Christina Vuleta is a values-driven leader with a history of transforming brands and bringing them to life through content, community and partnerships. She has demonstrated success driving growth across the brand life cycle: from innovation to brand activation. She is currently Chief Growth Officer at MindALT, a soon to launch mood-enhancing deodorant.

She also runs Break The Future, a consultancy that positions startups and female founders for growth.

Prior to Break The Future, Christina re-launched ForbesWomen as a business-first platform for entrepreneurial and millennial-minded women on the rise. She oversaw all editorial and strategic direction for the channel with the mission to help every woman take her next step forward, creating growth of 35% YOY.

Prior to working in the media industry, she built a career as a strategic leader across multiple industries (advertising, innovation, research) and sectors (consumer packaged goods, beauty, wellness, luxury). Along the way, she created a few side-hustles: 40:20 Vision, an editorial platform to facilitate wisdom exchange between generations, 7x7 Mentoring Salons, a live mentoring forum to give rising entrepreneurs an advisory panel and 40 Women to Watch Over 40, a community for women disrupting and innovating after age 40.

Leadership Values

Collaboration
Good ideas can come from anywhere
Trust and transparency

LinkedIn

What are the key milestones on your path to leadership?

I started my career working as a brand strategist in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi and KBP and then at trends and innovation consultancies like Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve and The Futures Company.

Then one day while having brunch with some friends I got the idea for 40:20 Vision an ambassador programme that provides perspectives from 40-something women to 20-something women on what they wish they knew when they were starting out.  As we were waiting for our table, we got to chatting with these young women who were new to New York. They began asking us questions like, ‘Where do we go to meet cute guys?’ and ‘Can you really be happy working and have kids?’ All the same questions we were asking at that age! And then there were the questions we didn’t ask about getting raises and gender disparities at work. So I thought, ‘I wish I could just bottle it up and give it to them.’  So that’s just what I did in the hope that 20 years from now women entering the workforce will be asking different questions. My group of friends was part of the first generation of women to have more choices, thanks to the women who went before us.  I wanted to offer more diverse perspectives on the other side of those choices. So I ended up quitting my job to start a 40:20 Vision as a content platform to share advice between generations.

As part of 40:20 Vision, I created 7×7 Mentoring Salons. a small group experience that brings together seven mentors and seven mentees to provide actionable advice in a collaborative, non-judgmental setting.  Soon after I followed these two initiatives with the ‘Forty Women to Watch Over 40’ list which celebrates women who are upending the perception that 40 is past your prime. 

I since had an opportunity to rebrand the women’s channel at Forbes as VP of their Digital Network. They had a women’s channel, an entrepreneur channel, a leadership channel, a tech channel and they wanted to reinvigorate the women’s channel. When I went in there the first question I asked was, ‘why do you have a separate women’s channel?’ it doesn’t fit, we should make it a horizontal where women are recognised for their expertise, not for their gender. I was at Forbes for three years and grew the platform from 20 contributors to 200 contributors. achieved 30% YOY growth and grew a genuine community around it.

At that time I also got involved in the startup world and soon understood just how male-dominated it is. Less than 2% of VC funding goes to women and less than 0.2% goes to women of colour and it helped me truly understand how much has to change.

In the meantime, my ex-husband was going through a challenging time. Having battled a cancer scare he was pivoting his own career, building a startup focused on natural better for you products and ritual. It’s a natural deodorant formulated with essential oils that are proven to have positive effects on your mood state while stopping odor - so more energy and less anxiety for example. It actually works with your nervous system to reactivate across the day  when you need it most.

I saw how much this business idea had going for it, and experienced first hand how  it worked, so when he asked me to come on as a co-founder, I said yes... I had also just told him that they needed a woman on their team, so I thought, why not me?  I’m now Chief Growth Officer and we are launching later this summer.  The concept is about turning your everyday habits into self-care rituals. We’ll be 50% commerce and 50% content. We realise that the ‘hustle or bust’ mindset is broken. It’s time to rethink the rhythm of our days. We want to inspire ways to do that through stories and through our product. It’s called MIND∆LT.

