Episode 9: Woman-Owned | Intentional Greatness In Language Services, with Claudia Mirza

As a tireless leader and visionary, Cladia Mirza has guided Akorbi to become the 34th largest language services provider and the 13th fastest-growing woman-owned and led company in the world. She is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, inventor with multiple patents, a voice and advocate for women in business, and has recently been invited to the White House to meet with the President, his daughter and the Vice President to speak on behalf of small businesses and organizations run by women leaders. In addition to her highly productive and fast-paced career, Claudia is a loving wife and mother. Claudia’s talent for business and leadership have led to interviews with Forbes, Fortune, The Dallas Morning News and other local and national media outlets.

What You Will Learn:

• Claudia shares how she and her husband began and scaled Akorbi, and she discusses how maintaining a positive attitude and doing what she loves have been the keys to her company’s meteoric growth.
• Claudia explains how she learned the value of loving what she does early on, when she attended a prestigious Colombian high school. She shares the valuable lessons the nuns who worked there taught her that have helped her in her career.
• How Claudia immigrated to the United States from Colombia, how she entered the work world while knowing little English, and how she became an entrepreneur and started her business after a suggestion from someone at a job bank.
• Claudia discusses using EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) from Gino Wickman’s Traction to power her business growth, and she explains why good data has been critical to growing her business.
• Claudia shares her experiences of running a woman-owned business, working in a family business, being an immigrant to the United States, and how her accent was a limiting factor until she integrated it into her brand.
• Claudia talks about attending Harvard Business School and struggling with imposter syndrome. She explains how she was voted to be the class secretary, and she shares how being a woman is becoming an opportunity rather than a hindrance.
• Claudia talks about the numerous awards she has won for horseback riding, and she shares the valuable lessons on winning and losing that horseback riding has been able to teach her son.
• Claudia shares how she found her voice and gained self-confidence after joining the WPO (Women Presidents’ Organization), and she discusses important lessons she wishes she had learned earlier about running a woman-owned business.

Resources:

• Website: https://akorbi.com/
• Website: https://claudiamirza.com/
• Twitter: @claudiapmirza
• Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman: https://amzn.to/2VvgohG

Intentional Greatness In Language Services

You’re here because you know that learning never ends. You’re the kind of entrepreneur, business owner or leader who realizes that the pursuit of a perfect life, while a worthy goal, is also an impossible one. You know there is no end to the race, and you’re ready to power through anyway. You know that the climb to the top is endless, and you’re going to make the climb anyway. In short, you’re ready to become an unf♥<kwithable leader.

I’d like to introduce you to my friend Claudia Mirza. Claudia is a remarkable example of how women leaders can accomplish incredible things. She immigrated to the United States from Colombia after high school and barely spoke English, but today Claudia is the CEO and co-founder of Akorbi, the 34th largest language services provider and the 13th fastest-growing woman-owned and led company in the world. Claudia is an entrepreneur, inventor, speaker and thought-leader who has even been invited to the White House to discuss issues relating to women leaders of small businesses.

In this episode of the Intentional Greatness Podcast, Claudia and I discuss the key ingredients that have helped her rapidly and organically grow her business. Claudia also shares the experiences she has had in her career, not just as a woman leader but as an immigrant to the United States. Claudia shares the valuable lessons she has learned across her career, and she explains how her infectious optimism and self-confidence have been vital to her success. Claudia Mirza is a truly outstanding woman leader with a valuable perspective on today’s business world.

From Humble Beginnings

Claudia grew up in Colombia, and her mother was able to send her to a prestigious Catholic school in spite of the family’s financial struggles. After Claudia graduated from high school, she immigrated to the United States and, despite struggling with learning English, immediately set out to make a success of herself. She attended Harvard Business School, where she was surprised to be voted class secretary by her classmates. Later, a chance conversation at a job bank inspired Claudia to begin her successful career as an entrepreneur.
In spite of the challenges Claudia encountered as a female, ethnic minority and immigrant, Claudia refused to be held back and instead saw opportunity everywhere she looked. That optimism has been key to Akorbi’s incredible organic growth and to Claudia’s own success as a woman leader in the world of business.

Finding her voice was crucial to her success, and today Claudia uses that voice to promote awareness and advocate for woman-owned small businesses from her speaking engagements to recent invitation to speak with the President and the Small Business Administration on behalf of small and women-owned businesses. Claudia’s inspiring story shows that truly dedicated women leaders are unstoppable.

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