Bio for Christina Stathopoulos
Christina Stathopoulos is an International Coaching Speaker, Professional Certified Coach (International Coach Federation-credentialed) and an Accomplishment Coaching Certified Coach. She holds degrees with high honors in Chemistry and English from Mount Holyoke College.
In her business, Hear Her Roar, Christina specializes in working with millennial women who have taken on a new leadership role. In addition to her private practice, she serves the next generation of coaches and leaders as a Leader in Training of Accomplishment Coaching’s Coach & Leadership Training Program.
When she is not talking about coaching or leadership, you can find her brewing beer, being queer, sneaking more plants into her office, eating delicious meals with her husband, crying over cute dogs on Instagram, or setting a few witchy intentions.
Episode highlight
As the daughter of Greek immigrants, Christina Stathopoulos grew up with strong ideals of family, and brings that sense of oneness into her work today. Listen in on how she sprinkles her work with love, consideration and a little touch of fairy dust.
Links
- Email: christina@hearherroar.net
- Website: www.hearherroar.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearxtinaroar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hearherroarcoach/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cstat/
Quotes
- “I support women in taking up space to fully express all of who they are and really amplify their voices so that the changes that they see in the make or the contribution that they want to bring to the organizations that they work for, the businesses that they create, have the maximum impact.”
- “What we see is what we internalize as children.”
- “People are worthy of respect… the way that you interact with people is in a respectful manner… you can’t have a sustainable business if your customers don’t feel respected by you.”
- “Whether it’s in the arts like learning how to play an instrument or learning how to sing or in athletics like having a sports coach… What I find all of those modalities have in common is that they are just means of people learning how to express what is meaningful to them and express themselves.”
- “To me, you cannot be Greek without having a core value of creating family.”
- “Often times what I find is that there still exists a lot of groups that run hierarchically where people are still being told what to do or how to think or what to believe in and it’s not very connected… [The] style of leadership I believe… the world needs right now which is one that is… far more compassionate, more in flow, more willing to dance in the moment and be with what’s actually there and always willing to invite in other people’s takes, perspectives, intuitions, contributions, all the above.”
- “No one’s going to hand me a golden ticket to go out there and be a leader and have an impact and change things for people, I have to just go and do it.”
- “As the Greek say, everything in moderation. The collective is valuable, the individual is valuable, but you need to actually stand on the scale and balance the value of them both. Once you have more of one than the other, you’re gong to lose something.”
- “I think the first job of a coach is to not assume that you know what your clients need.”
- “[Coaching] becomes this fully fledged transformative experience of getting you to what you want but also have you transform along the way.”
Takeaways
Childhood incidents:
Christina’s childhood was spent in her maternal grandfather’s hot dog truck, and ‘hot dog’ were the first English words she ever spoke! Though she learnt a “disciplined, strong, tenacious, work ethic” from all her hardworking family members, she learnt how to be positive from him.
When Christina was 14 years old, she took piano lessons from Irene, a Snow White-esque graceful person with a garden studio and fauna for companions. She helped Christina overcome her negative self talk by celebrating the small wins.
Groups you were born into and belonged to:
Christina’s father immigrated to the USA from Greece as a young boy, and her mother is a first generation Greek-American. The Greek family-oriented influence shows up in her leadership as a desire to connect with people and “to really feel that sense of partnership and relationship with them and to care about their own visions and goals as much as I care about my visions and goals.”
Even though Christina was raised in a Greek Orthodox Christian family, she did not feel one with the faith because it wasn’t explained to her. At university, she began to explore what was important to her and found a community of students who tapped into a belief system around spirit. She is now part of a women’s group which helps her hone her compassionate non-hierarchical leadership style.
When Christina left university, she was looking for someone who could provide the same empowerment, encouragement and mentorship as the faculty had. She hoped that person would be the Greek-American business owner who offered her a job, but she was ridiculed. She decided to be a nurturing mentor to others and began producing events which led her to coaching.
Temperament and personality influences
As a child, Christina was convinced she was an “other-worldly magical creature”, and describes herself as being full of pure whimsy, joy, playfulness and a curious imagination. She moulded herself to become a disciplined, hardworking, focused, diligent and tenacious adult.
A time I became aware that my way of doing things was cultural and specific to my cultural experience
Christina notices that it is part of the Greek culture to care about others, to “value the community as… something equally… important as the individual.” However, American culture is so individualistic that it has led her to question the place of community within this culture.
Advice to an employer to work with me
Christina offers group and individual coaching programs. She likes to understand why a client is approaching her for coaching first before she can recommend the right program to them. While group programs are the perfect fit for someone desiring community, growth, development and shared learning, individual programs are for those seeking exponential self-development.
More great insights from our guest!
Reach out to Christina for group or individual coaching, or to find out more about leadership and her work.
Tagline
Hear Her Roar: A Greek American teaches us “the value of balancing being a fully expressed individual that can own their voice and still doing so in a way that is thoughtful too and in service of their community”
Extro
Christina Stathopoulos was born into a large extended Greek family and grew up interacting regularly with all her relatives. She learned hard work and business acumen from her grandfather’s hot dog truck and the magic of the arts from her piano teacher. As an adult seeking the Greek family experience and longing for solidarity and support, Christina sought employment with a Greek-American woman in a business experience that did not go well. She learned form this to create her own extended support network, using her voice to inspire and guide other women in their business journeys.
