She’s smart, cool, fun and irreverent – she’s Giuliana Rancic and she’s had one heck of a tough year.
I’m a huge fan of Giuliana. From E! News Host to reality TV star, Giuliana has accomplished a lot since immigrating to America from Italy at the age of four.
I think that’s one of the reasons I like her so much. She’s created her own success and proven that when you are crystal clear on what you want, and you stay committed to it, dreams actualize.
We were both speakers at this year’s WinDS Conference (www.womeninds.com) in Irvine. As a speaker, I had a special “meet and greet” time with her prior to her keynote speech. Her reality TV crew was there shooting, so our conversation and photo opportunity were all captured on tape. (I hope they air it.)
The other thing I love about Giuliana (I know, okay, I’m a big fan) is that she’s so darn real. I wrote about that last month and received responses from many of you about how freeing it is to just “be yourself”. Well, Giuliana has the “whole authenticity thing” down.
Whether she’s hosting E! News, talking about her relationship with her husband on her reality show or standing on the stage at the WinDS conference – she’s consistently Giuliana. We trust her. We believe her. It’s one of the main reasons, in my humble opinion, that she’s helped make E! News so successful.
But it hasn’t always been easy and that’s what we love about Giuliana even more. In the face of great challenges, she has continued to work toward her dreams. In just this past year, she’s survived grueling fertility treatments (that took her to the emergency room), a miscarriage AND breast cancer – all of which she was willing to share on her reality show with Bill. She said the response from their willingness to share the real story has been overwhelming – women and men writing to her from all over the world about their own challenges.
Heartbreaking for anyone, but even more so when you are living in the public eye. Yes, she chose to live in the public eye, but she didn’t choose the rest of it. When I saw her speak at the WinDS conference, it was her first public speaking engagement since her cancer diagnosis. Let’s just say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and, as her tears flowed on stage, ours flowed in the audience. Talk about being real.
After sharing her journey with us, she then gave us three points that she believes have been important to her success. We all leaned in expectantly, holding our breaths, waiting for her to share her guiding principles.
Giuliana’s three principles to success (as shared from the stage at the WinDS conference):
- Work Hard
- Be Creative
- Embrace Technology
Giuliana’s strategies are simple, clear, and easy to follow. No doubt, Giuliana has worked hard to reach her goals, always going that extra mile and being willing to do whatever it takes (which she shared over and over again in her keynote). She explained how creative she had to be throughout the years to break into the Hollywood scene and she had her share of rejection. Giuliana has embraced technology through her creative use of Social Media, television, and more.
In addition to those three main points, she also made it clear that “being yourself” was the most important thing that she did throughout the years. She didn’t try to be other news reporters. She didn’t think “change who she was to fit the bill”, she just kept showing up as Giuliana.
That, my friends, is why Giuliana is a successful celebrity, successful business owner and a rising star… and why I’ve learned so much.
