how athletes were raising sponsorship money by doing these feats of endurance. What made you think you could do it?

Why wouldn't I be able to do it? If other people, they've done it, why couldn't I do it? So I just thought, what does an athlete has to do to be an athlete? What would they do? They get the personal trainer, they get the program, and they follow that program every day, every single day, every hour, every minute, every second. And they have a timeline when they have to achieve that goal. So I did that the same, but the way I did, I did differently. Okay, I want to climb Everest. This is the date. Then I get the personal trainer and then I train every single day, every single hour, every single minute, every single second.

That's dedication. How many hours a day were you training?

Foreverest. I was training up to six hours a day.

Six hours a day. So Everest was your first attempt?

I. I've made it. I was so lucky to weather the force was with me. So I made it on the first attempt. I did, I did North Pole first.

So your first big feat was the North Pole?

My first was the North Pole.

And you got a Guinness record for that?

Just the first Portuguese woman to do it.

How much did you raise?

I didn't raise the money. I didn't raise the money. However, I got a scholarship for five kids from Bangladesh to come to Dubai and stay in UAE until they were 18 years old. All expenses paid.

Right.

$7 million. That's Dh2.7 million worth.

So you skied to the North Pole and that allowed you to take five kids out of poverty? Okay, and then what was the second Guinness record?

The second feat, then the second I thought, okay, that helped the five kids. That is the 595.

Right.

So I went to Google and Google said if I went to Everest and I couldn't believe it. Up to that point in 2012, only two Portuguese citizen male, they had done.

No Portuguese woman had scaled Everest. And you became the first.

So I became the first one.

How much did you raise from that?

We didn't raise the money.

Why?

Because at the time Portugal was going, everyone was talking about Greece, it was bankrupted. But Portugal was going through such a severe recession, so.

So you climbed Everest and you didn't raise any money?

Actually, we had to completely shut down the entire organization. We closed down the nursery, the daycare center, preschool, primary school. It was the hardest time of my life.

So that's so sad. But how did you bounce back from that.

So I bounced back. So someone told me, maria, when you were thinking about climbing Everest, you were thinking too small. You know, you should do something because you were just targeting Portugal. Portugal is a small country with 10 million people. You have to do something worldwide. This is where the idea of running the seven marathons in seven days, in seven continents, in the shortest time possible came up.

And you are the female record holder for that.

I'm the female record holder?

That's insane.

However, you know, I was. When I started, I contacted Nike, Nike, Nike. And I asked them to become my sponsor. So they sent me a personal trainer. So when I started training, basically, I was such a bad rainer. Such a bad runner. So bad. So bad that two, three weeks later.

You got fired by your trainer.

They quit. They quit. I was so angry Vishen. I was actually so angry because he said there was no runner inside me. I thought, no, no one tells me what I can do or not do. Only myself I can say that I will find. How can you tell me what I'm able to do or not to do? Right? There is a runner inside me. I just thought, who is wrong? He's him. It's the coach that is wrong. He's you. You cannot transform me into a runner. I can become a runner if I find a coach that he can take that out of me. Like you. You're trying to transform me into this amazing speaker, right? So I kept googling on Internet to find a personal trainer who could transform me into a runner.

And after. After the Nike coach fired you, saying you would never be a runner.

Never be a runner.

Did you find the next trainer?

I found the next trainer and we started training with Shen, my races. When I started registering to go running on the weekends, I was always the last. You know, when you start something, you suck at it, right? You're really bad. I was so, so bad. When I was finishing, there was no finish line because I was so slow. I had to.

They had removed the finishing line.

So they already removed. They are packing everything. So I thought. I didn't think, oh, this is not for me. Yeah, I thought, no, my next goal is. Next phrase. I'm gonna be the. I'm gonna meet her. I'm gonna finish within the cutoff time. Then I thought, okay, now I finish. Went into cutoff time. My next goal is I'm gonna beat the second last to finish the race.

Wow. Okay. That's insane.

