When I was 28 years old,
I was working in Silicon Valley and my boss,
(Hi Arturo! 
)
Sent me to Chile to be in charge of sales for Small and Medium Enterprises.
When I got there I met my team.
All Men. All Engineers. All older than me.
And one of them had lobbied for my job.
My quota, unlike my market, was neither small nor medium.
It felt gigantic.
And I was 100% out of my comfort zone.
I had great ideas and strategies,
I developed new marketing structures,
Still, I barely hit quota.
You see.
I was taking actions,
But I had no confidence to show up powerfully.
I was doing “the things”
But I was doubting myself,
And wondering when they would figure out that I was a fraud.
A restructuring came, as they often did,
And I eventually left the company to a start-up.
Where once again, I had a big job with a big salary …
And where once again I felt like they made a mistake.
“If they only knew who I really was, they wouldn’t have hired me.”
“I look good on paper, but really, I don’t know what the heck I am doing.”
“I’m a con artist”
That was just the tip of the iceberg of how I thought about myself.
But I kept getting recruited by tech start-ups,
Each time with more responsibility, and more money.
And each time with a bigger fear that I would be found out.
Here’s the truth though.
My employers weren’t stupid.
They saw in me, what I couldn’t see for myself.
I did “the things” and I did get results.
But if they weren’t 150% above the expectations,
I felt like I had failed.
I left the corporate world in 2000.
And since then, I’ve done all sorts of different things.
From starting non-profits, to becoming a preschool teacher,
To an entrepreneur for the last 8 years.
I had to learn, sometimes the hard way,
That I am indeed worthy.
That I am indeed able to show up to the challenges in front of me.
That life, unlike the triathlons I participated in, was not a race.
I look at that 28-year-old Cristina with compassion.
She had the skills but she didn’t have the backbone to sustain them.
So that is what I do now.
I help you find your backbone – your confidence.
So that you align who you are with what you do.
And don’t walk around your career wondering when you will be found out.
Whether that is speaking to your team,
Or helping you personally,
This 51-year-old Cristina is older, wiser, and has been through the wringer.
To be here.
Present.
Confident.
And ready to serve you.
Image: A young Cristina, turning 28 at the start of her Chile journey