Trust You Are Always Growing. It's in Your Nature.

My son is turning one year old in about a week, bringing us to a couple of full circles: for him, the first trip around the sun. For me, an advice I recall from the early days in my career.

11 years ago, I decided to leave my job as Community, Marketing & PR at NXTP Labs to join the founding team of an EdTech startup.

As I gathered courage to resign and start up for the first time, Marta Cruz (Co-Founder and General Partner at NXTP Ventures ) gave me a piece of advice that started to resonate so deeply that my eyes well up just to recall that conversation.

[Quick context: for the past year, I’ve been spending half the time with my son (my choice and privilege, as he is my natural priority) and rebuilding my career as a fractional executive. But sometimes I feel like I'm falling behind. Marta’s advice helps me trust in the future. And her story speaks for itself. Even from afar, she’s still a mentor, a source of inspiration, and a role model.]

Late 2013, I told her my intentions to leave my job to work on the Future of Education full time. As we sat on the orange bean bags over the synthetic turf at NXTP Labs’ first office in Palermo (BsAs), I shared how much I’d learned there, but that I felt the urge to do more, learn more, grow faster.

Note that previously I had a “don’t-crack-under-pressure” job as the Executive Director and President of an NGO in Southern Cone (leading 20 local chapters, an Executive Team, a Board of Local Presidents, and 1800+ volunteers across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay). I left it slightly burnt out, but equally hungry for an equal challenge - which led me to crave for an entrepreneurial path and seek a place where I could get inspired by founders. Thus, NXTP Labs. :)

But regardless of how much I’d done in a year (becoming the founding Director of Startup Grind in Buenos Aires included), I was still hungry. I wanted more. Faster.

Looking back, I know I wasn’t aware how much I had learned (and been learning).

My work at NXTP Labs (organizing from meetups and dinners to demo days, managing our investors, founders and mentors networks, making curated introductions and agendas for key stakeholders visiting from abroad, and more…) laid the groundwork for my future as a community builder. I acknowledged it in my book (Hacking Communities) 7 year later, but wasn’t aware then.

Later, I moved to Malaysia, founded the Startup Grind chapter in Kuala Lumpur and soon started to work for several national initiatives by the Malaysian Government as a consultant for community and ecosystem development, replicating (at larger scale) what I’d learned at NXTP.

Anyway, back to the bean bag advice from Marta Cruz:

Hearing my anxiety (to go out to change the world, and become my best self ASAP) she reflected on her own career and shared with me how she dedicated 10 years in her 20s to grow a family. She raised her kids as a SAHM, before going back to school and to the job market in her 30s. In her 40s, she co-founded NXTP Labs - and the rest is history.

She shed light on how those 10 years of dedication to her family contributed to her personal and professional growth. Later on, the several birthday parties and family gatherings she organized (plus the intricate three-kids schedule and household she managed) contributed to her career in Marketing, PR, and Advertising. It had been a full time job, and she applied those skills in the market.

She never stopped learning and growing. Thus, her wisdom-filled advice (translating from Spanish and memory to the best of my efforts):

“Don't overwhelm yourself with the need to grow or build something that changes the world immediately. Trust that your curiosity and desire to do great work will lead you to do so, even if you decide to lock yourself in a room for 10 years (metaphorically). When you leave, you will be just as hungry and capable of doing great work, and you will notice how much you’ve grown in that time, because you are always learning - it is natural for you.”

It is natural for all of us. As I watch my son learning to roll, then crawl, then stand up and try to walk, I know the is true (noting his obsession with climbing the stairs (what a milestone!) and redoing it, honing his skills, feeling proud of himself, then trying again, another set, again.

As my anxiety hits again (that I am not doing enough, not growing fast enough), I walk back the path I trail-blazed since that conversation 11-years ago, from a dropout Law student to entrepreneur and community builder.

I hear Marta’s voice from the other bean bag:

“No te agobies. Estás siempre creciendo. Es natural para vos.”

Wrapping up, I proudly decided to share the AI-generated graphics of his first birthday invitation (for f&f) with you: an Asimov-inspired creation to honor his first trip around the sun.

Trusting all the “unofficial” skills I am acquiring as a mother, the hardest “don’t-crack-under-pressure” job I ever had.

The most important too. ??

PS: If this resonates with you (or if you now someone who might relate), please get in touch! Would love to grab coffee (if you're in NYC) or to hop on a walking meeting with you to talk about shared experiences / help each other.