Tarsi Luo, Founder of Seed Planet and M&A Special Adviser on navigating leadership through a cultural lens, balancing her Eastern identity with her Western environment and pushing forward no matter how many rejections you experience.   Key Insights (02:01) How did she start her leadership journey? Tarsi was born in a small town in northern China, both of her parents are factory workers and they wanted Tarsi to marry a good man, have a good career and live in a small town just like everybody else. Tarsi however had big dreams since she was a little girl to do something different. She started her career as a successful marketing director for a world leading drone company. Tarsi then moved to Australia to work in a new industry and worked her way up from sales to CEO in six years. (10:05) What made Tarsi say yes to take the opportunity to be CEO? At first, Tarsi was thrilled and then she became scared. However she knew that if she didn’t take on the opportunity she wouldn’t allow herself to learn and see what’s out there. She reminded herself of the courage it took her to step out of China and it was the same mindset that pushed her to say yes to the CEO role. Tarsi told herself “yes, you've never done that (before), but they chose you because they believe in you and you can bring something back to this job as well.” (25:05) What tools can Tarsi share to the audience to add to their Leadership Toolbox? Tarsi’s experience and journey so far has taught her to never doubt herself. Tarsi tells the audience to believe in themselves and push forward. It doesn’t matter; rejection, millions or trillions, just push yourself forward and believe.   Important Resources and Links If you’d like to learn more about how CommBank is supporting the growth of women in business visit https://www.commbank.com.au/women-in-focus.html   Host of the Leading Women podcast, Shivani Gopal is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and advocate on a mission to create a more equal world. She’s recognised as a leading business thought leader helping professional women navigate their careers, businesses and financial success. As the Founder and CEO of Elladex and Co-Founder of Upstreet, Shivani was recently awarded the 2022 NSW Excellence in Women's Leadership Award and the Top 50 Small Business Leaders award, As a dedicated advocate for gender equality and for closing the wealth gap for everyday Australians, Shivani launched “Equality 2050”; a campaign to achieve gender equality within our lifetimes. If you’re interested in learning more about Shivani visit her website: https://www.elladex.com.au/ The Leading Women podcast is proudly brought to you by Commonwealth Bank.  The series is produced by Nicole Hatherly, recorded at RadioHub Studios with post production by Cooper Silk and Iain Wilson. Things you should know: Guests featured in the podcast are speaking from their personal experiences only. As this podcast has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on the content consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. CommBank does not necessarily endorse the views of a particular individual or guarantee the accuracy of the information provided.