Women Of Influence 2025: Lectera's Mila Smart Semeshkina

Mila Smart Semeshkina is the founder and CEO of the international educational platform Lectera, and President of the WE Council and WE Convention, one of the world’s leading women’s empowerment forums that, this November, will bring to gether global women leaders, including Anna Wintour and Candace Bushnell, in Dubai. And while she may seem well at ease in her role today as the entrepreneurial leader driving both these entities, Semeshkina admits to Inc. Arabia that her path to this point was anything but easy.

“The most significant and challenging decision [of my career journey] was to start building my own business and become a business woman,” Semeshkina reveals. “The transition from employee to entrepreneur was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life. This transformation took several years and represented a profound global shift for me, requiring me to essentially recreate myself not just as a manager, but as a true business owner. There’s a fundamental difference between being a manager and being an entrepreneur. I literally had to purge the employee mindset from myself and reconstruct my entire professional identity… However, without this transformation, I wouldn’t have achieved anything meaningful. My business simply couldn’t succeed in the way I envisioned until I genuinely became an entrepreneur at my core.”

This experience has thus reshaped how Semeshkina perceives business and employment, with one of her biggest struggles being to leave her employee mindset behind to take charge of her own business. “This process was incredibly challenging, and I completely understand why people who leave employment saying, ‘I’m going to start my own business’ often struggle or fail to achieve their desired results,” she says. "It requires an entirely different mindset. I would agree that the most successful entrepreneurs are often those who have never worked as employees—they have a natural advantage, because they haven’t had to undergo this difficult mental reprogramming.”

But Semeshkina has long since moved past those early growing pains; today, she is at ease leading different companies and ventures, building strategic networks, and securing high-level deals across markets. And from that vantage point, Semeshkina also points to a bigger movement underway in the business landscape: the accelerating role of women across industries.

"I believe that the growing influence of women across all business ecosystems represents a global trend that will continue to accelerate,” Semeshkina says. “This is happening because more women are recognizing their potential to achieve outstanding results and succeed in various fields and roles. They’re beginning to believe in themselves and understand that their opportunities are virtually limitless. I also believe that this transformation benefits business overall. Women entrepreneurs and businesswomen don’t simply engage in commerce. They genuinely contribute to their industries, build supportive female communities, and create healthier, more nurturing workplace cultures. They focus on developing people within their organizations. The more female entrepreneurs we have, the more successful role models emerge for other accomplished women—whether they’re top managers or aspiring leaders. This creates a powerful ripple effect throughout companies and various business sectors. The more successful women we see, the more successful women we create. Just 10-20 years ago, such role models were critically scarce. Now, they’re becoming increasingly common. As a result, we’re positioned to see many more successful, strong, courageous, and fulfilled women in the future, simply because there are more inspiring examples for others to follow.”

Lessons Learned: Q&A with Mila Smart Semeshkina

Looking back on your journey, if there is one piece of advice you’d give yourself before you embarked on your career, what would that be? Additionally, if you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you should avoid or simply not do, what would that be?

Looking back, I would give my younger self from ten years ago one key piece of advice: believe in yourself, trust your strength, and have confidence, and you will succeed. One of the primary obstacles preventing women from achieving successful careers is self-doubt, uncertainty, or various fears. Men tend to be much more self-assured and don't experience the heightened self-reflection that we women often have.

My advice would be: don't doubt yourself, just take action and move forward. While these self-doubts and fears sometimes held me back, I'm not naturally prone to overthinking. I've always pushed through fear, understanding that fear often marks my growth opportunities. However, I would encourage my younger self to set even higher goals and pursue them more aggressively.

Another crucial piece of advice I would give myself: start doing business as early as possible. I transitioned from employee to entrepreneur at 27, which in my opinion was too late. I should have tried earlier.

Most importantly: don't be afraid of anything—you will succeed.

Pictured in the lead image is Mila Smart Semeshkina is the founder and CEO of Lectera, and President of the WE Council and WE Convention. Image courtesy Lectera.

Mila Smart Semeshkina was one of the female leaders celebrated in Women of Influence, a special list built for Inc. Arabia's August 2025 issue. For the full list, please click here.