Explore Elona Lopari's journey in the Coaching Industry

Elona Lopari: Greta, thank you so much for having me. I’m very honored and I’m so happy to be part of your mission and vision with Rootless. I’m so excited.

Elona Lopari: My life journey takes me back to my origin story. I was born in Albania, specifically Tirana, and lived there for 15 years before migrating to the U.S., specifically New York, when I was 15. Of course, that part of my life also taught me a lot of life experiences—my childhood, my culture, my upbringing—and then the next 25 years were my best professional formation. I got my college degree, went through pretty much the traditional route of following the American dream: go to school, get a career, grow a family, buy a house. This was the definition, I guess, 20 something years ago, of the American dream. I climbed the corporate ladder for all those many years. When I think of rootless, it’s like this feeling inside of me that I want to contribute back to where my beginnings were. But I’m also so grateful for the education and mindset I received here, for all the ways I was able to incorporate New York’s culture, which is so diverse. So, it’s got all these components of me, and they shape the character, the person, and the value of the work that I do today, me being just the overall human. So, rootless in a nutshell is that I do feel rootless sometimes when it comes to where I actually belong and how I contribute to all these areas of me. I think we’re always in that search of getting that realization or fulfillment, but there are moments where I do feel that.

Elona Lopari: I honestly only remember the beautiful pieces of creative childhood games in my little neighborhood. It was such a nice, close-knit community. No fear. Everybody took care of each other. Then, the school experience. It was just growing through that experience. I remember us being more socialized as children in a way, obviously, without technology, because we didn’t have that. But as I remember that part, the thing that stands out as maybe a challenge was when the Civil War started in ‘97. Two years later, specifically my parents, and my dad in particular, started looking for other opportunities for us so that we could feel safe and find better opportunities for our lives. That’s when he began looking into how to get a visa. He actually considered Germany for three years, but he couldn’t figure out the paperwork to bring the family there, so he lived there for a while. Then we came to New York. But the thing I took away from that experience is that he never gave up. He had a purpose. He had a dream. He wanted to do something good for the family and move us to new opportunities. And until he was able to do that, that’s how we ended up here in New York. So, I remember a lot of safety during that time. There was a lot of commotion in the country. I remember a lot of feelings of, you know, being in survival mode at times. But other than that, those are my memories of Albania.

Elona Lopari: I mean, my parents invested in English courses, actually, when I was back in Tirana. So, to speak the language, even though I spoke it, it wasn’t with the American accent—it was a British accent. So, I had to adjust a lot of that. That turned out to be one of the pivotal moments in my journey here early on, as I was the oldest child. I started translating everywhere. I became the go-to person for translation because my parents spoke another language, and I thought I grew up very fast. I became the third parent. I started looking for my first couple of jobs, trying to contribute to the family and help with the bills. I registered my siblings in school. So, those were the early experiences. But what I remember is the one thing my dad told me as we were driving from the airport to our first basement home, the one we were going to live in, because those were the opportunities we had at that time. He pretty much told me that, “Okay, this is New York. It could be anything. You choose to be here.” That’s something that stuck with me early on. I didn’t always know what he meant, but it was the seed that was planted that day, and it followed me along in my pursuit to do well, be responsible, contribute to the family, and follow those things that I thought were the definition of success.

Elona Lopari: Yeah, in the beginning, I obviously missed Albania, but I really feel like I integrated very fast. I was always that curious person who wanted to see my environment, look at what was taught in school, and adapt to that environment quickly. So, I think I made the transition very fast. My focus was always on the future and what I needed to do. What did I need to learn? Of course, there were moments of solitude, moments where I wasn’t sure if I knew enough. I didn’t know if I could integrate with kids my age in school. I didn’t have a lot of friends at the beginning, of course, because of the language barrier. I was insecure about not speaking English clearly enough without a strong accent, but eventually, I got over that. I can say I was never bullied, but that loneliness at the beginning definitely shaped my character. For me, I was always that little child looking toward the future. What can I do here? I was trying to learn from everybody—from the culture, from my friends. I always had that mindset. Even when I went to college to get my bachelor’s, I created a plan around how to get my degree. What was the process? Let me shorten the time, and I pretty much did it in three years rather than four. So, I was always, I guess, goal-oriented in one way or another. But that’s kind of what I remember.

