Marina Byezhanova is a Soviet-born, Ukraine-raised, Canada-based entrepreneur, global speaker & university instructor whose mission is to scale the reach of people’s voices and to inspire entrepreneurs to speak up, stand out, and to be radically authentic through the power of building their personal brands. Co-Founder of a personal branding agency called Brand of a Leader, Marina has been quoted and referenced in such publications as Inc.com, Forbes.com, Fast Company, Success Magazine, Wall Street Journal and the Financial Post, and has spoken to audiences of entrepreneurs and business executives in North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
She is a tenured member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and is presently part of the Global Member Liaison Committee having served in local, regional, and global leadership roles. I was born in the Soviet Union – the ultimate land of extreme censorship. When I moved to Canada at the age of 16, I remember acutely feeling that I was finally free of censorship, able to speak my mind and express myself freely. I was wrong. As a newcomer, I was heavily accented and, as much as I wanted to speak up and speak out, few were interested in hearing what I had to say. It took me years to find my voice, reclaim it, and scale its reach. It also took me years to realize how many people self-censor. The fear of judgement, the impostor syndrome, and the lack of clarity of what to say, how, and when. I launched my firm called Brand of a Leader to help people find their voice and scale its reach. I do it through the power of personal branding.