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Genecia Alluora: I have a free gift for you. Go download secrets of personal branding. And how do you delegate 80% of your to do list so that you can make make money online while focusing on your zone of genius? Go to soulrichwoman.com. I believe we can change the world, but that first, we've got to stop living in fear of being judged for who we are. Hi, I'm Genecia Alluora, founder of the number one leading female entrepreneur network in Southeast Asia, supporting 1 million women to own and love the F word. Being fabulous, having freedom, financial independence and family. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams. So why? Secrets of the Soul Rich Woman Blueprint identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself to be recognized as a leader online, get clients online, and to have more impact on the world.

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Genecia Alluora: Stop believing the lies about who you are so you can become who you were meant to be. You are just an F word away from the life you want, the marriage you want, the family that you want is going to be fueled by the business and life you build. Join me, be a Soul Rich Woman. Alone we are strong. Together, we are unstoppable. Welcome to the show.

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Genecia Alluora: Hello, gorgeous. Welcome to Soul Why The Secrets of the Soul Rich Woman Blueprint. I'm your host, Genecia Alluora. Today I want to talk about why I hate being a Miss Singapore being a beauty queen here in Singapore, and how I eventually learnt to embrace it. During the earlier part of my life. Remember I talked about being an image consultant, running an image consultancy business, and I didn't call myself an image consultant. In fact, I called myself a charisma coach and my clientele were CEOs of companies, politicians, ministers, politicians, decision makers. And literally my packages were between 5000 to $20,000 per project. So during that time it was good because I was leveraging on the title and of course, you know, being being equipped earlier on and when I was 14 years old, where I was working, supporting myself through school, I was already an instructor. So I learnt quite a lot of skills along the way. And plus the fact that I equip myself with a lot of different certifications as well, like for example, NLP and many more.

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Genecia Alluora: But I didn't limit myself to the certifications, right? I leverage on my Singapore title and my exposure in the media. So all of these were all positioning strategies that eventually got me to where I am. But I wasn't happy because when you are missing a pool and when your beauty queen, people will think that you're using beauty to do the work, beauty to get things done. But we all know that's not the case. Well, at least not for me, because I had to work doubly hard. Triply hard if there was just such a word. Literally, literally quadruple. Hard to prove myself. Yes, doors can open for me, but what's next? The stakeholders are looking at you and what can you do for them. So always that I that that through that rose colored lens that they judged me. I hate it. I hate being judged. I super disliked when people talk down to me in a certain manner or women talking to me like, oh no, what? Because you're Miss Singapore. That's why you get the job. What you know, in a very cynical and sceptical way and sometimes comes with a tinge of sarcasm.

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Genecia Alluora: And all these things. I couldn't understand why I'm like, shouldn't you be happy for my success? Shouldn't you be, you know, celebrating with me like, hashtag celebrate small wins? Why are you judging me? And because I get very good projects, I get really good jobs, I get really high profile clients. Why aren't you happy for me? I hate being a Miss Singapore. I hate being a beauty queen. I hate it. So all these emotions and all these thoughts actually still went through. Even as I progressed into building and online building my business online, bring my business online in 2013. And then, you know, later on doing a cafe retail chain. Same thing I was facing difficulty because I was Miss Singapore. Yeah, when I was telling and pitching to the editors because I was in charge of PR and marketing, remember, and then I was telling them that, hey, you know, I've got I'm now running a cafe retail chain. I'm doing this online. Bring my I brought my business online successfully. And then then now I invest in the cafe retail chain. I built this from scratch with my partners. Would you like to interview me or interview my partners?

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Genecia Alluora: And then the I still remember the editor of a business publication. I shall not reveal who and what. Told me, Junior, you are more suitable to be in the lifestyle section of her World magazine or the female magazine. You know, in the women's lifestyle section. You don't belong to the business side. I fell off my chair, literally. To me at that moment I hated being a miss Singapore even more because that was in itself a blow. You mean after ten years, after ten years being in and out of, you know, being in the limelight, being seen as Miss Singapore, the charisma coach. I'm nothing. Is that all I am? You mean I can't own a cafe retail chain and you can't talk about me? Then you can't. I belong to a certain category. Is that what you see of me? And I just felt being judged once more. So what's my point of telling you this story? I turned my mess into my message. I pull up my big girl panties. I pull up my socks and told myself I'm not gonna let anyone determine my future.

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Genecia Alluora: So what if you're jealous? You hate me, you sceptics, you are. You have this sarcasm and you're always using. Oh, because you're Miss Singapore or because you are so and so. Therefore you can get the results you want. I am no longer going to take this bullshit as a way of listening anymore. I kind of put up a filter, this UV light that kills bacteria. I kind of like put a UV light surrounding myself right now, and none of this nonsense can get to me ever again. And I told myself, I'm going to turn this mess into a message, this story, into something that I'm going to turn from negative to victorious. And that was exactly what I did. Within a year, I rebranded myself from the cafe retail chain business. I redesigned from ground up the way I should be, the way I am, the way I want to be seen as a leader in the marketplace. I was interviewed later on in CNBC, in Forbes and in many other international titles, including China Daily, where I was seen as leader, a business leader, leading a female entrepreneur network, running a cafe retail chain, and have successfully built up to 18 franchisees and licensees.

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Genecia Alluora: And after four years, we exited to a public listed company owner. I never take no for an answer. And also for those skeptics and naysayers and dream slayers out there, I would say thank you is because of you. I got out of my comfort zone and continue to strive to be better. A different version of myself, 2.0. I never gave up, and that's why I am where I am today. And because I did not choose to accept all this negativity. I weed out those negative people? Good people came into my life. I got to meet Sheryl Sandberg. Gary Vaynerchuk, Veronica Tan from Success Resources. Richard Tan from Success Resources. I got to know them in person. Have them on mobile phone. Talk to them, pick their brains. And it's because I choose to focus on good vibes.

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Genecia Alluora: I chose to focus on the positive. So whatever the case may be that you are thinking about. And that you are doing. I turn my why I hate being a missing. To why I truly now embrace who I am. I do also forgive myself. Forgive them and love myself. And love them for who they are because it's never about me. The whole thing is never about me. I just need to keep focusing to upgrade myself, to rise up like a phoenix from ashes and be reborn once again. I truly believe when a woman changes her life, her entire community will benefit. See you in the next episode. Bye for now.

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Genecia Alluora: Thank you for joining me today. I would love you to connect with me on Linkedin, Facebook, or Instagram and share with me your thoughts on today's episode at Genecia Alluora. Alternatively, you can send me an email at hello@soulrichwoman.com. I have a free gift for you on our website. Secrets of personal branding and also how do you delegate 80% of your to do list to your assistant so you can make money online and focusing on your zone of genius? And that is available at soulrichwoman.com. Join the number one leading female entrepreneur network in Southeast Asia, connecting more than 200,000 women across the region. Be a Soul Rich Woman. Dream to shine. Woman leader, leader activated. Alone, you are strong. Together, we are unstoppable.