Background & Experience

My Story…

I am Cristina and I am the principal coach and lead consultant at Touchstones. I love what happens when we give ourselves permission to challenge things outside of our comfort zone and old ways of thinking.

I have worked the past 15 yeas as a leader, coach, and trainer. In this time, I’ve worked with individuals, teams and across organizations. Some of my most rewarding work is with individuals who had a deep desire to do something more inspiring but also experienced fear and apprehension to take next steps

I have spent the last 15 years in the agile space and I love to foster vibrant work environments that are responsive to the rapidly changing world around us. My mission is to inspire teams through sharing information and practicing together so that they can innovate and deliver the very best solutions to their customers.

I've had the pleasure of working with and learning with all kinds of teams over the years - from retail to payment processing to healthcare to the restaurant industry. I evaluate, train, and coach teams with a heavy focus on the agile mindset, values, and principles. I have found that teams grounded in principles with clear purpose, find the most creative ways to deliver value AND enjoy working together. And I believe that participation fosters engagement and real adoption of any improvement efforts.

Creating the conditions for work that is fulfilling, provides value, and supports wellbeing, drives my work with individuals, people leaders and companies to do good work.

My Journey

I started my journey as a programmer, working at a major news agency, posting sports scores online. How fun was starting my career in New York City. It was my first exposure to real autonomy at the workplace and set my expectations really high as I learned about authority and traditional hierarchical structures.

I moved into Project Management and later became a Scrum Master at a healthcare tech company. I quickly realized this way of working aligned with my values of treating people as we expect to be treated, striving to inspire others to do amazing things, and that work is a human endeavor.

Through the years, I worked primarily as a Scrum Master, then Coach to teams and people leaders. In several industries including healthcare, marketing, finance and hospitality. I’ve worked at startups, like Motivano, small companies like Healthesystems, medium to large companies including Moffitt Cancer Center, Bloomin’ Brands, and even larger companies, like JPM Chase. I’ve had the opportunity to experience agility in smaller, startup environments as well as massive, global companies. This varied experience has allowed me to observe different ecosystems and provided me with the space to apply different approaches and techniques.

I’ve also had the opportunity to experience enormous learning and growth. Some of my experiences include:

  • Serving as a highly technical Scrum Master, learning the benefits of implementing technical practices, such as Behavior Driven Development

  • Realizing and aligning to a more humanistic approach to team development

  • Working across teams to help Product Owners align delivery for an integrated customer experience

  • Leading Product Development Teams

  • Coaching multiple teams and designing team structures

  • Leading culture transformations that supported experimenting and cultivated innovation

  • Developing leadership onboarding and training programs

  • Designing and facilitating team-building activities

  • Facilitating strategy and prioritization activities for companies

  • Delivering training and certification (Certified Scrum Master through Scrum Alliance’s Certification via Coaching program)

  • Providing personal and career coaching for many individuals, teams, and leaders

  • Currently working on my Deep Coaching Certification (ICF) based on the Enneagram

My life’s work is to serve people and walk with them toward growth and well-being both at work and in their personal lives.