Elena Ledoux seems to have done it all, and successfully. Elena Ledoux is ethnically Korean; she immigrated from Uzbekistan to the United States in her early 20s where she studied law and received her degree. She was a practicing litigation lawyer in Hawaii for 11 years. Once she left law, she founded a cleaning company, Superbmaids, in Las Vegas, and is also the COO of Boss Security Screens.
In 2019, Elena Ledoux was named the SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year in Nevada and Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners for Southern Nevada for turning Superbmaids from a start-up to a million-dollar company in a short amount of time. Superbmaids in Las Vegas has nearly 5,000 clients.
Through Boss Security Screens, Elena Ledoux has also made it her mission to keep people safe in their homes and offices. The company creates heavy-duty stainless steel security screens which act as a property crime deterrent and the first line of defense against intruders. The screens are installed on the outside of windows and doors, and Boss Security Screens designs were vetted by law enforcement experts for quality control and safety standards.
I believe that entrepreneurship is one of the best things you can do for yourself, for developing yourself as a person realizing your full potential. And culturally, we as women, especially Asian women, are placed in this position of being almost discouraged to take a chance, take a risk.
We have a very specific role that was supposed to be a supportive, supporting role, not the main character: very docile. And I think this is just wrong. That’s a waste of our potential. So go for it.
— Elena Ledoux
Watch her interview with The Proud Asian here.
Crystal Bui:
Tell me a little bit about your childhood. Where did you grow up? What’s your ethnicity?
Elena Ledoux:
I have a little bit of a strange background. Ethnically, I’m Korean. But I was born in the former Soviet Union before it all fell apart. And I moved to the U.S. when I was 21.
Crystal:
What prompted your move to America?
Elena:
I always felt like I was born in the wrong place. There are not a lot of opportunities for women, especially minority women [in the former Soviet Union]. There was a very, very specific role that was dedicated to you. And that was very suffocating. The United States is a much better environment for realizing your potential as a person.
Crystal:
When you came over to America, what did you pursue?
Elena:
I went to law school. And afterward, I practice law for 11 years in litigation.
Crystal:
What was that like? Traditionally, especially in litigation, it’s very male-dominated, white, male-dominated, and older, male-dominated. What was it like for you to be in that space? What was the culture like, and then how did you navigate that?
Elena:
In the beginning, it was a little bit intimidating, because I was a lot of times the youngest, the strangest person in the room. And a lot of times that was underestimated, which turned out to be actually an advantage, because litigation is about battling. So if you believe that your opponent is weaker than you are, or less capable than you are, then you’re not going to pay as much attention and you’re gonna lose your case.
Crystal:
Did you feel like when people looked at you, you were younger, you’re a woman, you’re Asian, people just thought they would beat you right away? So they didn’t have to prepare?
Elena:
Yes, they were a lot more relaxed about it. They paid more attention to what I was wearing to my shoes, or how I carry myself, as [opposed] to what I’m going to do to their clients in that case. And so after the first case [that I won] everything shifted into more professional, and then [them] paying attention.
Crystal:
So you probably surprise them. And I imagine then you started intimidating some of these men and realizing that you were a true competitor.
Elena:
In the beginning, I was treated very dismissively. And even in writings and legal writing, I was referred to as “that woman,” or, “She just should go to wherever she’s from, that’s how they do things.” Similar things, disparaging things like that, but it never affected me. But you know, as soon as I beat them, then all of a sudden, I was “Ms. Ledoux.”
Crystal:
After you did litigation, what did you do next?
Elena:
I actually took a couple of years off. And I took a sabbatical with my family in Europe. We brought two of our kids and my parents, and we lived in France, Spain, and Ireland; it was fantastic. So I was a mom and played the role of a mom for a couple of years.
Crystal:
After you were able to spend time with your family, how did you get into the business?
Elena:
My best childhood friend from Uzbekistan actually won the Green Card Lottery. She was coming to the U.S. with her family. And because she didn’t speak any English, and she didn’t drive a car, she didn’t have any money. We started a cleaning company just so we can make some money to pay her bills.
