Biz Her Way Series: Meet Raimonda Jankunaite
Passionate Women’s Empowerment Advocate and Founder of Women Thrive Media
By Sacha Walton, Business Strategist and CEO of SWI Management Group
It’s Women’s Business Month, and I’m excited to take the opportunity to celebrate stories of everyday businesswomen making an impact in their communities.
According to the Small Business Association (SBA), “over 13 million women own businesses in the US.” Women are taking their place in society and scaling businesses with ideas, talents, passions, and skillsets while staying focused on legacy building. As a part of my efforts to honor this year’s Women’s Business, I’m celebrating by dedicating this month to elevating the voices and stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs.
Let’s lift up and applaud all the amazing, talented, and diverse women around the world who are making their voices heard.
Recently, I had a wonderful interview with the business owner, Raimonda Jankunaite, Founder of Women Thrive Media.
Thank you for having this interview with me. I’m excited about sharing your story in our Biz Her Way Series for Women’s Business Month. Our readers would love to learn more about you. Please tell us who you are and a little something about yourself.
I am Raimonda Jankunaite, a woman just like you, someone with dreams and goals, ambitions and insecurities, worries and fears. Today, I am known as a speaker, best-selling author, and founder of Women Thrive Media, but deep inside I am still that girl with a big dream.
You see, at the age of 13 I became an immigrant in the UK, as a family of 4, we left everything behind in Lithuania to start a new life. At the time I didn’t speak English and both my parents had to get the lowest paid jobs to survive. I didn’t want to be a burden to them so at the age of 13 I also started working in jobs that I could find.
This experience at such an early age made me realize the value of money and hard work. Ever since I have strived to create success and success to me means freedom. Freedom to not have to belong to hierarchy systems, not having to go to a job with a boss that you hate, or wait for a paycheck to pay your bills and be stuck in this vicious cycle of living from pay to pay, only to merely cover your bills.
At the age of 16, I began my entrepreneurial journey, and again at 21 years old. Being in control of my own destiny was essential for me, except I did not know just how many challenges I would have to face to reach success.
Those challenges and lessons learned propelled me into my purpose as the founder and host of the Women Thrive Media & the annual Women Thrive Summit, which is hosted every year to mark Women’s History Month to empower women to thrive. Every year we celebrate and highlight the achievements of women globally.
In 2017, I established the Women in Business Club as an inclusive platform and a global community for female entrepreneurs and business founders. In just a few short years, my brand is globally recognized with a community of over 600,000 followers worldwide.
I am also a best-selling author, international speaker, serial entrepreneur, and an expert in visibility and authority building. I help other business founders become recognized and highly visible in their areas of expertise and stand out as an authority in their niche.
Everyone has a story behind the beginning of their business. Why did you start your business, write your book, be a creative, or speaker?
I started my first business at the age of 21 because I was truly passionate about entrepreneurship, and I aspired to create unlimited success. For me, going into a 9–5 after I graduated from Westminster Business School was like compromising myself and who I was. So, I absolutely had to choose the path that was aligned with me and my values. Admittedly my first business did not take off the way I hoped it would and after the first few years I had to let it go, but it only fueled my commitment even more.
I then spent years getting better and honing in on my skills in business, marketing, and strategy, so I could figure out how to make my next business successful. After several years of searching and trying different ideas, to my surprise, the business that worked out was not the business that I had planned, but it was the perfect intersection of my passions and divine purpose that would only be revealed to me further down the line.
Initially that divine intersection started off as one event for female entrepreneurs called Women in Business that opened the doors to my purpose. It was such a success from the start that it left no seed of doubt that I should do it again. So, I did, and every time it was bigger and better until our events became one of the largest and most sought-after annual women empowerment and business conferences.
Today, I host the Women Thrive summit that attracts over 1,000 speaker applicants and we select over 50 international speakers to speak on our stage. We also publish a magazine, run a podcast, and generally are committed to helping women share their stories with the world through our media platforms.
My mission is to support and empower women to share their stories with the world — to be seen and heard the way they deserve to be heard, because for far too long women have been shut down to stay quiet and play small.
Which quotes or affirmations inspire you?
“Let your wounds be your inspiration, your story your motivation, and your voice your secret weapon to inspire others” — Raimonda Jankunaite
This is my original quote and is my daily inspiration to keep going in pursuing my mission. It is my reminder of why I started the work that I do today.
How are you making an impact with your business or project?
I am mostly proud of the impact we make in this world through women’s empowerment. It is the lives we touch when we support and empower women to share their stories — it is such a personal and healing experience for women to have a safe space to be vulnerable and share their stories on stage. It helps them to heal from within and become confident and empowered within themselves.
Every year I personally mentor 100’s of women in speaking and host over 50 speakers on our stage, 30% of which are first-time speakers. Not only is the work we do with speakers transformational but also the result of these women sharing their stories and standing in their power and their truth empowers and transforms the lives of others. Over the years, we changed thousands of lives of people who get to attend and watch our talks and we continue to thrive.
If you saw a woman struggling in business, what advice would you share with them?
Believe in yourself and take each day at a time. We all want to leapfrog to success, to achieve results faster, but remember everything takes time. The success you desire takes growth, so take each day at a time and do your best. Learn along the way, be curious, and take action.
There is no better cure for a lack of confidence than action. It will help you learn the lesson and grow as a person, and the more you grow as a person the more capacity you create for success and abundance. I believe that success in business is a direct reflection of self-mastery and a journey of uncovering who you truly are.
We celebrate Women’s Business Month every year. How do you make a difference in the lives of other women entrepreneurs?
I celebrate women every day and women’s empowerment is at the core of what we do at Women Thrive. I believe in being a cheerleader for others so every day I try to support someone because I know what it is like to build your own business and not have the support or encouragement. It could be the difference between giving up and moving forward. So I take the time to always give and I believe it always comes back to me tenfold.
Provide words of wisdom in 2 -5 sentences for another woman.
Be a change maker, if you have a vision, go after it because there is a reason this vision was given to you. Don’t question your greatness because it is your own unique abilities and experience that makes you great. Never doubt yourself, as it is your confidence and conviction that will make you successful in life. Make a commitment and don’t stop until you get it. Be a dream seller, because if people can see and believe your vision they will be your biggest cheerleaders.
What’s next for you?
I am the most excited right now about coming back to host live in-person events. I did not think it would be possible, as I just become a mum, but again, divine intervention, and here we are about to host a luxury business retreat and in-person event in Spain in November. This also marks the first pilot production of Thrive Talks — our brand-new signature women’s empowerment talks.
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Sacha Walton, business strategist and owner of SWI Management Group helps entrepreneurs level up their businesses with strategic planning, marketing, and branding, which drive business growth and visibility. Biz Her Way is an annual series for Women’s Business Month and if you would like to be featured this month, email us at info@swimgtgroup.com