Elona Lopari: I went for business management and finance. That was my major at Brooklyn City College. I liked that experience. I remember being very attracted to certain topics or classes which were marketing, economics, philosophy, psychology. Those are the classes that I loved. And also history and a little bit in some areas. So I think intuitively trying to figure out what I wanted to actually select as a major, I paid attention to things that actually attracted me and that’s why I picked business so very early on, I was very attracted to the business world. Now I know obviously I have evolved as a channel to the work that I’m doing today. At that point, I didn’t see myself as an entrepreneur or anything, but I just remember being very curious and intrigued. I enjoyed learning more about marketing and all those different areas, so that’s what I did. I got my degree and then I started my corporate career. I was recruited from my career office in my college. I worked for Walgreens Boots Alliance for 13 years. They were in growth mode. So I guess I happened to be in the right place at the right time and I just started climbing that corporate ladder for that. 

Elona Lopari: It was really because, again, you know, you always learn that you go to school to get a good job. So, I felt like I succeeded—I got a good job. Of course, the beginning stages were entry-level positions because I didn’t have the experience. I was straight out of school with a college degree and didn’t have much work experience, so I started with some entry-level management. Even there, again, I was looking for ways to add value. I was pretty entrepreneurial, now that I look back, but I didn’t know it then. I just thought, well, I felt or thought that everybody should work smart and add value to where they are. To me, it was a natural process, so I just always added value with the way I operated there. As I climbed through the different ranks of the various positions, I was always interested in the next level, on how I could learn and grow and get to the next thing. Because I get bored very fast, and I find that if I don’t grow or if I do something and it becomes part of my routine, I want to learn something else to get that fulfillment or happiness. Otherwise, the fulfillment piece isn’t there. I didn’t have those words at the time, but I just felt empty inside when the company started to take another direction. The culture became very profit-driven. Everyone was seen as a number. There were no more growth opportunities, and I no longer felt aligned with their vision and mission because of the culture. It’s not the words, it’s the actions. So, I no longer felt aligned with that, which is when I started looking for other opportunities, bigger things that I could do.

Elona Lopari: It was definitely a transition, a transitory period where I started looking for an answer. That’s when I got exposed to podcasts and reading books. I started aligning myself with different mentors and attending my first events, from Tony Robbins, to figure out what else I wanted to do in my life. I had a lot of influence from my husband, who had been an entrepreneur for many years. As to the practicality of the advice, he said, “You have a lot of experience. Why don’t you just try something on your own? Take what you know and start something.” But of course, I was scared and uncertain because I only knew that environment for years. I didn’t know what I was capable of doing. I think a lot of that nervousness and anxiety kept me in my position much longer than I should have stayed, because of that fear of the uncertain journey—was I going to be able to do it? Fear of failure, perfectionism, and all these things showed up when trying to step into something new in business. I always had an intuition that I loved the business world, because every time I would speak to my friends or family about business, it felt like my life. My family even told me I talked so much about that area. So, I started connecting all those dots and thought, okay, maybe entrepreneurship is the journey I could try and see where I end up. I started learning, growing, and exposing myself to different things, as I said. Then, I began doing some career coaching, some executive coaching at first, and started tapping into where my gifts lie. What is the big problem I can solve in the world? Those are questions I still ask today, as I learn, grow, and evolve. That’s where I positioned myself in the business side of leadership. I realized that was my assurance. That’s where I could help people.

Elona Lopari: So, my career coaching clients were looking for opportunities in their field of expertise. They had experience and were searching for a job that aligned with what they wanted to do, offering more freedom, leveraging their capabilities, and utilizing their experience. That was the focus with my first few clients in the career coaching space, but I still felt I could bring more value than just the career piece. I felt that once you land that position, that’s great, but then you’re looking to grow within those companies. However, in the business world, there’s no limit to the value you can add. You can learn, grow, and continue developing—your company can grow, and so can you. So, I saw this potential, and that’s where I eventually needed to position myself.

