Over the past 18 years, corporate communications professional Christina Hastings has navigated through two major career shifts, learning some important lessons along the way about the value of learning, hard work and staying faithful to your values. Hastings’ story is one that inspires in more ways than one. Hailing from a single-parent household, she took the values placed in her by her family and used them as a foundation to guide her into a thriving corporate communications career. As Associate Director for Corporate Communications for Illumina, Christina works to encourage and support women and minorities in corporate America. She says, “As I’ve gotten older, it’s become more and more apparent how much work there is still to do within the BIPOC community in the workplace,” she said. “I still can sometimes count how many people of color are in a conference room or are on campus, but yet I still know now that I’ve got a place and a voice and a responsibility to open those doors and open those barriers.”
What have you learned in this current season of your work that will fuel your hope for the future?
There have been sacrifices made before me, for me. It’s important for me to leverage the strengths that God has bestowed upon me to carry forward what’s been requested of me. It’s important that I show up as a woman, as an African American, as a sister, daughter, and friend. Representation matters – in all ways.