What are the key challenges you have faced as a leader?

When I look back, it’s strange how at the time I thought it was fine, but now I see that there were situations where I didn’t stand up for myself.  Little things and big things. For example, working at an agency with a lot of male clients, my management would say to me, “Christina, you’re our secret weapon.” Implying well, yes, you’re smart, but you’re also window dressing. Those micro-suggestions add up.

Some of the bigger challenges for me were around realizing that you need to be your own advocate. It’s not about doing a good job and thinking someone will recognize that. It’s about recognizing the value you add.  That means figuring out a way to ask for the money you deserve and forging through. It’s definitely scary when you are just starting out, whether in your first job or when you go to work for yourself.

I always say, ‘No one ever gets fired for asking for a raise.’ The worst that can happen is they say no and tell you how to get there. You are hardly unambitious for asking! It’s about keeping an open dialogue going about the value you are bringing to the table.

You have to define your worth. I’ve had consulting gigs where I was screwed out of money and realised, ‘I’ll never work for them again’. And there are times I’ve pushed myself to ask for more than I was comfortable saying out loud (credit to Cindy Gallop for this). Sometimes it doesn’t always work but you have to realize maybe that wasn’t the right job after all. 

We hear the theory that men think they are perfect for a job if they meet 3 of the 10 criteria, yet women feel they have to check all the boxes before they walk in the door.  I’d urge you to be more creative. It works both ways.  Don’t take a job description literally. I was hired for a job that when I saw the requirements I thought, ‘I don’t have any of those’. But then I thought, ‘wait a minute. Yes, I do.’ Trends and journalism are very similar and I am totally qualified.


Describe your leadership style / what are your core values as a leader?

Collaboration. I am all about jumping in to solve problems together. It’s not about whether you’re older or younger, we all have different things to bring to the table. I brought that with me from 40:20. I encourage the idea that everyone has something to contribute. Even if it’s the first day of your first job. 

I remember when I was new at one job, other managers questioned me when I allowed my junior reports to attend ideation sessions. The norm was to have them at their desk all day focused on keeping the engine running and focusing on more functional tasks.  My perspective was, of course, they’re accountable to get their work done, but if they can find a way to fit in brainstorming new ideas, I’d value that. And it helped them feel empowered. So it’s about finding those win-wins. I think there’s something to learn from everyone.

I also believe it’s important to eliminate the uncertainty. I don’t want my team to feel worried about their value or the values of the company. I want people to come talk to me about their concerns.

And as a leader, you need to stand up for people on your team too. There is a lot of bias in the workplace and sometimes you hear things like “That person is the squeaky wheel. You need to speak up and manage that, They’re not a squeaky wheel, they’re just pointing out a problem that we need to address. It’s not about having a corporate video that says you're diverse. It’s about practising equity day-to-day.

What advice do you have for women who are trying to establish themselves as leaders?

It depends on what they’re trying to do. If they’re trying to rise the corporate ladder, there are certain things you need to do. If you want to be on the CEO path, for example, then you need to get cross-functional experience. I did an interview with Egon Zehnder on the steps you need to take for the role you want to have; a big part of that is to surround yourself with both female and male mentors.  I don’t subscribe to the meme that women don’t need mentors they need sponsors. I think you need both. Mentors provide more emotional support and sponsors provide accountability.

You also need to network for the job you want, not just the job you have. Because once you make it to the table, it can be a lonely place.

The mentoring salons I started with 4020 Vision involved curating an advisory board of seven mentors for seven up and coming female founders or professionals. The goal was to provide actionable advice. Every “mentee” had to come with one question about something holding them back from taking their next step forward. But I soon realized the need wasn’t just for rising professionals. There was an appetite for that for C-level mastermind type advice. Once you’ve arrived at a certain level, the pace of decision-making and skyrockets and there’s a pressure to ‘know it all.”

