WEBVTT 00:00:07.275 --> 00:00:08.706 Everything that I am today, 00:00:08.706 --> 00:00:11.853 and everything that I do, is based on what I've been through. 00:00:11.853 --> 00:00:15.078 Especially for the last ten years. Because before that -- 00:00:15.202 --> 00:00:19.589 I am thirty today, thirty-one in fourteen days -- 00:00:19.589 --> 00:00:19.590 before that, 00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:24.852 the first twenty years of my life were absolutely wonderful. 00:00:24.921 --> 00:00:27.098 I was raised by wonderful parents, 00:00:27.098 --> 00:00:31.489 who gave me love and taught me what's important in life. 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:36.631 I was able to travel a lot, I was very active, I was playing piano, 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:39.170 I was very active in sports as well, playing tennis. 00:00:40.814 --> 00:00:43.175 And all of that opened many doors for me. 00:00:43.341 --> 00:00:47.155 So right after high school in Ljubljana, 00:00:47.155 --> 00:00:53.919 I was invited to go study to the United States, on a full athletic scholarship. 00:00:53.981 --> 00:00:59.500 I came to California when I was eighteen with a full scholarship, 00:00:59.500 --> 00:01:01.829 everything in front of me, 00:01:01.829 --> 00:01:06.959 and I was feeling so lucky. What could even go wrong? 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:11.249 Everything is perfect, I'm at the top of my life, 00:01:11.249 --> 00:01:14.220 I'm 18 and I have so much more to give. 00:01:14.220 --> 00:01:20.177 Well, 10 years ago, when I was 20, all this had a rather scary ending. 00:01:20.701 --> 00:01:25.933 Something happened to me that was definitely my first turning point in my life, 00:01:25.933 --> 00:01:31.473 and completely changed me, I can see and feel that very strongly today. 00:01:31.473 --> 00:01:34.823 Since I was so active and involved in everything 00:01:34.885 --> 00:01:41.987 I didn't have much time for partying, going out, boys, flirting. 00:01:43.095 --> 00:01:46.107 When I was 20, I got my first boyfriend. 00:01:46.107 --> 00:01:50.555 He was very involved in basketball. He was on the national team. 00:01:50.555 --> 00:01:55.926 He was my first love, the first guy I held hands with in Ljubljana. 00:01:56.742 --> 00:02:01.814 We were together even after I went to the United States, even though I knew 00:02:01.814 --> 00:02:06.157 it was a big challenge, since I was so young. Was it going to last or not? 00:02:06.157 --> 00:02:08.114 But destiny took it's own way. 00:02:08.114 --> 00:02:12.171 One day I called my father home, and said, "How are you, dad?", he said 00:02:12.171 --> 00:02:17.240 "Ana everything is fine --", we were just having a casual conversation 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:21.750 but I felt immediately that something was wrong. Ten minutes later he told me 00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:27.868 that my boyfriend died instantly in a car crash. We were both 20 at that time. 00:02:27.868 --> 00:02:37.592 I can honestly tell you -- I have to zoom into present now because today his father passed away -- 00:02:38.054 --> 00:02:45.753 it is really hard, I just found out a few hours ago. I'm zooming back to past now. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.876 When my dad told me, my whole world collapsed. 00:02:49.876 --> 00:02:52.906 Nobody could really understand me, I was half the world away, 00:02:52.906 --> 00:02:59.272 I was by myself. I had friends there but they didn't really understand me because nobody knew truly who I am. 00:02:59.272 --> 00:03:05.083 So I got really depressed. I was down, emotionally completely broken. 00:03:05.991 --> 00:03:12.823 I lost faith in life, which I had so much before because I thought nothing could happen to me. 00:03:13.808 --> 00:03:20.450 That's when it started. I got really depressed, I flunked out of college one semester, took a break. 00:03:20.450 --> 00:03:23.197 Playing tennis kept me going. 00:03:23.197 --> 00:03:27.957 Through these couple of months I realized that this [person] wasn't Ana. 00:03:27.957 --> 00:03:31.164 I couldn't always be like that, this isn't what I am supposed to be. 00:03:31.164 --> 00:03:38.247 So I somehow stood up, finished college with very good grades. I came back to Slovenia. 00:03:39.123 --> 00:03:42.817 I still wasn't being myself, I was still trying to find my way. 00:03:42.817 --> 00:03:47.547 I came here and did my Master's [degree] in a year and a half, realy easily. 00:03:47.547 --> 00:03:53.749 Every time I put something in my head, I know that it's only a matter of matter of operative work [to do it]. 