When it comes to both work and family life, women don’t always think beyond jamming the pedal to the metal and getting it all done.

A couple of years ago, after she’d worked at Novartis about seven months, Cristina Santos led a workshop for her co-workers called “Convince Me You’re Special” to help them get off the racetrack and take a hard look at the big picture. “The workshop encouraged us to step back and take time to think about how we wanted to be perceived and positioned,” explains Cristina, 36. “If we were selling ourselves, what would our ‘elevator pitch’ be? I wanted to give the women I work with a better opportunity to create their own brands.”

Cristina certainly has. Her unique brand includes a strong passion for diversity and inclusion in her organization—her roots are Cuban American. She’s also an expert at multicultural marketing and a savvy business leader, overseeing a multiproduct sales force. And she’s the mom of four kids, aged 8 months to 7 years. How does she manage it all? “It does take a village. I have a wonderfully supportive husband, and when people offer to help me—other moms or my family—I take it,” she says. “Also, I never underestimate the resilience of my kids. If I can’t be there to wake them up one day, I don’t feel guilty—they’d feed on that. This is our life, and we celebrate it.”