And then. And then I thought, okay, I'm the second last. Now I'm gonna do better. I'm Gonna be the third last.

So you just embrace your suckiness. And then you set a slightly higher goal, Slightly higher goal.

And what is very important, do not listen to people that they make you feel that you're really bad. You know, don't say, okay, I finished last or I finished the last 10 or the last 20. Always my goal was, I'm going to be. Next time I'm going to do a bit better. One minute better, I'm going to. And one year later, believe it or not, not only I finished the seven continents in the shortest time possible. I broke two Guinness World Records female.

Category, one year later.

Only because I never stopped believing in myself, even when people were making fun, I never stopped believing in myself even in the worst times, even in the worst, even when I had injuries, I never stopped believing in myself, even when the personal trainers, they thought, you know, I was not gonna make it.

So one year later, from being fired by that coach that Nike provided you, you broke two Guinness Records for feats of endurance running.

Yes.

Just from setting that goal to be less and less and less sucky. As a runner, how many practice marathons did you run?

Oh, I think I did 48.

48 practice marathons before you did seven marathons in seven continents in seven days.

Half marathons and marathons? Yes, 48. Wow.

Wow. Maria, you know, there's. There's something about you which I find very curious. You seem to be probably one of the grittiest and that's why, I guess, your Instagram title is True Grit. You have levels of grit that I've never seen in another human being. Like, I can't imagine someone being cast as shitty cards that you got in life. Being abandoned by your mother when you were two years old, being forced out of school when you were 12 because you were in poverty, being a toilet cleaner, being told you were worthless, and then climbing up to become an emirate stewardess and then achieving everything else that you did. Swimming the English Channel when you didn't know how to swim, setting Guinness records for ultramarathons when you were told by a trainer that you had not a runner in you. Like, it's just, I've never seen that. Where does that come from? It seems that your level of self belief is beyond anything else I've seen.

I'm just very good at. If I fail today, I'd still try tomorrow. Even if people, they're mocking of me, I still believe I will do it. Time will pass anyway. It's just a matter of time, right? I can be bad Today. But we are bad in anything. When you're beginning, whatever what you're doing, you will be bad at it in the beginning. But if you repeat, if you are consistent every day, every hour, every minute, every second, you do something towards getting better, you will get better anyway. And the time is just a matter of time. Vishen. Okay, I'll give you another example. Do you know I left school when I was 12, right. So I went back to school. I went to Harvard Business School.

You can't say that.

Why?

I don't know.

I have never mentioned. So I was invited to do a speech at Harvard Alumni in Dubai. They invited me to do a speech and then after I finished the speech, they told me, oh, I should go to Harvard and apply to do a leadership course.

Right.

So I applied for the leadership course and I couldn't believe I was accepted. So I thought it was just, you know, so I had to see. So I went to Harvard for nine months. It was a very special moment for me.

Was this online or you were in Boston?

I was in Boston. So I had to go. Three times I had to go.

That's incredible.

It was online and three times I had to go.

So the little girl who was. Who had to drop out of school at the age of 12 to become a toilet cleaner ends up going to Harvard.

And they have told me I should go for a master's degree, but I have postponed it for the last three years. I want to secure the future of my kids first.

You want to secure the future of your kids. I love that. Do you think that putting so much for these kids? Because when I met you, Maria, you. So here's the story. When I met Maria, she had nothing. Like the electricity in your apartment was being turned off because you were spending everything, you were giving everything to the kids. You didn't have clothes, clothing for yourself. And at a certain point you had children and their families. You were sharing your apartment with them. How many people did you have living in your tiny little apartment in Dubai.

With you at the moment? 15.

Right now you have 15 people living in your apartment?

3 bedroom apartment.

Wow.

15 people. Everything I had and didn't have, the most important thing for me is these kids.

So these. So you're sharing an apartment right now with 15.

15.

15 kids.

15. 15 girls.

15 girls. Wow. From Bangladesh. What is that like?

Very noisy, very hectic, A very crazy house. Madhouse.

