A passionate entrepreneur, Cristina is a 6X Founder and has 30 years of experience in business, 17 of which as an advisor to philanthropists and nonprofits. She is the Founder & CEO of Sky(lark) Strategies and the Director of Programs for the GG Society Fellowship.

Her personal mission is to create positive global change through the advancement of strong leadership, and the infusion of new economic paradigms into the social sector.

Cristina’s sweet spot sits at the intersection of the for-profit and non-profit worlds bridging the gap through social entrepreneurship. A skilled facilitator and strategist, Cristina brings management consulting methodologies to changemakers, and believes that success is often found at the intersection of vision, practicality and elbow grease. She loves the business design process and the challenge of taking early-stage entities to scale.

Each year, a robust percentage of Cristina’s time is allocated for Pro Bono work, and a fraction of Sky(lark) profits are donated towards social impact. She often shares insights from the trenches, speaking publicly about the art and science of social impact.

Born in communist Romania as the daughter of an entrepreneurial woman and a Renaissance man, she learned voraciously inside and outside the classroom. Cristina started her first business in high-school designing and producing haute couture dresses for local socialites, later moving into small production of women sportswear and a line of bathing suits, at the time when the totalitarian state owned everything and having a business was illegal. Cristina immigrated to the US in 1999 after giving away pretty much everything she owned. It was a conscious decision rooted in her immutable belief in the compound value of hard work fueled by ambition and vision. She jumped on the plane to Los Angeles with $64 in her pocket and a deep faith in the power of the American Dream. Why $64? It could have been $39 or $99, but $64 was the small change that was left after giving everything else away.

Cristina holds a BS in Economics, a BA in Psychology and an MBA, currently chairs a non-profit board and mentors one foster youth. She is a particle physics aficionado, a writer and passionate photographer. In the past 20 years she has traveled to 53 countries and territories on 6 continents.