Tania Luna: How a Penny Made me Feel Like a Millionaire

As a young child, Tania Luna left her home in post-Chernobyl Ukraine to take asylum in the US. And one day, on the floor of the New York homeless shelter where she and her family lived, she found a penny. She has never again felt so rich. A meditation on the bittersweet joys of childhood and how to hold them in mind.

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ABOUT Tania Luna

“Tania Luna has an unusual title, she calls herself a “Surprisologist.” The co-founder and CEO of Surprise Industries, Tania thinks deeply about how to delight, and how to help individuals and teams thrive in uncertain circumstances and develop the bonds needed to get through them.

When she was invited to take part in TED’s Worldwide Talent Search in 2012, she expected to give a talk about surprise and the importance of not being attached to outcomes. However, she was inspired to tell a more personal story.

One many of her closest friends didn’t know about her Ukrainian family getting asylum in the United States when she was 6 years old and arriving in New York with virtually nothing. She sees her work as connected to her upbringing in which a piece of Bazooka bubble gum, a thrown-out toy or a mis-delivered pizza was magical because it gave her an appreciation for the joy of little surprises.”

The VIDEO