I see.

Madhouse with the girls. Madhouse with the cats. Because we rescue cats as well.

Right. And you know, I've seen so Many people from the mindvalley community come and support. Myself and Bianca, who is the co host of some of our earlier podcast episodes, we took you shopping at Zara and got you a whole new wardrobe for speaking. Jimmy Naraine, who's an mindvalley, he's also been a guest in this podcast. I remember him. And I took the kids for ice cream in the park and those little things, those little things help. Is there anything else here that you would love to see our community help the children with?

Just become a member, a mentor. Mentor.

A mentor. How does one become a mentor for these kids?

Just contact me through Instagram, you know, help me finding. Now they're transitioning from finishing school.

Right.

They are disconnected from the employment world. So I'm trying to get them into the employment world, trying to find them full time jobs for those ones they don't.

So you're looking for internships for these.

Internships, full time jobs and some of them they want to go to university.

Yeah. So that's really good. So if you happen to be in the Emirates and if you happen to have an internship or if you happen to be looking for a really good young person to join your company, please reach out to Maria. I mean these kids, I've met them. These kids are incredible. The hardships that they have had to overcome make them such incredible people. I remember. So there's a study by Google and Google said that it found that its best employees were not people with STEM degrees, Science, technology, engineering and math. Rather, the best employees at Google were people who had gone through a traumatic or crisis experience in life and as a result had emerged from that kinder, gentler, more compassionate and with greater degrees of wisdom. And when I meet these kids, that's what I notice in them. So these are, these are incredible people. How old are the kids that you're.

Hoping to place at companies between 18 to 2022?

18 to 22. Right. So they are still going to college but they are looking for part time jobs and internships.

Yes.

Fantastic. So those of you in the Emirates, you know what to do. Reach out to Maria on Instagram, ariatrugrit. Do you have an email that people can write to you? Mariaria.com what is your message for our community?

Yeah, my message to you, do not see obstacles in your life. Just see how can you, what solutions could potentially be. Do not be afraid of fail. You know, if the solution number A didn't work or B, go A, B, C, D up to Z, find a solution. Don't sit your obstacles don't give up on your goals, your dreams. Doesn't matter how bad you are. You know, if you're really bad at something, put deaf ears. What you go.

Do you think growing up in poverty helps you with this degree of grit that you have? I think it does. Can I tell you my theory?

That is a good question.

Can I tell you my theory? Okay, so I was recently in. I was recently exploring some archaeological sites in Egypt with Robert Grant, the famous mathematician and cryptographer. And Robert's a genius, former CEO of Bosch and Loam, and one of the most brilliant minds I know. And so I casually asked him, robert, what is the secret of manifesting? And Robert said, it's one thing. Gratitude. Gratitude. Just extreme gratitude, right? And I think many people who grow up in. In the west, and I grew up in Malaysia, but I grew up, you know, with. In a household where my parents were with me. I had my grandparents there, we had cars, we had TV channels. Not like what Americans have, but still we had that. Most people who grow up like that, when we face a stupid or sucky situation, we complain and we whine, right? The people who grew up in extreme poverty, you're blessed just to have a roof over your head. You're blessed just that you could eat instant noodles for dinner versus nothing at all. And so you have greater degrees of gratitude. And I wonder if that could be one of the things that allowed you to manifest all of these things that you're doing, because you're ultimately this insane manifestor. You freaking climbed Everest. You skied the North Pole. You did all of these seven ultramarathons. You just climbed twice the height of the Burj Khalifa. And how old were you when you broke this record?

46 years old.

46 years old, and you're five foot two, you're approaching 50, and you are still breaking Guinness records. And I know you're not gonna stop, but one thing I notice about you, Maria, is that the littlest thing you're grateful for, I take you out and the kids for ice cream, and you are so lit up, right? When you ran out of electricity, we had a couple of mindvalley community members pay your electricity bill, and you had electricity back, and you were so grateful. And I see these kids and they are so freaking grateful for every little thing. Yet the rest of us, we whine and we complain, right? We lose our Wi Fi, we can't get on freaking Instagram. We complain. Our someone at work is slightly rude to us. We whine about it. You've had people Shut you down and push you down. You've been abandoned by your mom. You've had to freaking clean toilets as a teenager and leave school. Other teenagers are complaining about too much homework. You have levels of gratitude and joy and just being grateful for the present at a level I've not seen in other people. And that's my theory on why you have so much damn grit.

