Cluster Director of Marketing CRISTALYN PASTRANA steps outside the norm and talks about the benefit of uplifting others to live their lives to its fullest potential.
As the Cluster Director of Marketing for Sheraton Bahrain Hotel, Le Méridien and The Westin City Centre Bahrain you are able to empower so many females throughout the hotel industry. Tell us why this is so important to you and your role.
Women’s career journeys are always tough and they need a lot of hard work, I’m not saying that men don’t work hard nor struggle, but the burden for women especially those who have a family and have children is strenuous. Empowering women at work helps us feel strong and encourages us to do everything to succeed. It fuels us every day to do better and persevere, so It’s really important that we show sympathy and we empower women in the workforce.
We are all for lifting other women up and fixing each other’s crowns, how do you embrace this mantra?
I love sharing ideas and knowledge, I have a few treasured friends that I can gladly sit with all day and we talk tirelessly about what we can do together and learn from each other’s experiences. I think we all need to find our perfect group of women so that we can fix other’s crowns.
Tell us what female empowerment means to you.
Female empowerment means giving females the power to speak, to decide, to lead and reach her full potential.
Every woman deserves to be spotlighted for greatness, name someone who has impacted your approach to life, and strengthened your position as a strong female in Bahrain. What did they do to help you through your personal journey?
The credit will always goes to my mother, I wouldn’t have the knowledge, the brave heart and especially the patience if I was not taught by my mother at an early age. Being the eldest I was trained to take responsibility of taking care of my siblings especially when my parents were at work. At a young age, I learned to take responsibility of people around me and to take responsibility of my actions.
“I think we all need to find our perfect group of women so that we can fix other’s crowns.”
Knowledge is power. What challenge have you overcome as a female and how did this mould your approach to everyday life?
It’s the fear of what people thought of me that was probably the biggest challenge that I had to overcome as I grew older. In this world that we live in there will always be people who will criticise you but instead of taking it personally we have to learn from it. We should always think of our goals and not worry about what others think especially if we’re not doing any harm to others. Love yourself for who you are.
@cris_hotelier