We aimed for a brief interview with Flavia Cristescu, and we succeeded. Because we liked how she presented herself, here is her statement: “I am tough, I am ambitious, and I know exactly what I want! If that makes me unbearable, that’s okay! I like to think that I have strange qualities that define me, but that I also cultivate. I do water sports, even though I don’t know how to swim well at all. I have never drunk a beer – bitter beer. After my coming of age, I decided not to drink Cola anymore, and 18 years later, I can say that I succeeded! Well, I just revealed my age – yes, I am 36 years old. Wow! I can’t believe it myself when I say that. Together with my brother (19 years old), we opened our own closed-circuit beauty salon in just two months with only 4000 euros. Interestingly, we didn’t have to bring any more money from home – so it quickly self-financed.
I love to dream big! I have passed by a house dozens of times, saying it was mine. A large, imposing house, like a mansion. After years, I ended up staying there for a good period and getting to know the family that lives there. By the way, I am fascinated by people’s life stories! My most frequent dream is that I explore a large house, and there’s always another room, somewhere up high, that I am about to discover. Higher and higher, every time! Many of my dreams (the ones I remember, of course) happen in reality in one form or another. I love life a lot, and I believe it often winks at me and smiles knowingly!”
C&B: How would you summarize your professional activity?
Flavia Cristescu: A waitress at a restaurant in the USA (for a summer); 2 years in a corporation (multinational – it was my dream at the time, a kind of Mecca… I laugh too); Resignation; 7 months break; The decision to do something more for my passion for hair – starting in a salon as an apprentice; Manager of the salon; Resignation; 2 months later, as I mentioned earlier, I established my own salon… And the story continues!
C&B: What was the secret, the success, and the turning points of your career? How much luck is in this story?
Flavia Cristescu: Hmm, the secret… I would say it’s important to have the courage to say: “Stop!” at the right moment (even if some decisions are mixed with fear and uncertainty).
Success? Success is never a destination; I work on it day by day. If I were to stop, I would stagnate.
The turning points were clearly the two resignations. The first was when I decided to leave the corporation, even though the future could have been predictable, moving towards something better. But the feelings of being a small cog in a big machine, my creativity being limited, some decisions not depending on me while the responsibility was on my shoulders, etc. All of these made me want something else.
The second turning point was when I decided to leave the first salon I was involved with. I started as an apprentice/student, and quite quickly I was also handling the reception and then social media… After a while, we had to decide whether I would remain a worker in the salon or take on management. The salon had grown a lot, and there was a need for a “conductor.” I realized I couldn’t be both one of the first violins and the conductor, so I chose coordination. I left when I was no longer allowed to do things the way I saw them in terms of client service: coffee and cookies for clients, personalized services based on specific needs, etc.
There is a very suggestive marketing story that says, “Give ‘Em The Pickle!” or as I would say, “Give the customers pickles!” When I was no longer allowed to give them pickles, I chose to start over in my own style.
As for luck, a dear friend of mine, Caius (who is no longer with us), often told me: “Little girl, luck is made for those who know how to catch it in mid-air!” And I understood this very well!
C&B: In childhood, what did you want to be? And if you thought of several professions, do they have common denominators? Or with what you have become?
Flavia Cristescu: I don’t have a very clearly defined image of “what I wanted to be.” However, I know, and we often laugh about it today, that my brother, with whom I work, and I used to tell each other that one day we would open a salon. We had no connection to this, but that’s what we said! He told me several times to take him with me wherever I would go. And… it seems that I did take him.
Thus, the idea of a salon was rooted somewhere in my mind since I was a little child, but I didn’t want it to be just a salon. Today, the term sounds so limiting when I tell people what I do because our salon offers more than just a service – it’s an experience with tea, coffee, books, stories about and with people and their personalities!
As for teachers, yes, some of them are dear to me, very dear!… And I am so glad that they feel the same way (confirmation I recently received). I would start with my high school homeroom teacher: a woman of exceptional elegance, remarkable wit, and vigilance. We still talk today, and I allow myself to say that it’s a tacit friendship chosen between us.