Elona Lopari: From experience, right through holding the space for them and figuring out what their problem was, I’m always very problem-aware. If I had enough life experience, along with career and professional experience, then I could take those processes I’ve learned to give them a specific result. The more you help people, the more you start clarifying your own processes for how you’re able to deliver results. So, I’ve streamlined this process and continuously try to improve it over time, so that the value of my work can increase, but also so the results and transformations I’m able to give can have a deeper, greater impact on their lives. Not only in the area of their business growth, but also in their personal growth, because I believe we’re all holistic humans, and I believe in a more holistic approach to life. I think people want to feel fulfilled in all areas of our lives, not just our business, but also our health, relationships, and wealth. So, it’s more of a holistic approach. That’s actually my bigger vision: to eventually grow beyond business and leadership and help people in other areas, as I continue to grow the vision of lifestyle.

Elona Lopari: I listen to what the problem is that they’re encountering, and then I see if I’m able to help. So, that’s where everything begins—listening, like a normal human to human. What are their struggles? Where are they in their journey? What are the desired results they’re looking to achieve? Then, I see where I personally fit into that equation. After that, I make a decision on whether that’s someone I would like to help further or not, or maybe I can refer them to someone else. I always try to find solutions for anyone who comes in front of me because I value humans and like to help them. So, if I can’t help, I have lots of people I can connect them with.

Elona Lopari: Yeah, back to what you’re saying, I think that was my early experience. When you learn a lot about different areas and fields and help yourself through problem-solving, you want to help the world. That was my experience too, at the beginning. But with maturity and experience, you realize that, obviously, you can’t help someone who isn’t problem-aware or solution-aware. It has to be a market or people who already have that awareness, so they’re open to, and actively looking for, you. That comes with experience. At the beginning we all, myself included, try to help people thinking, “If I could just shake you and help you,” and share what I know, thinking I could help them with a certain problem they’re encountering. But with experience, you gain clarity on who the actual people are that are ready and at the phase or stage where you can help them. They’ve agreed to their transformation. The “Life School” concept came to me from a meditation session. I’ve been instilling a lot of new habits in my life to connect spiritually with my inner self, my intuition, my own awareness, and to gain insights around my inner intelligence. It came to me as a download, I call it. It’s one of those moments. It connected for me the pieces of entrepreneurship and life—how entrepreneurship is so much like life. It’s pretty much the only experience I’ve learned so far that teaches you so much. Just like traditional schooling, we didn’t learn many of the skills we need now as humans as we evolve and grow. But when it comes to the “Life School,” entrepreneurship is just like school. Every day, you learn, you grow, your experience rises, you learn, you evolve, and then you apply. That’s the part that’s missing from traditional schools—the application piece. Information is great, and learning from each other is great, but unless we start taking action and applying it, it won’t serve us at the highest level that it potentially could. So that’s why I came up with that. Life is just like school. Entrepreneurship is just like school. I wanted to recreate a school where people can learn, grow, develop, and really utilize their purpose, just like I had to, to create more impact in the world. They can also be profitable so they can contribute those profits toward their lifestyle values—the things they value in life—and do more good for humanity. They can contribute to causes that move us forward, create more opportunities for entrepreneurship to come under our umbrella, and create more impact. We can invest back into the business to reach more people and create transformation. So, those are all the dots I connected, and that’s where the Life School came in.

Elona Lopari: Yes, I think that is the number one thing for us as humans, we don’t see our light. We don’t see our gifts. Maybe that’s the creator’s way of keeping us in the process, so we’re not driven by ego, keeping us learning, growing, and evolving. To me, it’s just the process of evolution and transformation. As long as you’re improving your habits, you’re clear on your values, you’re clear on your life mission, and every day you’re taking baby steps. Baby steps are a big word for me, towards the next version of whatever improvement or good looks like to you, then you’re heading in the right direction. Because not only can you sustain that success, or those results you’re going to receive, but it’s not even so much about the achievement of that result. What’s important is who you actually become as a human being. When I look at myself even a year or two years ago, I can’t even recognize myself. I’ve grown, I’ve evolved. So, it’s just the evolution of growing and learning, and that’s different for everybody depending on where they are in their life journey. We all have the strengths and opportunities we want to improve because it serves our bigger purpose. I find that if you have clarity on that bigger purpose, then the growing pains it takes to change or improve certain things in our lives or certain areas is absolutely doable, and it’s worth it. It will keep you motivated because your purpose is so clear. You don’t need external motivation; it’s internal motivation. You wake up without an alarm clock because your mission is calling you, and every day you know you’re heading towards the bigger thing. So, whatever challenge comes across justifies that momentary pain because you have that bigger purpose.