00:03:53.749 --> 00:03:59.797 So I finished my Master's with a ten. Good job, Ana! Not so proud of that today. 00:03:59.797 --> 00:04:03.979 I'm much more proud of what I feel and what I do currently. 00:04:03.979 --> 00:04:09.462 I got a job which was very good, for two years, in a huge pharmaceutical company. 00:04:09.462 --> 00:04:15.306 Very good experience, but after two years I realized this is not making me happy. 00:04:16.291 --> 00:04:20.843 I was put in a little box, I couldn't think with my own thoughts and my ideas. 00:04:20.843 --> 00:04:24.782 So I quit. Everybody asked me if I had a back-up plan. 00:04:24.782 --> 00:04:27.047 "No, I don't know what I'm going to do." 00:04:27.047 --> 00:04:33.313 I did a few things in between, and then I met some people from Switzerland and Lichtenstein 00:04:33.313 --> 00:04:40.211 and saw a huge opportunity in solar energy that was evolving fast in Slovenia in 2009. 00:04:42.196 --> 00:04:45.865 I agreed with them to open a daughter company in Slovenia, 00:04:45.865 --> 00:04:48.192 develop a huge business development project 00:04:48.192 --> 00:04:53.058 which would have been the biggest in solar energy in Europe if it had succeeded. 00:04:53.058 --> 00:05:00.080 I devoted my entire one year in this project, involving a lot of companies from here, 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:06.212 Unicredit Bank, lawyers, Ernst&Young, quality control management team from California, 00:05:06.212 --> 00:05:09.492 from Germany -- it was really huge. 00:05:09.492 --> 00:05:15.968 And after twelve months, the investor, my mother company told me they don't have any money to invest. 00:05:16.015 --> 00:05:18.788 The entire project flopped. 00:05:19.773 --> 00:05:25.127 All the costs that occurred were left on me, so I paid for everything. 00:05:25.127 --> 00:05:31.190 So because of this project, today I have a loan. I was really disappointed. 00:05:31.190 --> 00:05:37.752 This was another huge disappointment in my life because I devoted so much of me, 00:05:37.752 --> 00:05:41.800 and failing one more time left me without words. 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:45.250 I mean, what else can happen to me? 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:50.654 When I was going through all of that, I realized there must be something good about that. 00:05:50.654 --> 00:05:56.487 There must be a way for me to find. So I stood up again, and again something hit me. 00:05:56.487 --> 00:06:01.695 A couple of months later, something bad affected our family. 00:06:05.372 --> 00:06:10.763 My mom, 67 at that time, was diagnosed with a very rare dementia disease. 00:06:10.763 --> 00:06:15.790 It's not Alzheimer's, it's frontotemporal dementia, and there is no cure for it. 00:06:15.790 --> 00:06:20.221 For the last 3 years, my mom doesn't really remember who I am. 00:06:20.221 --> 00:06:24.501 Maybe 20 per cent of time she knows who my father, my sister and I are. 00:06:24.501 --> 00:06:28.959 We've been trying to be very strong and supportive about that. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:34.279 So, many things happened to us. And all of that evolved and awakened me 00:06:38.649 --> 00:06:45.559 to become who I really am today. I realized that you have to live a raw life, 00:06:45.559 --> 00:06:52.808 you need to go through a raw life, experience bad things, and embrace them with open arms 00:06:52.808 --> 00:06:58.740 to fully understand who you are and to really find your inner morals, value, truth, and honesty. 00:07:00.479 --> 00:07:07.057 What kept me going for the last 10 years, was a strong feeling I couldn't describe years ago. 00:07:07.057 --> 00:07:11.630 But I could finally put it into words a year and a half ago. 00:07:11.630 --> 00:07:15.143 I was running and I said, "This is it. This is who I am." 00:07:15.990 --> 00:07:20.761 It's called TRUHOMA. This is my engine, my soul, how I survived until today, 00:07:20.761 --> 00:07:23.386 this is what kept me going. 00:07:25.294 --> 00:07:34.725 It's the belief in me, in totally honestly saying to all of you "This is what you get." 00:07:34.725 --> 00:07:38.828 No hidden motives, just truly and honestly me. 00:07:38.828 --> 00:07:43.515 I will tell you what TRUHOMA means. It's a very strong word and statement. 00:07:43.515 --> 00:07:47.962 It's applied to three basic things in life -- true and honest marketing. 00:07:47.962 --> 00:07:52.297 Today I have two companies, I'm not dependent on anybody. 00:07:52.297 --> 00:07:57.144 We're very innovative and we've just been starting for the last three years. 00:07:57.144 --> 00:07:59.548 It's really hard but I'm aiming for the longterm. 