Ana’s Star Shone At Alumni Event EF
On Thursday, May 30th 2013, Alumni Club EF hosted Delo’s Person of the Year and ideological leader and the heart of Ana’s Little Star, Ana Lukner. First, she presented her life story, which has shaped her into a person she is today – simple, genuine, kind and committed to her mission. As she pointed out: “To be true to yourself, follow your dreams and to be who you are – this leads to success.”
Ana grew up in a loving family with high moral values, which are visibly lacking today in our society. As early as at the age of four, she ran after a tennis ball, played piano for twelve years, and even as a little girl developed a sense and desire to help a fellow man. Today she is an enthusiastic business woman, an owner of two companies (marketing agencies BE-EL and P Marketing), inspirational lecturer and activist, who with a clear vision and faith in a better and brighter future wants to contribute to a different, and above all more positive and connecting way people think, or as she said, “The shift in people’s minds is what’s important.”
Behind everything that Ana Lukner today has and is does not stand fate written in the stars, but the sum of past good and bad experiences, from which she learned. “Everything that happens to you in life, happens for a reason” confidently says Lukner, who thanks to success in tennis went to study at the University of San Jose, California, at the age of 18. While studying she was faced with the tragic loss of her boyfriend and went through life-defining moments. Later, she successfully completed her studies at the university and returned to her native Slovenia. “If I could choose where to be born, I would choose America.” said Ana because the U.S. are “the country where people are relaxed and do not envy anyone.. where every door is open. And I miss all that in Slovenia! ”
“If you succeed in Slovenia, you can make it anywhere! Because in Slovenia, it is so difficult to change anything,” said Ana about her experiences with entrepreneurship and charity. Behind Ana’s projects, there is lot of organizational work, tears, stress as well as happy moments.
One of her first entrepreneurial experiences, which was the reason for the later project of the Institute for Aid to the Socially Disadvantaged or more commonly known as Ana’s Little Star, was for Lukner especially bitter and instructive. She wanted to establish a subsidiary company for solar energy in Slovenia, but a foreign investor withdrew from the deal in the last minute without explaining why. “The challenge is to find a person you can trust.” said Ana, and subsequently acknowledged that she even appreciated certain events which have occurred to her. Now in her free time she can selflessly devote herself to Ana’s Little Star to help people in need and realizes that “Slovenia is in a disastrous situation. There are so many people that on a daily basis do not have anything to put in their mouth.” In three years Ana’s Little Star donated more than 150 tons of food to more than 4,600 families across Slovenia.
To the question what the long-term goal of Ana’s Little Star is Ana replied: “That in the future there would be no need for its existence, and that all citizens of Slovenia would have a better life.”
Where there’s a will, there’s a way, Ana has proven that many times. She also demonstrated that she can successfully navigate between entrepreneurship on the one hand and charity on the other. In the context of entrepreneurship, she presented her concept of modern marketing TRUHOMA, with regard to which she lately attaches particular importance to the third dimension of the concept of “TRUe and HOnest MAnkind”, believing that people have within themselves that inner strength and that they can be genuine and honest.
Ana also spoke openly about the problems she faces in her campaigns; “Slovenian welfare functions really badly; the social model which we have now is not right.”
“If you do not live the raw life, you do not live at all.” is a phrase Ana used to sum up that only the most difficult things that happen in your life give you strength and primal motivation for solutions. Anything is possible. Every situation is solvable. It is important to start with ourselves and that we ourselves are the change, we want to see.
At the end of the lecture, Ana Lukner thanked all the present members of the Alumni Club EF for their charity as they proved that they are aware that the actions are more than words, and gathered together about 10 kilos of food.
Impressions of participants:
• Pangerčič Alenka, a student of communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences: “I thought it was a great lecture. I met Ana in California and I read about her life story on the internet. And today I am convinced that she is a great person and she does wonderful things. ”
• Pokovec Alexander, Director of Video Centre Ltd. “An interesting lecture. I have already seen all the Youtube movies about her. She seems very real to me and she truly believes in what she does.”
• Dink Martinčič, a member of the Alumni Club of EF: “I am positively surprised because I haven’t prepared for the lecture in advance and inquired about the details. I came here because I was interested in the subject and I am happy I can offer my help as a volunteer in the Ana’s Little Star project. ”
More about Ana’s Little Star: http://www.aninazvezdica.si/index.php?id=kontakt
Sabina Alijeski, EFnews
Proofread by: Živa Furlan, EFnews
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