7 Questions on Leadership with Astrid F. Kowlessar
Name:Â Astrid F. Kowlessar
Title:Â Director
Organisation: Vezta & Co.
Astrid F. Kowlessar has 20+ years of strategic planning, governance, capitalization and project management expertise. Astrid acts as Director to Vezta Triumph Ltd., family business based out of Florida and Trinidad W.I.
At Citgroup Corporate and Investment Bank (Trinidad & Tobago), Astrid assisted Citi’s local and New York based deal team as part of the Risk Analytics unit.
She worked briefly as part of a select Banco Citibank Brazil team, focusing on a portfolio of conglomerate client relationships within the energy, infrastructure and retail sectors in the Caribbean and Central America. Upon leaving Citigroup, Astrid supported the deal closure team as Account Executive for Barbadian securities firm Sagicor Merchant Ltd., a subsidiary of Sagicor Life Inc.
She has also worked extensively in the IT software field, consulting with KAAVA Consulting, Synergy Healthcare Solutions and PAX Technology Inc. Astrid has been extensively involved in startup business structure and capitalization. From 2011, Astrid served as Partner of Sente Capital LLC based out of San Mateo, California. The Sente Capital Early Stage Venture Capital (ESV) Fund, a boutique fund of US$100 million, comprised early stage ventures and in the IT and Clean Tech industries.
She is an advocate of human rights via Globcal International and was an invited speaker to the Global Women Development Network's Woman’s Day 2022 virtual conference. She believes that sustainable technologies and traditional operations are not mutually exclusive, but should be combined for best practice and outcome.
Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!
I hope Astrid's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Jonno White
1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?
As a leader, it is of utmost importance to understand the symbiosis between a company’s people and profits. Corporations at present do not seem to understand that customer experience = employee experience. I just looked at the TedX talk with Chobani’s Hamdi Ulukaya called ‘The anti-CEO playbook’ and it explains it all. People are the backbone of any organization.
Give your people expansion and ownership, and the entire organization flourishes, as I have explained via the Sustainable Corporate Governance Model;
2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?
PrinciplesYou by Ray Dalio let me know that I’m a Quiet Leader. I like to think of myself as the power behind the throne, really! I’ve always enjoyed a supportive role in leadership, whether through our family business Vezta & Co, or through international project and business development work relationships. I believe strongly in teamwork amongst peers; cross-functional leadership. A chain is as strong as its weakest link, so a strong leader is only so via a capable, empowered team!
I very much consider myself to be a pioneering leader looking back on my career. So many times, I have been called in or chosen to co-lead and manage pilot projects in SAAS healthcare, built environment continuous improvement and in fintech payments. I’m very proud to say that all endeavors that started with unknown unknowns were able to be met to fruition! The endpoint is always worth the grey area when leading. We as leaders need to have that level of confidence in the unknown, and in our teams.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I am a super early riser! I wake at 3:30 AM Eastern and I pray. I then check the weather and any news for the morning. I make a healthy organic breakfast at 6:30 AM and then get ready for the day ahead. I’m definitely not a morning exerciser though – that's for the evening!
Most of my day is filled with communication mainly via remote meetings and of course emails. I’m an indoors professional so either remotely from home office or on-site client office is the place of choice when needed. I love early morning calls over evening meetings. Everyone’s tired by 4:00 PM Eastern and productivity isn’t the best. Also, I prefer small daily pull ups over large one-hour meetings for the same reason – no one is fully paying attention by the 45th minute! As you may see here, I am a strong proponent of Scrum Agile principles in workplace structure.
After wrapping up the workday I jot down outstandings to cover for the next day, close the laptop and most likely step out to run supermarket or mail errands. Lunch would have been large and healthy, so dinner is very small – a tea supper if you will. It’s all wonderfully mundane. Exercise consists of a brief walk in nature and that closes the day. I tend to be ready for bed at 10:00 PM Eastern.
4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?
I’ve learned that listening is one of the most underrated skills within leadership and management as a whole. It’s incredible how easy it is to ignore when entry level or mid management complains about a problem until the problem becomes more than the elephant in the room.
We make it hard for no-people in business. The professionals who truly see that, no – this target market is wrong for the brand – or no, this program is not going to make timeline with new customer dictates, tend to get ignored. While in business the customer may always be right, this is life, and businesses need no-people to prevent mishaps.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
In 2024 I was reintroduced to Simon Sinek’s Start with Why during my CSPO® certification. Training and it just makes so much sense. Just for starters, how many times you may have exclaimed ‘why am I doing this!’ Well, we need to start with why. What exactly is the primary motivating force behind actions, decisions, and a call to action for others to participate in? Is it to make money, grow a society, impact technology? If we don’t know what we are for, our ‘why’ our actions may not meet our targets for the long-term.
It’s a really good book that I don’t mind re-reading. Actually, I just grabbed it from the shelf and will give it a third read!
6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?
In 2024 I was reintroduced to Simon Sinek’s Start with Why during my CSPO® Training and it just makes so much sense. Just for starters, how many times you may have exclaimed ‘why am I doing this!’ Well, we need to start with why. What exactly is the primary motivating force behind actions, decisions, and a call to action for others to participate in? Is it to make money, grow a society, impact technology? If we don’t know what we are for, our ‘why’ our actions may not meet our targets for the long-term.
It’s a really good book that I don’t mind re-reading. Actually, I just grabbed it from the shelf and will give it a third read!
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?
Throughout my journey as a leader, I have faced extremely tough challenges, moments that seemed like dead ends, where circumstances appeared adverse and supportive voices were scarce. However, these challenges have been nothing but tests of my conviction and resilience. My story is one of relentless struggle, of never giving up, of staying unwaveringly true to my goals, and of never backing down, not even to gain momentum.
Each step forward, taken with professionalism, care, dedication, and strength, has taught me that there is always a valuable lesson or a positive outcome at the end of the path. This journey has reaffirmed my belief that only oneself knows their true limits and potential. My story, filled with obstacles and triumphs, serves as a reminder that with the right mindset and an unbreakable spirit, even the most daunting challenges can be overcome.