As part of the Morning Lazziness series highlighting empowering women who are making a remarkable impact with their ideas, I had the pleasure of interviewing Luana Ribeira.
Bestselling author, speaker, actress, and founder of Dauntless PR, Luana Ribeira, helps personal brands secure features on TV, radio, podcasts, magazines, and major news outlets. Through her work, she empowers experts to boost brand awareness, build credibility, and establish themselves as leading voices in their fields. Luana Ribeira has been featured in Forbes, OK! Magazine, FOX TV, ITV, BBC, Channel 4, Teen Vogue, Insider, and many more.
What inspired your leap into entrepreneurship, and what personal experiences sparked the idea behind your current venture?
I’ve always been an entrepreneurial spirit – the idea of a conventional 9-5 has never really excited me. My parents were both entrepreneurs so I always knew there was another option to just getting a job and working my way up the career ladder.
My journey in the business world hasn’t always been an easy one but I’ve always found a way to bounce back and move forward.
One experience which really changed me was when I signed a contract I didn’t fully understand and ended up losing one of my businesses to my partner. I hit rock bottom and wanted to hide from the world.
While my self-esteem was at an all-time low. I read the Divergent trilogy by novelist Veronica Roth. The book is set in a dystopian society where society is divided into factions according to their personality traits and the plot really captured my imagination. In the novels, those considered brave belong to the faction known as Dauntless and I decided that what I needed to do to not just survive but thrive was to become dauntless myself.
At first, the only way I could deal with things was to channel my acting skills, get into character and become dauntless. Then one day, I woke up and realised I didn’t need to get into character any more, I already was dauntless and always had been.
This helped me put my fears behind me and start a new business – an acting school – with just £500. It also inspired the name of my current business – Dauntless PR. I started Dauntless PR, a PR agency which specialises in helping people build personal brands, because I wanted to create the kind of company I wished had existed when I started to build my own brand and become more visible.
Through Dauntless, I advise my clients to show up consistently as their true selves and share their own truths, which is exactly how I built my own personal brand. When I launched Dauntless PR, I knew I didn’t want to blend in with the norm. I wasn’t interested in safe, corporate messaging or playing the fake-perfect expert game. I wanted to work with other rebels, disruptors and badasses who wanted to be bold and authentic in their approach while creating a real positive impact in the world.
What core problem does your business solve, particularly for women or underserved communities—and how does your approach stand out in today’s competitive space?
Dauntless PR helps amplify important messages that people need to hear. We work with experts, coaches and disruptors who want to change the world for the better and need more people to know they exist and hear what they have to say.
The work we do at Dauntless shines a spotlight on amazing people and the work they do. Many of our clients are women who are doing their bit to help underserved communities. We help them make their voice louder so they can be heard all over the world and reach new audiences who need to hear what they have to say.
Our approach is different to many other PR companies – we don’t believe in sharing negative messages and only work with clients who want to make the world a better place. We don’t have to agree with everything our clients say but we do have to believe in them, their mission, their vision and their expertise.
We also never tell our clients to tone things down or adapt their approach, we want everyone we work with to show up as their authentic selves. We amplify who they really are in such a way that the media creates space for them.
What were some of the toughest obstacles you faced early in your journey as a woman entrepreneur, and how did you navigate through them?
As I mentioned earlier, I was tricked out of one of my businesses when I didn’t fully understand a contract I was signing. It would have been easy at that point to just give up and decide being an entrepreneur wasn’t for me. And believe me I was tempted at times to just give up my dreams and get a nice safe job working as a supermarket cashier or something similar.
In the end, I realised that while that decision might keep me safe, it would also be selfish. People needed my help and I needed to find the strength to push through and keep going. Reading the Divergent books was a life-changing time for me as they gave me exactly the message I needed to hear at the time. I knew I needed to become dauntless and run towards challenges instead of away from them.
I have three tattoos which are inspired by the Divergent trilogy and if I am ever feeling unsure, I look at them and they remind me I need to be dauntless, just like my business.
When the going gets tough, what keeps you grounded and motivated to keep pushing forward?
When things are really tough and I am wondering whether I can keep going, I stop and I lean into those emotions. I don’t try and push it away, I allow myself to fully feel the emotions and stay there for as long as is needed until the feelings become less intense.
When the intensity has dropped, I think about what the worst case scenario is and plan what I will do if it happens. That usually lessens the intensity and puts me in a better mindset so I can move on to fixing what is actually going on.
I start thinking of solutions and do some brainstorming and really focus on reminding myself why I started, what I am here to achieve and what the alternative is. I ask myself ‘If this became too hard, what is the alternative?’ I think of some other things I might do and every one of them will be something my whole body is saying no to and this gives me the motivation to do whatever it takes to make it work.
What daily habits or non-negotiable routines help you stay focused, creatively energized, and balanced as a founder?
I always used to say that I didn’t have a morning routine but I now do three things which really help me feel energized, focused and balanced. Every morning, I do Martin Sharp’s Sharp Fit for Life morning workouts at 6am and they get me really focused for the day – he is a ray of sunshine. I can wake up really grumpy and by the end of the 30-minute session, I am buzzing. I also do Christopher Richard’s guided meditation for abundance – I have found that to be really powerful. Once I have done those two things, I go for a long walk for about two hours. I give myself space and that is where a lot of my ideas come in. I don’t overstructure my days – sometimes I will stop and write content while I am out on my walk. The afternoons are more free-flowing but when I feel myself start to slump, I will go for a swim to get my energy levels back up.
