Pham - Girl mogul: dream it, do it, change the world

No matter where in the world you sit as you read this book, I want you to know one thing:

There are no ceilings to your success.

There are no limits to what you can accomplish. You are smart, you are powerful, and you are capable of doing things that may not seem possible. With hard work, they are actually possible.

And it does not matter how old you are. Theres no reason to wait to pursue success and significance. You can start today. You can take each moment of your life and seize the opportunity within it. Every day holds an invitation to start dreaming, start doing, and start changing the world.

Malala Yousafzai was only fifteen years old when she stood up for her right to an education, putting her very life at risk. At seventeen, she earned the Nobel Peace Prize for the work she does on behalf of girls, not only in her native country, Pakistan, but all over the world.

Or think about the courageous teenagers from Parkland, Florida, who spoke up after a devastating school shooting and began leading the United States in the call for change in gun control laws.

You are capable of so much. Whether your aim is to become a doctor, a politician, an artist, a singer, a teacher, or an entrepreneur, you were born to become something great. It is all within you: more power and creativity than you could ever imagine.

This book will show you how to access all the amazingness that is already inside you.

I know from my own life that the path to your future can start early. I always had big dreams. They were born the day that my beloved grandmother passed away, and I vowed that I would always make her proud. I was a teen, and on the heels of that loss, I decided I wanted to create a company to empower women, the way that my grandmother and my parents had always empowered me. Their own lives showed me that, despite the obstacles they faced, it was possible to rise above, not to let peoples stereotypes and limits confine them. At the beginning, I didnt know how I would build my company. But I worked hard with that goal in mind, every single day.

ME AT AGE SIX, A LITTLE GIRL WITH BIG DREAMS AND A BOB HAIRCUT.

When I was twenty-seven, I built a platform for women in my bedroom. Id come home from my full-time job and teach myself how to code between the hours of 3 A.M. and 5 A.M. After a few months of working through the night, I felt like my site was ready to share with the world. I called it Mogul.

It went viral in its first week.

Today, Mogul is one of the most influential companies for girls and women worldwide, reaching across 196 countries. Were everywherefrom mobile app, to web, email, social media, books, TV, films, and events globally.

We enable girls and women across continents to connect, share knowledge, and help one another change the world. We provide access to rock-star women like Katie Couric, Chelsea Clinton, Naomi Wolf, and Rebecca Minkoff; resources to find jobs and internships at top companies; and courses on subjects like how to craft a killer rsum, how to be a successful entrepreneur, and how to manage your finances.

A mogul is defined in The Oxford English Dictionary as an important or powerful person. But for far too long, the word was associated almost entirely with men. Just a few years ago, when you Googled the word mogul, the top search results were links to businessmen like Warren Buffett and Rupert Murdoch.

But today, when you Google the word mogul, the platform and company our team built is the number one search result. We are redefining the word mogul for you. We want you to know that you, too, are strong and important, and there is no limit to what you can do.

This book will give you the tools to step into whatever role you want to. Your training starts now. In this book, Im going to show you how to set yourself up to succeed. While every path looks different, there are a few key components of becoming a Girl Mogul:

Confidence: knowing that you have within yourself what it takes to create something powerful.

Community: looking for those who can help you achieve your dreams.

Commitment: working with every ounce of your being every single day to make it happen.

So well begin this journey focusing on you: helping you develop the confidence to know how awesome you are, and ensuring that you take the time to truly take care of yourself. Take it from me; confidence isnt necessarily something you are born with. While some girls seem to come out of the womb assured of their worth, most of us feel insecure throughout our lives. I was a very shy girl growing up, moving from Paris, France, and landing in Plano, Texas, at ten years old. I looked very different from those around me, plus I didnt speak much English. It took several years, and a lot of awkward moments, before I finally began to feel comfortable in my own skin and confident in my abilities. But there are ways to get there faster. Confidence is like a muscle that you exercise, and when it becomes strong, it will take you further than you think. When you learn to build confidence and take care of yourself, you begin to live life on your own terms. You no longer wait around for others to grant you something you want; you know that it is up to you to forge the path forward.

The second part of the book reveals just how important community is to your overall success. Youve got to staff your team. This means making sure that the friends you surround yourself with are the kind who build you up and push you forward, not those who drag you down and pull you back. We will talk about dating, friendships, filtering out negativity, dealing with family life, and the importance of putting positivity out in the world (because it always comes back tenfold!).

Finally, well look at how to commit to living a Girl Mogul life. This is where youll set the blueprint for your future and make it happen. Youll examine your passions to determine what kind of career path will not only allow you to flourish but let you have fun as well. Youll learn how to crush it in every area of life, and how this attitude of over-delivering early on will set you up to become a mogul. Youll learn to speak up, to realize how much you have to say and how valuable your perspective really is.