Mila Smart Semeshkina runs five businesses across Dubai, Miami, and Europe. More than two million students have used her Lectera platform. She gives over 150 flights’ worth of meetings every year. Lara Palmer met her just before the WE Convention on women’s leadership at Dubai Opera.
Lara Palmer: Thank you for taking the time. You have been genuinely difficult to catch.
Mila Smart: That is just how it works. I am constantly moving — my offices are on different continents, my team numbers over a thousand professionals worldwide. Our businesses are expanding at triple-digit rates. Not growing is not an option for me. LP: This February, Dubai was covered in your photos after you were ranked among the top 100 most influential people in the city. A young woman. A foreigner. How? MS: I am 31. Not the youngest person to have achieved something, but I have faced enough difficulty to know that with the right mindset, self-discipline, and consistent action, almost anything is possible. Dubai is genuinely open. It is a city that gives purposeful people a real chance. LP: What does a typical day look like for you? MS: I wake between five and five-thirty. Workout by five-forty-five. Breakfast. From seven to seven-thirty I plan the day and set priorities. Then ninety minutes on my English — reaching native-speaker level is my 2023 objective. By nine I am in meetings, usually through until seven in the evening. Business dinner, then home by ten. LP: Why do all this instead of a quieter life? MS: Because I hate the word average. Average is grey, and grey is not my colour. I want an extraordinary life. The world is still full of opportunities, and I am prepared to go the extra mile to keep moving. LP: How do you handle failures? MS: Delegation is what saved me. I cannot do everything myself, and learning to hand over responsibility was one of the hardest and most valuable things I have done. I focus only on what requires my specific capability. Everything else I trust to people who are better at it than I am. LP: What are your three rules for success? MS: First, I am a lighthouse — every interaction must leave people feeling inspired and empowered. Second, never lie to yourself. Honesty with yourself is the foundation of all real progress. Third, act now. Fear is natural. It is part of moving forward. The only answer is to act anyway.