00:07:59.548 --> 00:08:04.732 I believe if we are true and honest at what we do, we will be the winners in the end. 00:08:04.732 --> 00:08:08.782 This is what I apply in my work, through true and honest marketing. 00:08:08.782 --> 00:08:14.767 Further, true and honest management is the second important thing in companies. 00:08:14.767 --> 00:08:21.281 You have to have true and honest people, and everybody that relates and coexists in the company 00:08:21.281 --> 00:08:24.768 and creates a successful business story. 00:08:24.768 --> 00:08:30.911 But the bottom line of everything I believe we all are, is true and honest mankind 00:08:30.911 --> 00:08:39.154 which means that we are truly and honestly in sync with ourselves, and what we do and believe. 00:08:39.154 --> 00:08:44.509 This is what kept me going for the last 10 years and keeps me going now. 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:47.226 I will show you a perfect example 00:08:52.704 --> 00:08:57.332 that totally describes true and honest mankind and the TRUHOMA movement. 00:08:57.332 --> 00:09:01.423 This is my charity that I do, only in my spare time. 00:09:01.423 --> 00:09:07.485 It's called Anina zvezdica (Anna's little star). It's whole concept is basically 00:09:07.485 --> 00:09:13.036 to collect unperishable food for people that are socially disadvantaged. 00:09:13.036 --> 00:09:21.404 First af all, through Anina zvezdica, I and my team want to prove that you don't need any money -- 00:09:23.866 --> 00:09:26.161 in my example, I am not in the green, 00:09:26.161 --> 00:09:30.505 I have a loan because of my business fiasco from 2 years ago. 00:09:30.505 --> 00:09:36.557 So you need no money, you need time and devotion, and it has to be 100 per cent. 00:09:36.557 --> 00:09:40.499 So that's what we are proving with Anina zvezdica. 00:09:40.499 --> 00:09:46.408 The second very importiant thing and motive is to help people in need. 00:09:49.455 --> 00:09:54.418 The third and most important motive is to bring all the people together and show 00:09:56.588 --> 00:10:02.283 if we all have true and honest mind, we can do something seriously miraculous here on Earth 00:10:02.283 --> 00:10:06.629 and I think this is what has been missing in the last years. 00:10:06.629 --> 00:10:10.905 Especially since the materialistic phenomena has been here. 00:10:12.659 --> 00:10:19.994 On the one hand, I'm grateful that we are in crisis now because it is finally awakening us 00:10:19.994 --> 00:10:23.007 and showing what is truly important in life. 00:10:23.007 --> 00:10:27.536 I think that Anina zvezdica has been proving this for the last three years. 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:34.135 It was funny the way it started. All my life I knew I wanted to help, 00:10:34.135 --> 00:10:36.252 it was just a matter of time when to start 00:10:36.252 --> 00:10:41.317 because I trust everything has to happen with a reason and spontaneously. 00:10:42.133 --> 00:10:45.198 In January it will be 3 years since my first action. 00:10:47.260 --> 00:10:52.962 For my birthday I didn't want presents, I just wanted my friends to come 00:10:52.962 --> 00:10:54.759 and bring some food. 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:59.462 I wrote them an invitation saying, "Come, bring some food from your closets, 00:10:59.462 --> 00:11:05.351 you don't need to buy anything. We can hang out, chat and see what we can do." 00:11:05.351 --> 00:11:11.768 Everybody loved my idea so much that in the end, we made 37 happy families. 00:11:11.768 --> 00:11:13.381 It was a great feeling. 00:11:13.381 --> 00:11:16.913 The problem was I didn't know any of these families. 00:11:16.913 --> 00:11:24.628 So I connected with a social organization in Šiška, Ljubljana, that helped me find these families. 00:11:24.628 --> 00:11:29.167 I told them I really wanted them to have kids, and they said no problem. 00:11:29.167 --> 00:11:32.600 Every time I bring food, I meet them and talk to them. 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.007 It's not like I give them the box and say bye. 00:11:35.007 --> 00:11:36.633 Why do I want to talk to them? 00:11:36.633 --> 00:11:41.037 Because the fourth motive od Anina zvezdica is maybe to change their lives. 00:11:41.037 --> 00:11:44.851 I ask them, "What is your problem, why are you in this situation? 00:11:44.851 --> 00:11:47.968 What is the solution? What are you going to do?" 00:11:47.968 --> 00:11:53.682 The most rewarding thing for me is an example from last year when a family came to get food 00:11:55.236 --> 00:11:58.731 but this year they came and they brought food. 00:11:58.731 --> 00:12:00.750 They changed their life story. 