Kvinnekraft med Kristin Benedetto

#annonse

I interview strong inspiring woman that I admire. My passion is to make people live a more healthy lifestyle and get more quality in their lives. Therefore I take these successful ladies out for a 15 minuts powerwalk and talk.

Kristin is from USA and she now works as a Vice president on International Sales & distribution for Assouline which are a big highend luxurybrand which sell exclusive coffee table books. They work together with big brands such as Dior, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Valentino .

For Kristin motivation comes from within and she has always known she would be successfull. Her biggest fear is to stop develop and remain the same. She says «I dont belive in luck. I create my own life and I belive in hard work.»

Foto: Arrangementet var hos Inside Too som er agenturet som har Assouline i Norge. De har også Missoni Home og Jonathan Adler. 

What are you good at?

I have a salesbackground and I like to think that I am good with people. I find it very interesting to communicate with people so wether I am doing a presentation like I did today, a pressevent were I have to speak for 20-30 minutes for 25 people and keep their attention, or if I am at the coffeeshop I will have a chat with the person behind the counter because I thrive on interacting with other people.  Some days where I work from home and I am on my own for a whole day I feel a bit empty not communicating. I get energy from talking to people and from the feedback I get.

What is motivating you? 

Motivation comes from within, but I have always had a hunger for personal success. Not necessary  in being successful money- or careerwise, but in all aspects of life.  So I feel that I am motivated because I want to be the best of me. It can be when I am working out and achieving a goal training for a half marathon. In work I always like changing and I always try new things to better myself. I have to challenge myself. Cause if people push me to do something and I dont wanna do it, I dont really want to.

This weekend I am doing a tough mudder, a race, obstacle course 10 miles. Like a bootcamp race where you have to get dirty, you have to jump into ice skips and you have to climb trought tear gass. I didn’t necessarily wanted to do it at first, but I committed to it so I am motivated for it and hopefully I succeed. It is cool to do different races I haven’t done before. It keeps you exited working hard for a goal.

What values are the most important for you?

To make sure That I keep the people around me happy. So I guess Happiness. Making other people Happy and showing other people respect whether its my boss making sure they are happy with my work and being proud of me. My partner, making sure that I am not complaining to much. Its this balance of happiness trough all aspects of life.

But also family. I am feeling it more now because I recently relocated and dont live close to my family. It makes me appreciate them more. I grew up in New Jersey and the only other place I have moved was New York which was a 15 minute drive from my parents and sisters so  I have always been very close to my family and see them on the weekends. I kind of took it for granted. And now I live in London and I get to see them every 4 months and thats been hard. So I really appreciate my family. It is a huge part of who you are even if you think its not. So family, happiness and love. To be loved. To feel loved and the passion for things. If you dont have passion or love for it your not gonna do it. And then what is really the point?

How do you make sure you increase your knowledge and develop ?

This is tough as you get to be an adult, cause you almost stop learning. School is over, education is over and you are in a career. In a career can be very easy to just cruize by and do the bare minimum, what you are told. You make a certain amount so you do a certain amount. For me I always like to create new oppertunities. I like to do new things to challenge myself. For example moving to another country. No I am in a new country and I have to learn new things. Just learning to drive in a new country. I learn by challenging myself and learing new stuff, but also by traveling. I think travel is learning, because it is easy to stay in your comfort zone in life. When you move to a new country it force you to think more. I travel a lot and there are times when I am sitting in my hotel room nervous and I have to put on my ”selling mode”. But when I do it I get motivated and I remember why I do it.

What makes you happy?

My boyfriend makes me happy. My job makes me happy. Working out! Whenever I am down or in a terrible mood. If I work out I can easily change my mood. Even if I dont want to do it. If I am eating healthy and working out I am happy. When I am not and drinking to much I can be a little bit moody with people because I am a littlebit dissapointed in myself and I take it out on others. So I feel happy when I got my healthy lifestyle covered, I am with my boyfriend, I get to see my friends and family.

How do you fill your daily energy?

I am obsessed by getting eight hours of sleep! I have a tracker that saves me steps and sleep.  So the most important is to get 8 hours sleep. I dont get it every night, but I try.

Number 2 is starting out the day working out. That is the best start! Yesterday I did it. Today I have not done a workout, but luckily I am getting one with you now ☺

Getting a good sleep, working out and eating right. At least I try. So I always have this energybar in my bag. This is from London and they are called Bounce balls. They are so good!