Thank you.

And that's what I find inspiring about you. And when I see those kids, when you see the pictures of how they grew up, like not having running water, not being able to bathe, when you see that, you can't help but feel gratitude. Tell us the story about the swimming pool.

Oh, the swimming pool. So in Bangladesh when you live in a slums, there is no toilet, so they have shower in a pond. So I brought eight girls to Dubai with their mothers and every day they were telling me, mom, they called me mom because I've been with them 18 and a half years, mom, we're going to go to the pool. And I was so proud of my kids because they are teenagers. I was so proud. You know, I got them a swimming coach and I thought every day they were going to the swimming pool on the roof of my house, doing the drills to become better swimmers. So I was so happy. They were not on a go. I mean they were not on YouTube, they were not on social media like most teenagers they do. And I was like, maybe, just maybe I'm an inspiration. I'm inspiring my kids. One month later, the security guard comes, knocks on my door and he tells me, can you please ask your children and the mothers to stop having shower in the pool? Imagine for one month. Imagine you work very hard during the week and you're sunbathing on the 22nd floor and these eight Bangladeshi children with their five mothers, they come to the pool with their clothes on, with their Indian clothes on and they start to shower with soap inside of the pool. So one month later. So they couldn't believe the kids, they were like, wow, we found a pond in the 22nd floor and it's so.

Clean because that's what they do, they bathe in a pond. I was with indigenous tribes in the Amazon and that's how people bathe it. You'd find a dirty little puddle in the Amazon and that's how you would wash yourself. That's crazy. But it's also charming in a way. But it shows you how little these people had and how much we have that we can be grateful for. I mean, just frickin having A shower with a shower head and warm water. And so thank you for reminding us of that.

You know, Vishen, we were born with nothing. A lot of my friends, they say you give everything. You give all your money, you give your clothes. You know, some like you, you had to take me shopping. My boyfriend gave up buying me clothes because he knows if he buys me clothes, when the kids, they come to Dubai, they need the clothes, I'll give it to them.

My best friend, you literally give the clothing off your back.

Oh, actually, my best friend had to take me shopping as well for underwear I'll get. Because, Vishen, I was born with nothing, right? But I still own most of it. And then when you. You go to another planet, what are you gonna take? So it's.

It's comparisons, right? It's comparisons. You were born with nothing, no parents, nothing.

So now if I have something, it looks. I have so much.

Exactly.

When I went to the slums in the beginning and I didn't have money to put the food on a table and a roof over the head of the girls, I started selling my furniture. Because when you go to the slums, everything you have, it looks, is so much. And it looked like I didn't need those things. So I sold everything. You know, I'll show you a picture of the house. And then my friends, they started to buy me furniture because they would come to my house. How can you live like these just with the so little furniture? I just thought because the kids in Bangladesh, they need more than eight. I need and. But then they gave up, they stopped. And then if you buy me gifts, I'll ended up giving it them as a thank you gesture, say to my doctor or to my supporters. So even my boyfriend now will give up. Now, my boyfriend is very smart.

Well, you have an amazing boyfriend.

He always gives me things that he knows I cannot give, like running, like training equipment for my Guinness World Records.

I love that.

I am very lucky.

Now I want to talk about that for a moment. Boyfriends, you've mentioned that before. Your current boyfriend, you were dating other men. Who told you that you had to choose between them or saving the kids?

That is very easy. The kids will always come first.

So you put men to the side.

And I told my current boyfriend to never ask me that.

Are you going to share his name publicly?

Saul.

Saul.