The math teachers from high school – I was fascinated that they were not satisfied with little from me, and I felt they always expected a duel in problem-solving. Today, I find myself doing the same thing when I encounter situations where I refuse to not have a solution. I can’t say “No!” For me, it’s always a “No, but….” and something else.
The French teacher with whom I later took tutoring classes: her bohemian humor, occasional irony, but in small doses of common sense, elegance in movements, and choices of outfits.
I realize now that I am talking about what I admired in them, and I hope that I have also borrowed some of these qualities over time because I have always chosen to be like a sponge that absorbs eagerly from their entire life experience.
Of course, I also had unofficial teachers who, over time, became good friends of mine, with remarkable ages and cultural backgrounds as vast as an encyclopedia: Mario and Caius – my good friends with life experiences at least double mine.
I often accepted their harsh criticism, as well as endless discussions about food, wines, works of art, books, plays (dozens of plays seen), music listened to again and again, which I perhaps initially didn’t understand at all, the chance to meet through them people with strong personalities, walks in antique markets, as well as their homes that housed true museums.
These people are part of who I am today, and I can only feel lucky.
C&B: What are the domains and activities that are parallel and collateral to your profession but are an integral part of you?
Flavia Cristescu: I would encompass everything here under a few phrases: “passion for beauty,” “the desire to discover new and unique words” – these are found in my leisurely strolls through streets where I admire houses, windows, and gardens, as well as reading and highlighting in my beloved books, and cultivating relationships with people from whom I can learn. I have simply clung to relationships with people alongside whom I felt I could grow, and at the same time, I have let go of those relationships that made noise like rusty bells. It’s healthy to do that!
C&B: What is your greatest failure? By the way, I have another question I ask many people and students – it might turn into a book – what do you think is “cringe”?
Flavia Cristescu: I wouldn’t call any episode from my life a “failure.” It seems to me a much too heavy word. Generally, after moments of falling or even free-falling, a peak followed. And I have never stopped BELIEVING (faith has played an essential role in such situations).
Some would say I am a recoverer of lost chances. I just keep moving forward even when there is a lot of fog around and believe, believe a lot in a great and loving God. Each time, these periods are not barren because I continue to work, read, and bring forth what is good within me and defines me, even with an empty tank, until I emerge from the valley. Arghezi says: “From sores, mold, and mud I have birthed beauties and new prices.”
C&B: What advice would you give to beginners and young people?
Flavia Cristescu: To dream a lot, to work even more, and to never tire of believing in what they feel might be their path. But work, work done with commitment makes a huge difference.
And to occasionally put on paper what their passions are, what defines them. If they can make money from even one of them, they are saved! There will always be 2-3 crazy people willing to pay them for their passion, which is abundantly sprinkled with hard work. If you are honest and not afraid of hard work, the money and results will not be long in coming! Patience!
C&B: Where would you like to go – countries, cities, places (again, many times) and why?
Flavia Cristescu: Ah, I would say America first. I would definitely like to return to America. It was my first trip abroad. I still can’t believe it was actually the first one. I am curious to see how I find it after so many years, if it was just the euphoria of that time and everything seemed Wow, or if there are still places where it is “like in the movies.”
Then, as many places with water and sunshine as possible – and this connects to a newer passion of mine, kitesurfing. It’s a liberating yet contrasting feeling when you’re on the waves and in the water. It’s really a mix that’s hard to explain in words. You have to let yourself go with the waves, yet the wind reminds you that you are not in control! It’s the same in your relationship with God and in life in general. You keep your fists clenched in certain situations, believing that you hold all the power, and the wind says to you, “Wait, wait, loosen the strings because you are not the master of the sky!”
And here I haven’t named a specific place because the water and sky communicate, I believe, so even in destinations where I haven’t been, I can think that the sky took me there at least in thought.
C&B: Please ask yourself a final question and provide an answer.
Flavia Cristescu: What is the benchmark you follow to be so optimistic and full of life? “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end!” Pam, pam.