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Rúna Magnúsdóttir a.k.a. Runa Magnus (born April 20th, 1961) (given name Guðrún Magnúsdóttir) is a transformational thought-leader, an entrepreneur, author, motivational personal branding speaker and seminar leader, born and raised in Iceland. She is the author of the books Branding Your X-Factor, How the Secret to Your Success is Already Right In front of Your…  and co-author of the book The Story of Boxes, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Early Life and education
Rúna was born in Reykjavik, Iceland on April 20th 1961. The middle child of her parents Magnus Erlendsson a managing director and Ingibjörg Bergsveinsdottir entrepreneur and former Editor in Chief of Husfreyjan, the official housewife magazine in Iceland. Runa grew up with her two siblings in the town of Seltjarnarnes, Iceland, attended her local schools Myrarhusaskoli and Valhusaskoli and later Verslunarskoli Islands (The commercial college of Iceland). In her teenage years she lived in Neenah, Wisconsin as an AFS (American Field Service) foreign exchange student and  graduated from the Neil Armstrong High-School, Neenah,  in 1979. Later in life she studied technical drawing and interior design, marketing, project management and leadership methodology coaching.

Career
Runa began her career in 1980 working for the Icelandic Ministry of Culture and Education. Early in her ministerial career, she was appointed the Ministers PA giving her great insights into  the political landscape and culture in Iceland. The Minister of Culture and Education at that time, Mrs. Ragnhildur Helgadottir was the first female Minister to hold that position in Iceland. One of Runa’s responsibilities as the Ministers PA was to modernise and computerise the ministry offices in the early days of personal computers. That work lead her into working as the senior training manager for WANG computers in Iceland on behalf of Heimilistæki corporation. In 1988 Runa moved her career from the corporate computer world to working in her family wholesale business, Bergis Ltd. A wholesale company originally founded by her mother and role-model, Ingibjorg and later bought by Runa from her parents. As a wholesaler Runa was responsible for bringing  and consolidating a solid market share for several international brands in the Icelandic market such as Melka Men’s Wear, Tenson Outdoor Wear, Bröste Interior Design giftware, just to mention a few. In 2006 Runa sold her wholesale business and once again transformed her career from being a wholesaler to an international personal branding coach and consultant.

Runa founded Connected Women, a global internet platform for women entrepreneurs in 2007 that quickly gathered a following and membership in the thousands in over 75 countries around the globe. In 2010 she co founded BRANDit, a personal and small business branding program, with her business partner Bjarney Ludviksdottir. In 2015 she partnered with; Dr. Andrea Pennington, Bjarney Ludviksdottir and Thoranna Jonsdottir and  together they created the branding boutique agency Make Your Mark Global LLC. An branding and media agency focusing on supporting authors, speaker, coaches and seminar leaders who are ready to take their brand to the international market.

In 2017 Runa founded The Change Makers a unique group of transformational leaders dedicated to helping humans to become the change they want to see in their world.

Rúna is a highly respected and sought after international speaker,  personal consultant and mentor for organisational and world leaders seeking to empower their teams, helping them to become more focused and productive, bringing more inspiration and joy into their work life and creating the important emotional connection between their role and career goals.

BRANDING YOUR X-FACTOR
Main article: Branding Your X-Factor

Runa wrote and published her book Branding Your X-Factor in 2014. According to Huffington Post, review: ''“Branding Your X Factor will be a staple for business owners along with books such as, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. For any business owner or aspiring entrepreneur, Branding Your X Factor is a remarkable gift.”  ''

The Story of Boxes, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Main article: The Story of Boxes

In 2018, Runa co-authored the book with Nicholas Haines the co-creator of the #NoMoreBoxes Movement and CEO of Five Institute in the UK. The book shines a light on our mental habit of thinking in “boxes” – the authors’ lucid metaphor for the generalisations, classifications, and stereotypes that shape our thoughts and, ultimately, our lives.

Public Influence
Rúna played a leading role in Iceland’s National Assembly of 2009  where the nation’s leaders collectively worked together to reinvigorate the country following their economic crash This National Assembly, was a non-political assembly brought on by a grass-roots movement of people from all walks of life, after the Economic crash of 2008. The Assembly´s mission was to dig deep into the nation's psyche in the wake of the ‘08 crisis and reinvent and invigorate the core values and future vision of the Icelandic nation and so doing, transformed Iceland’s economy by branding their uniqueness, or their X-factor, as Rúna calls it.

Seeing first hand the immediate benefit and long-term results of a whole nation working collectively to discover who they authentically are, the outcome of this unique assembly became one of the cornerstones of her own successful business branding process.

She is a passionate advocate for gender diversity in the world and serves on various global advisory boards such as Enterprising Women Magazine, Leadership 21 Conversations with Men. She is the global ambassador for IWIB (International Women in Business) and the former vice-president of FKA Iceland (The Icelandic Association of Women Business Leaders)

Runa is one of the founding members of ATL-Europe (Association of Transformational Leaders in Europe) originally the European division of TLC (Transformational Leadership Council) founded by Jack Canfield in 2004.

In 2017 Runa co-founded The NETWORK for Transformational Leaders; “Space for transformational leaders to come together to experience connection, learning and growth in order to enhance our effectiveness, contribution and kinship in the world”

In 2018 Rúna co-founded the #NoMoreBoxes Awareness Movement with her co-author of the book The Story of Boxes, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Published 11.11.18). The purpose of the #NoMoreBoxes Movement is to raise awareness towards the division and isolation the behaviour to place ourselves and others into invisible boxes, such as; ‘ women are this...men are that’ or ‘vegetarians are this… meat eaters are that’ Christians are this… Muslims are that’ etc. Their transformational products #NoMoreBoxes Breakfast Clubs and Breakthrough Events are a unique safe space for people to come together to unlock their boxes.

Personal life
Runa married in 1984 and had two children and one step-daughter before she divorced in 2000. Since 2004 she has been sharing her life with her life-and-business partner, Olafur J. Straumland.

Awards and recognitions

2019 - The Network for Transformational Leaders - Leadership in the World 2019 Awards for her work creating and building up the #NoMoreBoxes Movement.

2013 – European Association of Soroptimists  – “Discover Your X-Factor leadership program” selected as Best Practice Leadership Project 2013

2011 – EUWIIN Award - Category: Capacity Building for BRANDit, the Personal Branding Program for the established business owner.

2010 – Forbes.com – TOP 20 business women to follow on Twitter.

2009-  Recognised as one of 100 leading women in the world making a difference

Received the TIAW “World of Difference 100 Awards” in Toronto Canada.

2007 Received EU WIIN Special RECOGNITION AWARD in Berlin, Germany 2007