It’s very normal for the perception that you are changing or evolving to trigger a lot of people around you who have known you as a certain version of yourself. It’s uncertain for them as well. They don’t know what’s happening. They want to keep the status quo. They want to keep you as the version you were. I mean, one of the people who told me very early on, when I was trying to grow into this next version of myself or into entrepreneurship, was my mom. My mom loves me and she’s my biggest supporter, but it’s because she wanted to see me safe. She said, “You have a job. Why don’t you just stay there? You have safety, right? You have the kids, so you’re good. Focus on that.” But that advice, again, comes from love. Sometimes it comes from their own blueprints or their own programming of what safety looks like. So it can come from a good place. You just have to love people from afar, give them the validation and reassurance they’re looking for, because, obviously, it’s the people you love. But keep pursuing whatever your heart is calling you to do, whatever your inner calling is saying. Because I think you feel a lot of conflict if you don’t listen to that, and it will start to show up in many different ways. Every new thing we do, we  always feel uncertain. It’s a human emotion. Once you learn that it’s there and learn how to overcome it, and again, because your purpose is clear, it’s just the next thing in the journey. Then you start building a lot of confidence, and you can figure out the process. You just repeat, rinse, and repeat.

Elona Lopari: That’s the million-dollar question. But it’s actually very simple, at least from what I’ve seen in my personal experiencElona: keep the promises you make to yourself. I think that’s the number one thing. It’s great to want to achieve certain things that are beyond your comfort zone, but start with baby steps. Because those baby steps, those small actions that you take and actually accomplish, start to build discipline. And through your discipline, you begin to hold yourself accountable. So focus on yourself and your own process, and eventually, you’ll start to gain self-trust. At the beginning, it might not be there, and you might not even know what you’re capable of. That’s what I’ve actually found every day: we don’t even know our potential. Because unless we’re doing, unless we’re taking action, we won’t know. So slowly but surely, you work on that. I think that’s how you build confidence over time, by taking action and just by keeping your promises. When it comes to other people, there’s always going to be people who don’t like us or resonate with us, or whatever you might want to call it. Through their unawareness or consciousness, they’re going to come from that space. But just hold a lot of compassion for them. As long as you are secure and true, and your purpose is clear and you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, I say focus on that. Process the feelings that those other interactions are causing, because if you don’t process your feelings and you avoid them, they will come out in other ways. But as long as you’re secure, align yourself with those people, remind yourself of your purpose, and why you want to do it. Just stay laser-focused on that, and if you can, minimize the distractions.

Elona Lopari: I have a very predictable routine that I always follow because it sets the stage for my day and keeps me focused on the most important priorities I want to accomplish. I think that’s the most important lesson I’ve learned over time. I start my mornings with physical exercise. While I’m doing that, I also learn something new, like listening to a podcast or reading a book, anything that’s helping me grow. I incorporate this into my physical exercise routine. Right now, I’m doing more walking, but I used to go to the gym, and I switch it up depending on what feels right for me in that area. I’ll do that for a while, then take 30 minutes to journal. I use that time to set my agenda for the day and my intentions, starting the day with a clear head. Then, I tackle the items on my agenda with minimal distraction. I try to stick to this routine, though obviously, I’m not perfect. I also try to organize my week around certain themes so I’m not constantly switching between tasks. As we all know, multitasking is a myth. To be highly productive or enter those flow states of creativity we need as entrepreneurs, we must focus on one thing at a time. This is how I organize my week. I’ll do a reflection either on Friday or Sunday to review the week. What were the lessons I learned? What were my wins? I’ve created a focus and purpose planner where I write down my reflections and set intentions for the following week. I believe it’s important to pause and look at what we’ve learned, what went well, what needs improvement, and how we can use that information to improve our processes. This helps me understand who to hire, who to delegate tasks to, and where to focus my efforts for the highest ROI. I think the challenge for most entrepreneurs or business CEOs is always determining which activities will add the most value to your life and business. For me, that’s the key process that works.