Saul. I'm really lucky. He never put me in that situation that I had to choose over the kids of them.

Yeah. And I think that's an important lesson for all men as well. Don't let your woman choose you or her mission. That's just cruel.

Or what they want to do. Don't make women choose between them or their dreams or their goals.

What do you appreciate about Seoul?

He never puts restrictions on me. I can tell him, baby, I'm gonna go to England for three months for training. And he always supports me.

That's beautiful.

He will never put me restriction. I can tell him, baby, I'm gonna go to USA now. I'm gonna have to stay there maybe nine months because I'm not gonna, you know, not come back. And he will let me go. He doesn't, he doesn't put restrictions.

I love that. I love that.

And he has supported me for the last 10 years. Vision. He has paid all my day to day bills. A lot of people, they say, how does Maria, maybe Maria is using the money. No, my partner for the last 10 years, he supported me all my day to day expenses and even used to give me. He gives me pocket money so I don't feel right, embarrassed, right? So he gives me pocket money that I have some money to use. I always spend it on the kids because it's more important. Yes, I'm really lucky.

So I want to ask you another question. So Emirates Airlines was a big part of your life. How long were you working for Emirates?

I worked in Emirates for seven years.

Seven years. Emirates to me is the best airline in the world. Like, I absolutely love Emirates. I have an apartment in Dubai. I fly to Dubai often. Emirates is just the best airline. What did you learn working as a stewardess at Emirates?

What I am today is because Emirates, they gave me that opportunity to come to uae.

But what was that? What was that opportunity?

I met so many people, you know, when I first started my organization, my project, I didn't know anything, remember? All I knew was how to be to Ronaldo of Cleaning World, right? So I, I learned. So everything that I know today I learned with the pass. I learned with the other cabin crew from all around the world. I used. I always ask questions. I don't talk much, but I listen, right? So I learned so many from the cabin crew from so many different countries. I learned with all my passengers, regardless. They were economy passengers, business class passengers or first class passengers. You know, they are the ones that they helped me setting up this organization. I open a daycare center. What do I know about opening a daycare center? And a preschool, a primary school, a computer center, a dental center. I learned because I would go to my passengers, I would find out what they did on A day to day life. And they helped me.

Wow.

I learned everything I knew from Google and from the passengers. And then Emirates, they taught you how incredible Cosmos services skills. They teach me how to, you know, I had to address a lot of first aid cases in Islams of Dhaka. I learned, Emirates taught me how to.

How to save a life.

How to save a life. You know how many second and third degree woman I had in Bangladesh. I learned how to address these problems when they couldn't go to the hospital. I was the first responder and it was Emirates that they trained me.

You were mentioning to me once that, you know, people underestimate stewardesses and stewards.

Yeah, they just see us as a chicken obif, tea, coffee. We are so much more of than that. A lot of us, we came, we have, we are have, we are graduated. We only are cabin crew because we love stuff. We want to see the world and travel for free. But they completely underestimate us. We are, you know, we are first responders. We are there for an emergency situation. We're going to be the ones who are going to save you.

Right.

There's a problem, but there was never a problem on Emirates Airlines. I'm telling you, they are engineers, they're top class, they are doctors first. You know, they're just there because they travel. They want to see and travel to for free. It's a very intense job. It's not glamorous. I mean as glamours, we work so hard.

Yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing what you learn from being cabin crew and also how talented cabin crew is. So you were speaking at a big mindvalley event and we had another speaker there, Tobias Beck, who got equally high ratings. Tobias Beck was former cabin crew of Lufthansa. Right. He was there for a really long time working in cabin crew, seeing the world. And he went on to become the this one of the top speakers in Germany. So knowing you, knowing Tobias back, I have so much respect for everyone who's cabin crew and no matter what airline.

You work for and we wear so many hats as a cabin crew.

Yeah.

It's not only as a waiter.

And the level of empathy and compassion that you must have is incredible.

Thank you.

