Speaking
A room full of womenwho are building something.
Ten minutes. Funny, fast and real. For the founder grinding without a map, and the executive quietly wondering whether the thing that makes her “too much” is actually her edge.
The talk
When Life Gives You Lemons
A ten-minute keynote on perseverance, reinvention, and building an empire without a roadmap.
Every woman in the room has a “lemon” — the thing that feels like it's in the way. My whole life has been a masterclass in squeezing them.
I came to America as a kid from the Soviet Union with no language and no safety net. I built a twelve-year brand from the front seat of my car, between my kids' activities. And I did all of it before I ever knew my brain was wired differently.
At forty-two I was finally diagnosed with ADHD — and realized the thing I'd fought my whole life was the engine behind everything I'd built.
You don't need a roadmap, a diagnosis, or permission to build something great.
What the room walks away with.
- Permission to stop waiting for the perfect plan and start building anyway.
- A reframe on the personal flaw they've been apologizing for — and how to aim it instead of fix it.
- Three simple rules for perseverance they can use Monday morning.
- A genuine, laugh-out-loud, been-there connection with the woman on stage.
90
Seconds
The part they talk aboutafterwards.
I close by putting the room to work. In under ninety seconds every woman names her own lemon, says it out loud to the person next to her, then flips it: what if that lemon is actually the engine?
It turns a keynote into a room full of strangers connecting over the thing they were all hiding. That's the bit people are still talking about once the plates are cleared.
About
Mila Furman
Professional chef, entrepreneur and content creator, and the founder of Girl and the Kitchen — a food and lifestyle brand she has grown for over twelve years into a private cheffing, catering and content company with a following across the country.
She competed on Food Network's Supermarket Stakeout, was featured on TBS's Rat in the Kitchen, and is a recurring guest in Chicago media including ABC7's Windy City LIVE, WGN and FOX Chicago.
An immigrant who came to the US as a child from the former Soviet Union, she built everything from scratch — often literally from the front seat of her car, between her two kids' activities and her own MMA training. Diagnosed with ADHD at forty-two, she has become a funny and refreshingly honest voice on perseverance, reinvention and building a business on your own terms.
Her newest project, UNSTOPPABLE, is a body-mind-movement program for women 35–55 who are ready to stop shrinking and start building.
Book the talk.
Tell me about the room — who's in it, how long you've got, and what you want them walking out with.