Always being prepared by having healthy food on you. That is the trick!

Do you have a childhood dream that you still want to achieve?

Probably to learn another language. I admire people who speak multiple languages. It feels like a dream because I feel like I never will be able to do it cause it seems so difficult, but I really want to. Now that I am traveling so much trough work and I am so much around people who speak multiple languages I find it really impressive and that would help me. That would help me understand more people and to be able to communicate better.

Do you have people in your life who has been important in your development?

My parents has implemented a really good work ethic from my young age, but my first boss. I started working for a fragrance company for a very powerful, successful, beautiful down to earth woman . she was my biggest mentor for six years and I saw how she was and I said. I want that. So I followed in her fotsteps. There are still stimes where I think about her like this morning in the car on my way to do a presentation. I`m like ”How would she handle this?”, ”What would she do?” Unfortunately she is in New York so I dont get to see her that often, but I will always remember the things she installed in me and I will always look up to her. It was very empowering to work for a successful woman like her.

If you could choose one thing to be better at. What would that be?

I want to learn more. You know when you og to a dinner party and they have all this information? And they are sharing and contributing. I want to soak up more information so I can  be more knowledgable. And I think that is why it is good working for a culture book company because we always come out with new books and sometimes I have not heard about the artists or they are new to me. And then I have to learn. I dont think you should stop learning new things just because you are finished at school. I think its the most valuable thing we can to for ourselves. As you get older you got to keep challenging yourself or otherwise you are gonna stay the same. That´s a fear for me!

If you got to live your life once more would you do something different?

Maybe I would save more. I am a spender! So maybe if I knew what I know now I would save more. But I like the nice things in life, so maybe not she says smiling with a blunk in the eye.

Is there some turningpoint in life that has defined you or redefined you?

Moving has changed my look on a lot of things. I think that I appreciate my family , friends and relathionships more. I moved to a new country and my boyfriend is from that country so he has a nice social group of friends , but it is really important for me to have my own so I dont have to be  depending on someone. So I missed my friends and the things that I already had.

Moving to a new country has completely changed me and made me more appreciative and more humble. But also made me more cultured.  I am in Oslo right now!I have never been here before. I would never have been here if I would not moved to London and working for Assouline. A lot of people from America might never come here and will never met people like you so this is a nice experience.

What is the biggest reason for your success?

Because I believe in myself. In my head I think I am really successful and I am going to be that. When you see people who are really successful, powerful or influential and you think I will never be that.. I am the opposite. I will be that, I will have that! The secret changed me. I dont belive in luck. I create my own life and I belive in hard work.

Do you have a advice for girls who have a dream and dont dare to take the chance?

I would say dont let the fear get in the way. Cause a lot of people are insecure and dont think they are good enough. So to have confidence, to  not have fear and to believe in yourself. Be around people who inspire you and motivate you. Surround yourself with the people who do what you want to do or the people who are like you want to be. Not the people who say its gonna be to hard, its not gonna happen.  Get rid of this people if you can!

What do you like to do when you have ”me time” ? 

I love reading and not talking. Being silent. Taking a bubblebath. I like reading about people who has struggles in life and go trough challenges. I like fiction, but I prefer to read about problems and not always with happy endings. I like to read about how horrible things can be and how people deal with it.

What is good enough for you?

Enough money to be able to travel and living a comfortable life so I dont have to worry. Not having much, but just enough to get by. But also to by some nice shoes Kristin smiles. And then also having people around me. I dont want to be alone. I want friends, family and my boyfriend around me. And good food. Food is important!

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

I forbindelse med intervjuet jeg gjorde med Kristin Benedetto fikk jeg anledning til å gi bort 2  av disse lekre kokebøkene som er skapt gjennom et samarbeid mellom akupunktøren Dr Nadia Volf og den verdenskjente superkokken Joel Robuchon. De har forsket på hvilken mat som gjør deg lykkelig og laget en kokebok som er bra både for den mentale og fysiske helsen din.

 

Alt du trenger å gjøre er å skrive ned hvilken mat som får deg til å føle deg sunn og sterk + legge til din email i kommentarfeltet 🙂

Lykke til!

 

( Ps: Jeg er ikke fra Amerika, så ha meg unnskyldt for skrivefeil. Ikke helt stødig på å skrive engelsk.. )