Entrepreneur Tijen Onaran encourages change

Hello, everyone! My name is Tijen Onaran. I am an entrepreneur, author and investor, and with my company I advise the economy on how it can become more diverse – including how companies can get more women into their organization.
And recently I was thinking about what was actually the worst piece of advice I have ever received, which is: stay the way you are! And that sounds good at first, but at the end of the day it’s incredibly bad advice, because: If I had stayed the way I am, I would not have changed, I would not be standing here today. I wouldn’t have jumped into the deep end, I wouldn’t have started my own business. Because I had the courage, the courage to do it. And I want to give you that, so that you should have the courage to jump.
I am the first in my family to go self-employed. I come from a non-privileged family, my parents immigrated from Turkey at some point and they had no financial double bottom, they had no network that they could give me. And maybe you know that out there too, maybe you’re the first in your family:
The first to have an apprenticeship
The first to study
The first to become self-employed
The first to have a job that everyone else doesn’t
And it’s worth being the first! And I want to tell you: You are a role model for so many others out there without your knowing it. You may be the first in your family, but you won’t be the last.
Have the courage to change! Don’t stay who you are. Because change always means improvement. Jump into the cold water, because it gets warm when you swim.