The phrase the buck stops here takes on personal meaning as you feel the responsibility for not only the health of the company but also the welfare of its employees.  Think about how that impacts young startup founder slash CEOs. They’re 20-something years old and they’re trying to pretend they know everything! They need to make decisions fast, and things are changing so fast. So it’s about building your own advisory panel in away. We all need that. No matter what your age.

I think you need both male and female mentors and networks. But there’s something to having a women-only support group too. In many ways, it’s still a man’s world. It helps to know you’re not alone in thinking something is a bit off or worse, and women-focused communities give you a place to be vulnerable, which is important.

In some research I did for a consulting project on diversifying finance, I observed a trend that women’s networks tended to be focused on being safe spaces to talk, while men’s networks tend to be more action-oriented.

This may be controversial but I have found that male networks say, “Oh I got the guy for that, let’s hire him” or “Write the check to invest in this company.  Women encourage each other to ask for more money.  Which is helpful, but maybe it’s more helpful to build our own networks. It shouldn't always be “I got a guy for that.” I wish it was, “I got a woman for that.”

But of course,  the problem is that it’s harder for women to do that thanks to the systemic impact of centuries-old patriarchy. Many women are just trying to survive given their unequal shot at financial security. And they are more likely to already be doing a larger share of the work at home so they don't have time.

 
What are you hopeful about in terms of female leadership?

It’s tough. I am hopeful about the startup area. The more female founders we have, the more female-friendly organisations are built.  While still vastly underrepresented, a lot of women have built companies that are growing quickly and what I am excited about is that they have the opportunity to create equity from day one.  Whereas established companies are dealing with reversing culture. 

For example, Amy Nelson founded The Riveter, a  membership network of community, content, resources and co-working spaces, built by women for everyone. Her whole mission is about creating the future of work, it’s not about men or women, we all need to participate in the change.  It’s got to be more than talk. Just look at some of the big tech companies out there who made diversity pledges eight years ago and nothing has changed.

I once interviewed Ursula Burns, the former chairwoman of Xerox, about women on boards, and I asked “ I don't understand, you’d think that men would respond to numbers. The more diverse boards you have, the more money you make.”  And she said that would never work because any successful white male can look around and find plenty of examples of other all whiteboards who are doing just fine. So, therefore it must be ok. It’s difficult to dismantle pattern recognition.

She believed that change will only happen when the next time you have an opening on your board, you put a woman on it. Put a person of colour on it. A lot of people see it as tokenism. But if there are two equally qualified people, then always hire the woman. I’m committed to making our hires more diverse. That’s something I have the power to do.

One of the companies I consulted for recently, Left Tackle Capital, is focused on creating a more diverse pool of fund managers – the people who are funding the founders. A lot of organizations are working on fixing the inequity by advocating for investing in more female and people of colour founders, but they’re saying, ‘let’s go up the pipeline.’ They’re creating an accelerator for women and people of colour fund managers and connecting them with a network of traditional investors. They’re bridging that gap because they see it as the future of our economy. So if you’re getting it right, you're not investing in these people because you’re doing a ‘good thing’, you’re doing it because it’s the smart thing. You leverage skills already there and leverage skills that aren’t typically recognised but perhaps should be.  It’s about putting your money into it to change the system.


What unique perspective do women bring to the innovation industry?

A different understanding of the problems that need solving! And as we have seen with Covid, more empathy. I loved an episode of Shark Tank that I saw recently. A woman had an invention to make putting on duvet covers easier. Okay so maybe that is a niche problem, but what was so interesting is that the male investors were dismissive of the problem. Is it really that hard? While the female shark immediately explained what a pain in the $ss it is to put on a duvet. It just highlighted that women do the more of the housework and know more of the issues.

How have you had to juggle personal and professional priorities?

Do what you love and it all flows together. I know that sounds idealistic. But when I’m excited about my work I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and dig in. I don’t wake up anxious about what lies ahead or bored by the day’s potential. When work is something you care about … you get energized talking about it even outside of the workplace. You don’t have to come home and decompress from it or escape it. Instead of ‘work hard, play hard’ it’s work as play!