Elona Lopari: There’s always this discussion about whether leadership is something you’re born with. What I’ve learned is that everything is learnable; it’s just a journey. We’ve been programmed to go to school and get a job, and entrepreneurship is the same. It’s just a new channel, and you can learn all the skills necessary to be an entrepreneur, just like you can with leadership. Like any talent, if it comes naturally to you, it will be easier, but without practice, even talent will remain untapped. That’s how I see entrepreneurship. That’s why I teach the pillars of entrepreneurship, which are branding and marketing, sales, and teams. These are the most crucial pieces that every company needs to grow, and we can all learn them as CEOs and entrepreneurs. These might not come naturally to us, but we can absolutely learn them. Just like leadership, we can always acquire new skills and become better leaders every day. So, in my view, entrepreneurship is definitely learnable.

They have passion, they have fire, they have determination, they have resilience. Those of the top four. Fifth one, courage. 

Elona Lopari: I love that question about courage because it builds slowly, just like we’ve talked about. How do we start building those habits? I never would have imagined that I’d do all the things I’ve done, but the journey led me there. I’ve just intuitively pieced things together on my journey. I’m always looking at the next piece, on how to create value or products that will live beyond me. Legacy is very important to me, as is creating a positive impact because life is short. We’re here today, and who knows about tomorrow, physically. But I believe our spirits exist in other dimensions, and our souls never die. Physically, we’re only here temporarily. So, I’m always looking for ways to package the experience I’ve gained from my own life, as well as from the people I’ve helped. I want to put it into products that people can consume on their own and impact them in other ways as well. That’s how I started writing my books. My first book came about because I was getting more comfortable with the speaking side. We transcribed it, and then I continued to leverage what I felt I was strongest at. And my advice to others is: start with what you know, what’s familiar to you, as you develop new skills. It can be scary, and that’s what stops most people, they think it has to be perfect. But nothing has to be perfect. Just speak from your heart and your experience. People will appreciate that more than a perfect product because they can resonate with you. My first book, Connecting the Dots Backwards, is a memoir of my life and how I learned to create my life vision. It’s mostly about clarifying your life vision and discovering the leader within. My second book is about my framework for helping people grow companies and create legacy businesses. I saw a lot of gaps in the way people were learning about business. They’d get information from different sources for marketing, branding, sales advice but it didn’t all come together. So, I created my framework to build a harmonious business and shared it in my second book, Purpose Driven Entrepreneurship. I connected all the dots for the readers. My latest book, Visionary Purpose Driven Leadership, focuses on conscious leadership. It’s about how we can become leaders who lead by example, put purpose first in our culture and companies, and put people first. We need to build healthy, nurturing relationships—with ourselves, with the people around us, and with our families. Family is a value I hold strongly, influenced by my culture in Albania. When you treat people well, listen to them, and are always there to serve, business becomes just like life. You create a good, healthy, positive experience. You have people around you who support you when you support them. You connect people, collaborate, and grow. So, I incorporated these principles into Purpose Driven Leadership, my latest book.

Elona Lopari: It’s the consciousness aspect that’s changing because we are all growing, developing, and have access to more information. Science continues to evolve. As a student of neuroscience and other fields, I always strive to learn. We understand the traditional, masculine ways of growing a business, but what about the other areas? Intuition, creativity, and the universe, for example. These were once considered abstract, but now they’re piecing together for me. I feel this is my mission, or at least what I’ve done for myself: merging traditional masculine tactics with the feminine side. By integrating these two approaches, we can create a new, more aligned leadership. As leaders, we are on our purposeful journey, and we align our teams with an appreciation for their unique contributions, skills, and talents. When we do this, there’s no limit to what we can create. This, I believe, is where the new era of leadership is heading. Leaders are beginning to understand that it’s not just about the tasks and agendas for the day. It’s about the personal relationships, what’s going on in their team members’ personal lives, and their priorities. What are their values? Do they prioritize health, relationships, or travel? How can we integrate these values into the company culture? It’s a more holistic, wholesome approach—recognizing people as humans and considering all the areas surrounding them. At the end of the day, based on my extensive career and experience in HR, what keeps people with a company is their belief in the work they do and the opportunity to continue learning and growing. If we meet those needs as leaders, our people will stay with us for years, expanding and evolving alongside us. This is why we’re also looking into new models of compensation structures, which is definitely the direction we’re heading in. We’re feeling it.

