We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cristina Salmastrelli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Cristina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?

Affordable Art Fairs is celebrating its 25th year in business this October and I am very honored to be a part of this company for the last 13 of them. One of the key structures of our building blocks has always been to recruit the right people to join the community. While I have been involved in many hires over the last decade, understanding how important this concept really is hit home when we announced our new fair edition in Austin, Texas. When finding new team members, one always starts with skill sets, experiences, and occupational advantages, but never doubt how important passion and drive are. Everyone can learn a skill, if they put their mind to it, but people cannot develop passion or improve their drive with time. Remember to consider the heart of each person and you will always find who you are looking for.

Cristina , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Visiting museums, galleries and special exhibitions was something I was lucky to do consistently growing up. Whether it was a family outing or a school trip, going to exhibitions thrilled me. I can still remember the first time I saw a Mary Cassatt (The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1993) or Kara Walker (Whitney Museum Biennial 1997), or Jim Dine (Guggenheim, 1999), so I always new that I wanted a profession in the arts.

I pursued my studies at Colgate University and then came to New York to enroll in NYU’s Museum Studies Masters Program. Once at NYU, I discovered art fairs. and, since October of 2006, I have never looked back. I believe that art fairs are truly the heart of the contemporary art world, as they are the only place where galleries, collectors, professionals and visitors come together in one place to learn and exchange ideas in the most dynamic of atmospheres. To me, the list of other more exciting places to be, when it comes to the art word, is short, very short.

Over the last decade and a half, I have produced and directed many fairs including the Outsider Art Fair, ADAA’s THE ART SHOW, the ifpda’s PRINT FAIR and even an antique book fair. But, it wasn’t until I found the Affordable Art Fair did I find my sweet spot. Its mission, to find the joy in collecting art by art more accessible to all has been a cornerstone of my professional life for the last decade. I am most proud of finding an undiscovered art lover and helping them start their collection, knowing what art will bring to their life, just as it has brought to mine.

As of now, I have worked on 65 art fairs in 18 years, and I have no plans of slowing down. I hope to bring more Affordable Art Fairs to American cities over the next couple of years and spread that appreciation of art to as many states as I can reach.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

While motherhood is always something I looked forward to, boy was it a shock to the system when I tried to put the puzzle pieces back together after maternity leave ended. Come to find out, my puzzle pieces didn’t fit because I created an entirely different puzzle for myself once I became a working mom. And, as much as other mothers tried and prepare me for what was to come, I could not fully conceptualize this earth shattering pivot until I was smack in the middle of it. What I have learned from this experience is to put your head down and lean into it. Do not deny that EVERYTHING has just changed because it has. Listen to your mind and your body and start doing differently. You will try new things and you will fail, but you know what else you will do? You will triumph, succeed. You will find something that works better for you know. The journey of motherhood has made me more valuable as a team leader because I embraced the changed me. Do not be afraid to add mom to your professional resume, just be prepared to expect the unexpected and be ready to search for the new pieces that create the new puzzle. Embrace the chaos of all of it, give yourself grace, learn, and listen. Motherhood was one of the best decisions I made for my professional career.

Any advice for managing a team?

Listen first, speak second. Ask more questions. Praise daily, challenge weekly. And, finally, always do the work that you want your team to do first.