We were lucky to catch up with Maria Cestaro recently and have shared our conversation below.
Maria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I was raised by my dad which was highly unusual for the 70’s having your father win custody and raise children. My story was very unusual from the beginning. Without really knowing it, my father, in his determination to raise three highly functional kids showed me how to respect, how to take risks even when you are scared, how to stand strong, how to be a person that doesn’t go back on their word. That was something that I witnesses from my earliest years to present day and it’s something that has fueled my own being. For every conversation I have, I show respect at all times. For every advancement I choose to make, even when scared, I do it anyway. For every commitment I make, my word is of huge value. My dad’s life and how he’s lived it has been incredibly impactful to who I am today.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am what you call the “Under Dog”. Growing up, school wasn’t really my thing and so my counselors would tell me I wouldn’t amount to anything. The worst part, I truly started to believe them. I always carried a very caring and genuine place in my heart for others. I would stop whatever I was doing to care for them and their needs. I found that to be something I truly enjoyed. I then found a way by creating a conceirge business that provided in-home services and I absolutely loved it. I found that my care was leaning towards assisting seniors but also those that were struggling with the care of their loved ones. It was so very obvious that the relationships were becoming taxed. I was that person that was able to rebuild bonds within some of the most difficult times. I then added those experiences to some of my past experiences and found myself focusing greatly on relationships. I have helped thousands build relationships whether that be parent/kid, husband/wife, siblings….etc. After my second client had a major breakthrough, I then titled my business, The Breakthrough Coach. Too many coaches these days want money over results hitting people with big ticket pricing and very little results. I want results, the money always gets provided when the job is done right.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think what helped me build my reputation was a couple things. 1 – I never stopped educating myself. I connected with very successful mentors and followed their lead. 2 – I shared my story. My story is broken down into many different parts and many people can feel and relate to my story. 3 – I never just show the good and great moments of my career, I’m very transparent about when I fail as well. That helps people see that they don’t need perfection, they just need tools to improve themselves for better days ahead. Those three points kept me on track to always stay consistent in who I am and what my beliefs are. That then gave my clients the confidence to know that I’m not a hear today and gone tomorrow type of person.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson that I had to unlearn was to blame myself when something didn’t go right. The backstory to that was growing up I had an individual in my life that no matter what I did, I was criticized, reprimanded and punished almost daily. That was something that help me back in having the confidence I needed in the beginning. It was me having to work on my self, getting rid of the demons I was carrying and breaking generational curses as they say. Had I not worked so hard on my I never would have had my own Breakthrough.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @marialisikatoscestaro
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.lisikatos
