Faye Smith recommends Christina Trindade
Always the most optimistic and resourceful woman I know.
I have known Christina for ten years now... when I first came across her path, she helped me with my son's 5th birthday party bags when she was running an organic shop near me. Ever the entrepreneur, Christina was soon branching out: recipes, moves to open an onsite café, a range of her own delicious sauces, she was a huge role model. I thought she was Nigella mixed with Nigel Slater- but better! Then tragedy struck in a variety of ways including her husband betraying her, causing the collapse of her business and after recovering from that, her house burning to the ground. Pictured. Christina (left) with Tagrid Nfesi at the 1st International Souk Forum for women. Morocco.
Always the most optimistic and resourceful woman I know, Christina battled back, founding the Working Women website to motivate, inspire and network women around the UK and increasingly world-wide. It was followed by her brainwave of starting a social enterprise by and for women, the Entrepreneurs Ladder- she had a vision for a network of hands on help, support and advice from business "sisters" who had been there, fallen flat and got up again, or who were really good at SOMETHING we could learn from. Small groups, empowering and confidential. The kind of support christina had never had, growing up abused, neglected and alone in a large family, I remember her once telling me that lack of love had left her with an overwhelming hole in her heart so large that she felt incomplete for many years
When I finally started my marketing and training consultancy after a string of contract work in 2007, Christina was the first person I turned to. In the years since, we have helped each other through tragedy and triumph personally, professionally and spiritually. When my teenager is giving me grief, when my husband died recently, Christina was there.
I have known Christina answer the phone to women on the edge of throwing in the towel (and sometimes more), at 2am for a two hour counselling session, I have often got emails from her at 1 and 2am when she's putting another fascinating and useful newsletter together to encourage us, I have known her rewrite business plans, offer a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on to desperate women who feel they have no-one else who understands- all in her own time, often unpaid. She goes into schools to help kids develop fledgling businesses, we have run many a competition for young female students together to boost entrepreneurship and self esteem, all free. Now she is being called on to speak out on women's issues on a worldwide stage In Morocco, Portugal and beyond- and about time! No one I have heard of understands more about women in business than Christina. She is a walking encycopaedia on the subject.
She is loving, caring, generous, so hard working, pursues excellence in all she does and gives till it hurts.
Nearly every Monday we have a little routine: one of us will email the other and say "Happy Monday!" It reminds us we are supported, loved and can go into the week with a spring in our step and heads high.
Circumstances which would have crushed another person to incapacity or left them bitter and vengeful, Christina has overcome, living a life of grace. She has nearly finished writing a book about her life. I am encouraging her and will be first in the queue to get it signed when it becomes a word of mouth best seller! She is calling it, "Because I'm worthless", that's how she grew up, but it is not her future nor the future of any of the women she has helped over the years. There will be a very long queue of us. Christina is very much worth it and I am proud to have been able to nominate her today.
Faye Smith, founder of Keep your Fork Marketing and Training Consultancy.
Faye Smith
Keep your fork... there's more to come.
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