There are interviews that provide answers, and there are interviews that open new directions of thought. The conversation with Cristina Chiriac belongs to the latter.

An entrepreneur, founder of Flori de ie and creator of Șlefuitori de visuri, President of CONAF — the National Confederation for Female Entrepreneurship, which also runs Women in Economy, a platform that highlights and supports women’s leadership through its magazine and Gala celebrating female excellence — TEDx speaker and VET Ambassador for the European Commission, she has dedicated her career to empowering women in business and fostering their visibility, growth and impact across Romania and Europe.

In this interview for Strong Women, Cristina speaks about identity, power and personal growth, going beyond visible success to explore the courage, balance and meaning that shape a truly strong life.

It is not about simple answers — it is about those truths that stay with you long after you have finished reading.

1. What truly motivates you every day, beyond success and recognition?

My motivation comes from ordinary things, from those simple moments that don’t seem to change anything, yet in their quietness, they put everything back into place — from a ray of sunlight falling exactly where it should, from the thought of a coffee shared with my people, or from an unhurried walk in the park, where time slows down and things regain their meaning.

Within these fragments of life, I have understood that success and recognition were never my real landmarks, because what has kept me moving has been the desire to accumulate, to learn, to read, to write, to grow without feeling the need to prove anything, to become, each day, a little more than I was yesterday — almost imperceptibly, yet profoundly.

This need for evolution, for not standing still, has gradually transformed into a form of personal responsibility, into a silent commitment to myself that has nothing to do with applause, but everything to do with direction.

For me, each day is a quiet duty not to remain less than I can be.

2. What does it truly mean to be a strong woman today, and how is that different from simply being strong?

When we speak about strong women, the image that almost instinctively appears is that of a woman who has carried everything on her shoulders, who has endured regardless of the conditions, no matter how difficult they were, who has navigated challenges, sacrifices, and everything life placed in her path without stopping — running day after day, not necessarily toward a dream, but often simply toward survival. And over time, this has become the definition we have learned to admire when we speak about a woman’s strength.

For me, however, this definition is no longer enough, because being simply strong often means carrying, enduring, resisting, and moving forward even when there is nowhere left to place your exhaustion, while being a truly strong woman means understanding that life is not meant to be lived as a constant test of endurance, that strength does not lie in solitude or in the ability to carry everything, but in how you build a space where there is support, community, balance, and room for yourself.

And perhaps this is where the difference truly begins — not in a rigid definition, but in a shift of meaning — because being strong often means surviving, while being a truly strong woman means creating a life where you are no longer forced to live in survival mode.

Strength is no longer about how much you can carry… but about how much you finally allow yourself to live.

3. What is a value you have never compromised, even when it cost you something important?

Dignity has been the line I have never crossed, even when that meant losing opportunities or relationships, because I have come to understand that there are losses that empty you — and losses that, in their quietness, rebuild you.

4. What supported you in the most difficult moments, from within, not from outside?

A fragile yet constant voice that never allowed me to believe that the ending was already written, a deep conviction that every fall hides a direction I cannot yet see, but one I must follow.

5. Looking back, who shaped you more in critical moments: a man or a woman, and how?

Looking back, although I have received important lessons from both women and men, my truth remains simple and assumed: in critical moments, the one who shaped me the most was a man — my father, my first mentor, the one who gave me the courage to move forward even when I didn’t know exactly where I was going.

From him, I learned one of the most valuable lessons — that people often seek complexity because it appears more valuable, more sophisticated, harder to attain, but the true art does not lie in complicating things, but in finding that form of simplicity that remains faithful to your values and does not get lost as you grow.

Later, there were other mentors in my life — people who came and completed this journey, who helped me understand more, see more clearly, and grow in directions I would not have anticipated. Throughout this path, I have always felt that the balance between the feminine and the masculine is not a choice, but a necessity, because each brings a different and essential perspective.

I have learned from my relationships, from friendships, from encounters, because around me there have been and still are valuable people — women and men alike — and the fact that my best friend is a woman is not a coincidence, but proof that this exchange, this mutual reflection, remains essential in how we build ourselves.

But if I were to choose a beginning, a clear landmark, it remains tied to him, because that is where the foundation was set.

Because sometimes, one person does not just show you the way… but gives you the courage to build it yourself.

6. What mindset shift is essential for young girls who want to become truly strong women?

To stop seeking approval before taking action and to understand that their path will be neither linear nor easy, but that it is precisely within imperfection and discomfort that authentic strength is born.

7. What is the most defining lesson you have learned as a woman navigating power?

I have learned that power is not about domination, but about remaining whole — about not losing yourself while building something greater than yourself.

8. How do you deal with self-doubt or fear when the stakes are high, and what should other women understand about those moments?

I grew up in a place where confidence was not explained — it was lived.

It was expressed every day without being said the same way, it was felt in the way I was looked at, in the way I was allowed to try, to fail, to move forward without asking myself whether I could — because the answer had already been placed within me long before I began searching for it. And perhaps that is why I never saw myself as a question, but as a path.

Fear comes differently. It comes in those moments when you feel there is no longer room for chance, when every step matters and you can no longer afford to move forward without knowing what you are doing. And then I don’t push it away, I don’t ignore it — I stay there, within it, until I understand what it has to say, until things settle and I know I have taken everything as far as it could go. And then comes that step that no longer belongs to calculations, nor to certainty, nor to comfort, but only to assumption.

Courage begins the moment you step forward, even when you are afraid.

9. What is a hard truth you would tell me, as the founder of Strong Women, if I want this project to succeed at the highest level?

There will come a moment when you will have to choose between being liked and being relevant, and if you do not have the courage to challenge, to unsettle, and to speak uncomfortable truths, your project will remain beautiful — but it will never become necessary.

10. When your journey comes to an end, how would you want your strength to be remembered, not just your success?

I feel that true strength does not lie in what is said about you afterward, but in what continues to live beyond you — in the way people carry forward what they have learned, in the way they grow, build, and, in turn, pass it on.

And perhaps this is the deepest meaning of my journey — not to be defined, but to be continued, not to be closed, but to remain open in everything it has managed to create.

Because what we build with meaning does not end… it is passed on.