Crystal:
[The original goal was $2,000 a month] So after that, did your company grow? Did you achieve what you wanted to?
Elena:
Definitely, made $2,000, and then some. It grew really, really well. And it was voted best of Las Vegas within the first year of business by the readers of Las Vegas Review-Journal. And we grew tremendously since then. We won a bunch of awards, including SBA’s Small Business of the Year by the state of Nevada.
Crystal:
Wow. then so There was some sort of ceremony you were able to go to in DC talk to me about what that was.
Elena:
Yes, this was a surreal, incredible experience. Every winner from every state gets invited to DC. And it was this really beautiful space that usually hosts ambassadors and dignitaries. And so here, were me and my partner and our kids. We kept looking at each other. And there are all these other very esteemed entrepreneurs, very titled entrepreneurs from all over the country. It was an incredible experience.
Crystal
Was this just women or men and women?
Elena:
Men and women, of course, because it’s a business world, the business field. There are a lot more men, of course. A lot of companies were larger and more established, or in business for decades, kind of those behemoths, even though it’s called “small business” which was anything under 500 employees.
Crystal:
Talk to me about finances.
Elena:
By the second year in business, were grossing over a million dollars a year.
Crystal:
What was that like? What do you feel set your company apart? I imagine the cleaning industry or even the hospitality industry, it’s so competitive, right? There are so many people saturated in that field. So how did you build it into a million-dollar company? And why do you think you were able to do that?
Elena:
As women, I believe, and especially as immigrants, we are more resilient. I feel like women are generally more resilient, and more adaptable. And that’s what it takes to succeed in business. And this business is a very tough business; it’s fiercely competitive.
Crystal:
So you’re also operating other businesses right now, as an entrepreneur? Tell me a little bit more about some of your other endeavors.
Elena:
I’m the Chief Operating Officer of Boss Security Screens. We protect people in their own homes, by preventing burglars and all the bad guys from coming into your home. We are currently in three states and expanding a few more. And then we have American Security Screens, which we just started. This is going to be licensing arm. We’re going to open our representations all over the United States. I’m very excited about that.
Crystal:
What is Boss Security Screens, and how does it keep homeowners secure?
Elena:
Sure, if you can imagine, a regular bug screen, but it’s made out of ultra-tough materials, stainless steel and aluminum, aircraft-grade aluminum that’s encasing it. And it gets bolted into the frame, the actual structure of your home, outside of every window and then outside of the door. Of course, you can release it easily from the inside, but from the outside, you cannot get through.
Crystal:
So it’s like normal homes have that like mesh screen? And then instead of the mesh screen that is easy for people to cut through and break into your product is different. And you said it was steel, or how is it much tougher than what people have?
Elena:
It’s actually a mesh, but it’s woven out of stainless steel wire. And it’s quite thick. It allows pretty good visibility still, so it’s not like ugly bars or something, or shatters or something like that. It allows airflow, but it prevents all the bad stuff from coming in, whether it’s burglars or bears, or bugs. It deflects some of the sunshine as well. So it’s quite a useful product. It’s been very, very popular.
Crystal:
So that means you don’t have to use as much AC if it’s keeping your home protected? My last question is, what do you want to tell women, Asian women, because entrepreneurs are so dominated right now, by men?
Elena:
If you’re a woman, and you are considering becoming an entrepreneur, just give it a try. Because a lot of times we as women suffer from imposter syndrome, and a lot of men do too. But I believe that women are specifically specially afflicted by that.
And I believe that entrepreneurship is one of the best things you can do for yourself, for developing yourself as a person realizing your full potential. And culturally, we as women, especially Asian women, are placed in this position of being almost discouraged to take a chance, take a risk.
We have a very specific role that was supposed to be a supportive, supporting role, not the main character: very docile. And I think this is just wrong. That’s a waste of our potential. So go for it.