00:12:00.750 --> 00:12:05.105 I want to inspire them and motivate them to change something for themselves as well. 00:12:06.598 --> 00:12:11.192 The second charity action took place in April 2011. 00:12:16.376 --> 00:12:20.703 I made a website and told my friends to please invite their friends. 00:12:20.703 --> 00:12:24.987 We expanded a little and in the end, we made 105 happy families. 00:12:24.987 --> 00:12:29.312 The feeling was great because at that time I realized this was a good idea 00:12:29.312 --> 00:12:32.776 because people started to believe in my organization 00:12:32.776 --> 00:12:35.318 because there was no Euros transfered to the account. 00:12:35.318 --> 00:12:37.384 Everything was just seen in food. 00:12:37.384 --> 00:12:43.312 And for the third charity action, a lot of companies said they want to be part of it, too. 00:12:44.682 --> 00:12:49.865 There were two channels of co-operation with companies. 00:12:49.865 --> 00:12:53.428 One was that companies, which produce food, donated it. 00:12:53.428 --> 00:12:58.554 The other one was to involve employees who started gathering food in their company 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:04.054 and then they brought it to me. 00:13:05.777 --> 00:13:11.660 Furthermore, kindergartens, elementary schools, highschools, faculties joined me. 00:13:11.660 --> 00:13:15.370 When I see little kids aware of what is going on in their lives -- 00:13:16.724 --> 00:13:21.640 that there is poverty and hungry kids around them, it's like education for them. 00:13:22.779 --> 00:13:26.235 It's very important that they know what's happening, at their young age. 00:13:27.205 --> 00:13:32.509 Last year we made 523 happy families. It was just great. 00:13:32.509 --> 00:13:36.575 Many people say I have such great PR, but I don't have any. 00:13:38.375 --> 00:13:41.362 All the media are contacting me by themselves. 00:13:41.362 --> 00:13:45.328 Why do they do that? Because they believe in the story as well, they want to be a part. 00:13:45.821 --> 00:13:49.204 Media are tired of only talking about bad things. 00:13:49.204 --> 00:13:53.571 They want to share the good things, finally. So it's awakening for them as well. 00:13:54.264 --> 00:13:58.668 This year in April, we made another progress. We made 700 happy families. 00:13:59.315 --> 00:14:04.264 This was an even bigger logistic and organizational project. 00:14:06.249 --> 00:14:11.295 More volunteers, my little stars, joined my project and we are all fully devoted. 00:14:12.957 --> 00:14:16.042 Now, my fifth action is just finishing. 00:14:16.749 --> 00:14:19.707 Not yet, I still have a lot of work. 00:14:19.707 --> 00:14:24.851 In two months, today is my first day off. Before, I was working all the time. 00:14:24.851 --> 00:14:28.224 I have my job in the morning -- I'm also a speaker -- 00:14:28.224 --> 00:14:32.053 and in my free time, which is totally devoted to Anina zvezdica, 00:14:32.053 --> 00:14:34.606 this is what I do, because this is what I love. 00:14:34.606 --> 00:14:38.380 And along with my little stars, this is what we achieved. 00:14:38.380 --> 00:14:41.481 We have more than a hundred people involved that helped. 00:14:41.481 --> 00:14:45.268 We have more than 50 educational institutions that took part, 00:14:45.268 --> 00:14:49.402 we have more than 90 Slovenian companies that took part, 00:14:49.402 --> 00:14:53.248 and most of all - I don't even know if this figure is all right - 00:14:53.248 --> 00:14:57.746 because I think it's more than 40 tonnes [of food]. 00:14:57.746 --> 00:15:02.399 We will make more than 2500 happy families before New Year. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:07.390 My goal is to share the food with them by December 28th, and I hope to do that. 00:15:09.760 --> 00:15:13.419 (Applause) Thank you. 00:15:22.896 --> 00:15:25.798 Many people ask me why I do so many things. 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:32.014 They just end up in such a beautiful mosaic, 00:15:32.014 --> 00:15:35.383 all of them together, and I learn from myself. 00:15:36.153 --> 00:15:39.571 It's something so beautiful and I want to share it with everybody. 00:15:39.571 --> 00:15:44.243 Today I know why I am here -- I want to inspire everybody to change the world, 00:15:44.243 --> 00:15:48.043 to make it better, and most of all, I want to connect people. 00:15:48.043 --> 00:15:53.792 I think with Anina zvezdica I've proven this. I want to share it on other fields as well. 00:15:53.792 --> 00:15:59.107 Why do I want to do this? Because I strongly and unconditionally believe 00:15:59.154 --> 00:16:04.574 that everybody in this world is true and honest mankind. 00:16:04.635 --> 00:16:06.611 We're all TRUHOMA. 00:16:06.611 --> 00:16:09.032 Thank you. (Applause)