In an era defined by rapid technological evolution and the relentless pursuit of innovation, the educational landscape stands on the precipice of profound transformation. Mila Smart Semeshkina, the founder of Lectera.com and the Women’s Empowerment Council, navigates the intersection of technology and education, advocating for a future where learning transcends traditional boundaries. I come from a very small village in the Krasnodar region, and for me, it has always been crucial to create global projects.
Since childhood, I have felt the limitations of the physical world in a small village, and this feeling has had a significant influence on my personality. I always wanted more — larger spaces, more significant opportunities, and interesting, large-scale people around me. This motivation has been a driving force behind my self-realisation in my work.
Lectera was born out of a very personal challenge. While researching modern media for my PhD, I found that the landscape was evolving faster than my studies could keep up with. Observations and conclusions that seemed relevant one month became outdated the next.
This realisation led me to a pivotal question: if this is the case for media, what about more applied knowledge, like social media marketing or targeted advertising, where technologies evolve even faster? That is when the idea of Fast Education took root — a method of quick and effective skill acquisition. In 2017, I began working on Lectera.
I assembled an international team of professionals and personally supervised every aspect, from product development to brand promotion and the creation of training content. When we launched in 2020, Lectera was available in five languages. By 2024, our user base had grown to 4 million people, with courses available in 15 languages.
The WE Council, which I founded in 2023, now unites over 30,000 women leaders who share personal and professional experiences and help each other. Our WE Convention, the world’s largest forum for women leaders, has become a platform for icons of female success, bringing together leaders like May Musk, Natalia Vodianova, Maria Sharapova, and Carla Bruni. My grandmother used to say: what the eyes fear, the hands do.
I often repeat it when I have doubts or fears. When I get scared of my plans, their scope, tasks, or challenges, I still push forward into the fear. Because it is within those fears that growth happens.