What’s been the most effective growth lever for acquiring new clients or expanding your customer base?
It probably won’t surprise you to hear the founder of a PR agency say PR, but it absolutely is the most effective way I have found for sharing my messages, reaching new people and getting new clients to come and work with me.
One thing I have found with PR is that it doesn’t have to be business-focused to boost your business. I often find if I have been in the media sharing a personal story, I get a lot of people reaching out, following me on social media or wanting to discuss their own PR needs.
What branding or marketing decision had the biggest impact in elevating your business and building trust with your audience?
I made a conscious decision not to overpolish or overscript when it came to my marketing and it has worked wonders in building trust with my audience. I decided not to censor myself too much but to be real and raw and keep showing up with honesty. Any time I listened to other people tell me how I should be doing things and it led to being too careful with my wording or making sure my videos had all the bells and whistles, it was a mistake.
How do you personally define success—not just as a business owner, but as a woman living a purpose-driven life?
Being able to live life on my terms. I recently moved to Portugal and I have the freedom to enjoy my life here. I swim, I go for long walks, I spend time looking after my little boy and going on adventures. Being able to design my life so it works for me, in addition to making a positive impact with my business and helping others share their important messages and wisdom is the definition of success to me.
Can you share a mistake or misstep that taught you a lesson you still carry with you today?
The mistakes I have made have always been to ignore my own intuition and trust other people over myself. In the past, I have chosen to trust other people’s opinions over what I knew to be right because I viewed that person as an expert. Whenever this has happened and I ignored a feeling that it wasn’t right, it has been the wrong decision. In contrast, every time I have trusted my own intuition even though it seems to go against all logic, it has been the right decision. Now I trust my own instincts above all else and while I might listen to what other people say, I never let them drown out my own inner voice.
What’s your best advice for women just starting out—especially first-time entrepreneurs feeling overwhelmed or unsure of their next steps?
My best advice is to be authentic. Women sometimes think they need to pretend to be someone else to be successful – this isn’t the case at all. Don’t be afraid to show up as who you are – you don’t have to be liked by everyone. For your people, you will be enough.
Think about what you really want to achieve and how you can help others with your business. When you focus on the impact you can make rather than thinking solely about money, good things will happen.
How do you approach risk and innovation, especially when breaking new ground in a male-dominated or fast-changing industry?
I have always been someone who has run towards the things that scare me rather than away from them. Things are constantly changing and it is important to move with the times rather than trying to resist them.
For example, we are now having to adapt the way we work to suit a world where AI is an important tool. One of our aims now is for our clients and what they do to be recognised by generative AI engines like ChatGPT as well as search engines like Google. More and more people are getting their information from AI now rather than visiting websites and it is important to always keep tweaking your approach so it fits the world you are in.
If you lead a team, how do you foster a culture of trust, inclusivity, collaboration, and growth?
I’m a great believer in radical honesty and transparency and this applies to my team as well as my clients. I’d like to think I have created a culture of openness where my team members feel they can tell me if they have made a mistake or they need help or support.
As a leader, I value accountability but don’t believe in blame. We are all working together towards the same goals and it is important that we enjoy doing it. It’s taken a little while to get there but I have built a team where we all really enjoy working with each other.
Most days are a lot of fun and we make each other laugh and celebrate each other’s achievements.
What are the top 5 mindset shifts or personal practices that helped you overcome self-doubt and grow your confidence as a woman entrepreneur?
Whenever I experience doubts or I’m not sure whether to do something, I ask myself four questions – what’s the worst that can happen? If the worst happens, what will I do about it? What’s the best that can happen? And finally, is it worth it? If the answer to that final question is yes, then I take action straight away and run towards it before fear has a chance to catch up.
If I am not active for a couple of days, I really start to feel it in my mindset so I make exercise a priority. I love wakeboarding, it is such an adrenalin rush. If I have an afternoon slump, I go for a walk around the lake and often go for a swim in there. I also love combat, yoga and dancing.
I always start my day with exercise and guided meditation to make sure my mornings get off to a good start.
Immersing myself in nature is really important to me. I love wandering into the woods, preferably barefoot as it is really grounding.
I will only surround myself by people who lift me up and want me to succeed and I will always offer the same in return. I am not available for any kind of relationship whether that is personal or professional which is less than that in anyway.
If you could spark a global movement through your work, what would it be—and why is that mission meaningful to you?
The heart of Dauntless PR is visibility, authenticity and amplifying voices that need to be heard. I love shining a spotlight on the amazing things people are doing to make the world a better place. If I could spark a global movement, I’d love it to be one where people feel happy showing up as they are and sharing their messages with others.
When I was young, I was incredibly shy and often felt too anxious to speak at all so helping others to speak out and have their voices heard by millions all over the world is incredibly meaningful to me.
What’s a quote, philosophy, or guiding belief that shapes how you lead, create, and live every day?
The guiding philosophy I live my life by is to keep showing up fully as myself. And to show up every day, even when things are hard and I might not feel like it. Authenticity is extremely important to me and I keep things real and raw. Sometimes that might not be pretty but I share the whole journey, even the messy bits rather than a carefully curated highlights reel of my life and business.
Where can our audience connect with you, explore your work, or follow your entrepreneurial journey online?
You can find out more about me at Dauntless PR or by following me on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
