Created on accuracy and specialist-based understanding, Cristina’s company grew quickly. Within two years, it was providing translation services to virtually every section of two very large companies: Enron and Coastal Power. At the same time Enron collapsed, Coastal Power was taken over; all of a sudden, Cristina’s company had no clients.

“It was a very hard experience; it was something that taught me that you never give up, because there is always a way and a path to success if you keep working at it,” she reflects. In addition to sorting out the financial impact, she had to start from square one again, which required going out and knocking on doors.

“I had a lot of confidence in our services, I had a lot of confidence in what we could offer to clients in a combination of legal and oil and gas expertise so I knew there were clients out there,” Cristina says.

Her certainty and determination were rewarded with a contract to translate for Schlumberger, which had a large project in Mexico.

Hiring her first employee again and restarting her business was just as exciting as the first time, Cristina says positively. “It makes you feel that really there is nothing that is impossible in business as long as you work hard and you are committed to your clients.”

Today her company serves a broad spectrum of global clients including the legal, energy, healthcare and marketing industries. It has offices in Houston, Silicon Valley, Buenos Aires and London with specialist translators covering more than 130 languages.

Cristina’s career path combined two passions: the law and the English language. Thus she gained an MA in Legal Translation from the University of Salvador in Buenos Aires, followed by an Executive Management degree from Rice University.

Although the company now offers a diversified range of services, demonstrating an accurate understanding of complex legal documents was a key to winning initial clients, including one of the world’s largest law firms acting for Jose Cuervo in a case in Mexico. She explains, “Being able to provide high quality and very accurate translations in that case opened doors [for us] to other law firms, and from then on we became experts and we became known as the experts in high volume translations that require very high levels of accuracy.”

Those documents range from Supreme Court rulings, to patent applications, to legal opinions. In other industries it could be complex engineering, or IT documents.

Cristina has maintained a core team of translators for over 10 years and matches specialists to a client’s needs. She often travels to other countries to ensure there is a clear understanding of a client’s operation.

Cristina’s company gained WBE certification in 2004, and Cristina says the involvement with WBENC has been valuable in many ways; sometimes it even serves as a tiebreaker in winning a contract. She notes that there is also a tangible benefit from associating with other women who have built businesses. “You share ideas but you also get a lot of energy. Every time you attend one of the business expos for WBENC, I feel you come back with ideas that are refreshed with new energy and you feel that you are not alone in your leadership position.”

Like so many successful entrepreneurs, Cristina believes that a constant passion to grow a better company and to offer even better services is vital. “You cannot just have warm feelings about what you do. You have to be absolutely passionate and convinced that what you do is what you love.”

Read original post: https://www.wbenc.org/2013-wbe-stars-biographies/#didone