So Maria, I asked the audience on Instagram for some questions and so let's look at some of the questions from the audience. Okay. So Harvey, food for thought asks Maria, how do you maintain mental and emotional strength throughout? It's amazing.

During the races, my, when I break the challenge and my body is collapsing.

Right.

I normally give One myself. One minute to. Okay, I'm going to accept that I'm going through this pain. Or some say, say when I went to the North Pole and I was carrying Denali and I was carrying 40 kilos, I thought, you know, I'm not here alone. And I started to think, okay, I have 600 kids, so I would ask, okay, Shain, this is so heavy for me now. Can you. Can you carry this for mom? Sadhani, can you carry. I'm really tired now. So I play tricks in my. Right in my brain.

And I love the one minute rule. You give yourself one minute to feel that pain.

So I, I even told my boyfriend during to alter Guinness World Records. There is a moment you really hit the wall. You're so tired, exhausted, in pain. So sometimes I give one minute break. I lay down and I have one minute break to digest all my pain, my suffering.

And then, and then when the alarm goes off, you jump back up.

And then I think, you know, yeah, it has beautiful. That's my secret.

Next question is from Amulyalahani. Do you see only good in people? What if someone is bad intentionally?

I only see good in people until they give me a reason. Now only to good. You only see good there. I only see good. It's a tough question. I only see the goodness in people.

Yeah, until I think you answered that well. Okay. The Nomad Escape asks, how can we as a community be evolved in a charity like this? So we mentioned. Mention one if you have a stage book. Maria, don't ask her to speak for free. This woman is taking care of so many kids. Help. Help sponsor her. What do you charge for a speech right now?

$10,000.

10,000? I can tell you it's worth it. That's slow. You can raise that. Maria has been voted best speaker and this was on stage with me, with Jim Kwik, with Lisa Nichols, with Marissa Pierre. When we put her on stage. And all of these are incredible names, but when. When we put Maria on stage at Mindvalley Life Dubai, she got the highest rating. And that, that was incredible. And of course, if you can offer these kids jobs, reach out to her on Instagram ariatrugrit. And finally, this is from Kyra the Healer. What is your driving force of motivation?

My driving force and I want to fulfill my dream. My goal.

What is that dream for me is.

To secure for me, it secures the future of my kids.

600. Do you want to go beyond 600.

At this stage, I'm only committed to do this 600 and I didn't realize it was going to take me 18 and a half years of my life. But then I have to say, you know, I started, let me secure. I'm a woman of my words. I promised them I was going to.

Secure the future all the way to college.

So I have to honor that. I feel like I've been pretty much a one woman, but I rely on people. They help me, they show up in my life in, you know, but pretty much a one woman band.

Will you ever stop? Will you ever decide after these 600 kids, do you think you're gonna go, okay, it's time for Maria to get a break?

No. You know, recently I developed a new passion, which is with animals. So I want to open, I want to combine both. I want to buy a villa where I bring single moms. You know, vishen, I always think if my mom had help, right, maybe she would not have to abandon me, a child.

Yeah.

So I wanted to open a villa, buy a villa where single moms, they can come there until we get them back in track. And then that same villa will have all the stray animals that they've been abandoned.

Wow. I love this. I love this. Thank you so much, Maria. Thank you all for tuning into this episode. Any closing words for the audience?

Don't give up on your dreams. Your dreams, they're not, you know, a lot of people, they give up too soon. Dreams, they don't happen not because it's not possible. It's just because people, they gave up too soon. And you will be on a very tough journey. It will be incredibly hard. But remember, the harder it is, you know, I don't know how to explain this. You know, when things are really tough, that means you are going the right way. It's just like climbing Everest. The closer you are to get to the top of Everest, the harder it gets.

It means it's going the right way. I love that spin on it. I think you articulated it beautifully. Thank you, Maria. And thank you guys for tuning in. I'll see you on the next episode of the Mindvalley show. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope to see you at mindvalley's next event. Maria will be speaking at a lot of our future events. You can learn more@mindvalley.com events. I'll see you there.

Sam.