We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalia Martinez-kalinina. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalia below.

Natalia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I learned how to ride a bike at 21 years old. That same year, I found myself riding around West Lake in Hangzhou. Escaping, dodging, I had half-circled the lake when the lightning first heralded the oncoming downpour. Soon, the rain began to fall in fast diagonals, racing down from the darkened clouds. My contacts shifted, my vision blurred, and my clothes were edging dangerously close to transparency, but with my feet firmly planted on the pedals, water streaming down my face, and the bike skidding, I smiled broadly through the fat drops.

Even if only for the forty-five minutes I spent battling the elements, grinning at my friends and being pointed out by the reasonable citizens who had sought shelter, the past couple of months floated up and away. Life seemed full, bursting, brimming with surprises, boiling over with moments of fulfillment, joy, and instantaneous laughter. I felt my body exhale, turning the past year—full of difficulties and contradictions—into what resembled a group of tiny, crooked word magnets on a refrigerator: words that had once made coherent sentences but that had since ceased to match up with reality.

In a single instant, the collision of those earlier burdens and the present moment seemed disarmingly and unavoidably simple. I had been so afraid and so very bound by that fear, but now, several leaps of faith and surprises later, I was a breathless “thank you” away from moving halfway across the globe, to China. The risks I had taken had gradually accumulated to enrich more than my photo album; I had finally begun to gather an understanding of the ineffable interdependence between hope and hardship, effort and fear, strength and weakness.

It may sound odd so many years later, but that cumulative moment, pushing forward despite uncertainty and the nervousness of the newly acquired skill, was a defining experience for my young self. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see in how many small ways it has rippled into how I choose to learn, trust others, trust myself, and show up willingly.

Natalia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a third-culture kid. An only child. Twice an immigrant. When people ask where I’m from, the running joke has become: I’m Cuban and Russian, I grew up in Mexico, I’ve lived in US for 20+ years, and my soul is Argentine. In shorthand what this means is that I’ve started anew many times, and I’ve never felt fully at home anywhere, but I’ve made a home in many places. Probably as a direct result of this, I became an organizational psychologist, ever fascinated by what brings together groups of people, and why they function well or break apart. And certainly, as a direct consequence of both my personal and professional stories, I’ve fallen in love with building community, and I’ve been fascinated by serendipity and connection. Cue building Base is the most aligned and exciting challenge for me.

My career progression has been varied. From management consulting in New York and human capital software product strategy to economic development and startup soft-landing. Over the years, I’ve also started numerous nonprofits and impact projects, most of which remain functioning today in Miami and other cities, which helped bridge some of the work I was doing professionally with my more personal passions. This includes founding Awesome Foundation MIAMI, a micro grant organization that has awarded over $180K to small, grassroots ideas in Miami, Aminta Ventures, an educational vehicle to empower more female angel investors in South Florida, and “Love Lost, Miami” – an annual exhibit focused on love, loss, and connection. I also served on the governor-appointed Commission on Community Service, a body that oversees the administration of $24 million in federal, state, and local funding to deliver high-impact educational and volunteer programs across our state.

Most meaningfully, I’ve been a resident ‘madrina’ to many startups, organizations, and humans, and it is important to me to lead from the heart and help incubate, develop, and inspire others. The thread, especially in retrospect, has always been building bridges and generating community. And so, in many ways, Base, which I co-founded a couple of years ago, is the converging point of many personal and professional roads, which is yet another reason I am grateful for this adventure. We’re a modern-day membership club that leverages an algorithm to bring together fascinating groups for curated, deep, intimate social experiences meant to hack serendipity. I am also the Founder & Principal of my own consultancy, NMK Group, where I advise clients on human resource/culture, economic development, human capital design, community building, and impact strategy.

Somehow, I never tired of convening; outside of work, I do a lot of hosting (dinners, salon discussions, home concerts), and I am happiest when my home is full of people having a memorable and connected evening. I’m an enthusiastic amateur and a firm believer in the layers of learning that come from starting – and being very bad – at something. For me, this means I am constantly learning and improving around cooking, photography, drawing, running, rock climbing, archery, and anything that gets me in the water (kitesurfing, wake surfing, scuba diving).

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I used to believe there was only “one way” of getting to an outcome or achieving a specific result and that, inevitably, this success required struggle and suffering. I now believe there are many varies paths to how we build companies, achieve outcomes, seek contentment, and although all of them require hard work, the trick is finding the path that most resonates with your core values, not in trying to squeeze into paths that make sense on paper but not create resonance. When we operate from excitement/joy instead of fear/resistance, all of our work becomes maximized.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Ask questions before coming to conclusions, always. If you treat people with curiosity, anything and everything can be on the table more constructively, from an intrapersonal conflict at the office to misplaced or mismanaged expectations to boundaries that need to be reset. This is one-third leading with empathy, one-third understanding how to self-regulate your own emotions/challenges as a leader, and one-third realizing that each person is their own microcosm and is motivated by different levers.

Oh and celebrate. Enjoy, savor the journey. Find delight in small wins, seek laughter in the challenges and the losses, make time for celebration, connection, and rest as team.

I have a consulting practice that focused on being a 1:1 sparring partner for high-level executives, and you’d be surprised how often these core principles come up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://base.club
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliamartinezkalinina/

Image Credits

Valerie Lopez
Ekaterina Shcherbakova