Elona Lopari: Success would be defined by the individual. That’s why, when I started working with bigger organizations and even entrepreneurs at different phases, the startup phase, growth stages, and later the CEO level, the problems they face vary. At the beginning, it’s about creating consistent cash flow systems, then scalability, and later the vision for the expansion of the company. But success is defined by everyone in different ways because we all value different things as humans. When it comes to defining success, it’s important to clarify your vision, mission, and values. The definition of success for the leader of the company is going to be different from someone on your team, or even from my clients, because they all have different life journeys, purposes, and gifts. So, success is subjective. I think defining what success looks like for you is something that should be done regularly, not just once a year. At the start of the year, everyone sets goals, but also do it monthly or weekly: “Am I aligned? How does life feel to me?” At the end of the day, what people are looking for through everything we do is love, belonging, contribution, and support. These are values that money can never buy. But sometimes we chase these in different ways and from the wrong places because we don’t have the clarity we need. So, that’s how I’d define success, how it feels for you.

Elona Lopari: Well, it’s about connection and alignment. There’s always familiarity between the vision of the entrepreneur and their team. The entrepreneur has their own vision, and there’s a reason why they started their company and why they feel what they’re doing is important in the world. The team’s goals and alignment might be different because their view of the world can vary. So, there’s always a way to complement each other and find the common ground to connect through communication. I think the key is communication, understanding what’s important to each party so both sides are clear about what they want. Then, we can look for where the alignment lies, so everyone works towards the common goal in alignment with each other, while still keeping it personalized for each individual.

Elona Lopari: Because humans are all the same, we just have different mindsets and cultures that affect us. When I’m working with entrepreneurs from Albania, it’s the awareness levels that differ. Often, it’s the cultural mindsets that get in the way, along with the personal growth that needs to happen before they can translate that into growing their businesses. So the needs are different, but at the end of the day, I don’t see a difference between anyone from any culture because we’re all human. It’s just that the mindset and programming are different, and some limitations are deeper. So we have to address a lot of the personal work first before we can align the business side. With my clients in the US, Canada, and the UK, they’ve already done some of that, so we can focus more on the next elevation of the business. That’s the comparison and contrast I see.

Elona Lopari: I don’t disagree with the highlight reel. I think we can all be more real with what we portray on social media. It’s starting, and we’re definitely moving toward more authenticity, where we share not just the wins and successes, but also the bad and the ugly. It’s so easy for someone looking at that, especially in business, to get the wrong message. I don’t agree with the messaging that promotes success without also telling me the lessons you’ve learned along the way. How did you actually achieve this big win, a $1,000,000 business in 30 days, or the image of working from a laptop under a beach umbrella? I wish there could be more transparency about the entire process, the journey of how you got there, because that’s what I can resonate with. There’s always a build-up to those big wins. I see a $1,000,000 deal closed, but how did you get there? I try to do that in my content too—being real and open in our storytelling, sharing all the different pieces of the journey, both challenges and wins. There’s no win we can achieve unless we’ve gone through challenges to get there, at least from what I’ve seen. So, let’s be open about that as well.

Elona Lopari: Always learn and grow. Learn from everybody. Learn from all their environments, different life journeys. I think that just makes us more diverse individuals, always self-discovery yourself. I think self-discovery is where it’s at. The more you know by yourself, the more you understand how to take all of those gifts that you have in service and contribution to others. So always learn, explore, and never think that you know everything. The more I learn, the more I know that there’s so much more to learn. So just be a life student overall and pay attention to all the things that you are attracted to. I think it’s absolutely connected to your purpose as the reason why you’re attracted to certain models, certain messaging, certain topics, certain skills, certain things, because I think it’s all inside of us waiting to come out. So, pay attention to that and connect those dots towards your unique individual purpose and you’ll be very happy and fulfilled that you’ve done that. You will always grow and expand and the more you grow and expand, the more you can contribute to others. It’s always that equation: the more you have to give, the more the society will benefit from it overall.

Elona Lopari: Thank you so much for having me. I hope that the message served the rootless community and I wish you much success in your vision and mission with this Rootless community. Such an impact from your mission is needed, especially at this time. So thank you.