You don’t need seed capital to succeed; you need drive, determination, and wit. Christina's journey began in Saudi Arabia and has grown into a regional success story. Today, she is the founder and CEO of KristiesLab, a leading company in marketing, branding, and event management with a presence in Beirut, Doha, Dubai, Riyadh, and Kuwait, and the founder of Unconditional, a purpose-driven initiative immersed in social impact and women’s empowerment. Her business operates through three divisions: Moments for luxury weddings, People for brand ambassadors and hostesses, and Experiences for corporate events, branding, and marcom services. Starting with nothing more than a laptop and a phone, Christina built her company from the ground up, driven by passion and a commitment to helping clients find their own voice. Her work spans luxury weddings, product launches, corporate conferences, and music soirées, always with the goal of creating memorable experiences and empowering brands through tailored marcom strategies. Beyond her entrepreneurial work, Christina is a speaker across Lebanon and the MENA region. In 2016, she was invited to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Silicon Valley, hosted by U.S. President Barack H. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Christina-Maria Khater created a successful business through KristiesLab company, learned from it and is now helping other women through another success story; the women empowering NGO “Unconditional”, which she established in 2014.
Acknowledging the fact that despite the great progress, many women in the Middle East are still not active participants in politics or in the workforce. Aiming to assist women reach their potential, because “a woman can do whatever she wants”, Khater speaks out for women’s empowerment in order to secure greater political and economic participation.
Unconditional empowers women to be independent by providing consultancies and mentoring, and Khater makes sure on a daily basis to support women through collaborating with working from home ladies and young women seeking part-time jobs to secure an income that will help them pursue their higher education and further dreams.
This commitment and efforts weren’t unnoticed as KristiesLab has won several national and international awards in the women empowerment field: The Silver Stevie Award-Woman Entrepreneur of the Year: Europe, Middle East, Africa in 2016, and the Woman in Business & The Professions World Award – Female Entrepreneur of the Year: Europe, Middle East, Africa in 2017. In 2019, KristiesLab has been certified and recognized by the UNGC for women’s empowerment principles in the work place in NYC after scoring 88% on gender equality. KristiesLab was also chosen in 2019 as pioneer for Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) by the Global Compact Network Lebanon (GCNL), which concerns gender equality that is part of Khater’s mission in life.
Christina-Maria Khater has built the success of her business based on the trust of its community, for which she will forever remain grateful, hence her determination to give back to the community and stand by its people, especially in the most challenging times.
Besides actively volunteering with several local NGOs such as Animals Lebanon, Beirut Marathon Association, Lebanese Autism Society and others, Khater has launched two initiatives following the outrageous Beirut blast on August 4th, 2020. The first initiative was “One home at a time”, through which KristiesLab was able to restore 87 houses with the help of its team and resources. The second was “Flip for Beirut”, an art initiative aiming to support 90 families whose homes and livelihoods were severely impacted by the Beirut port explosion. Through digital illustrations created by Lebanese and non-Lebanese illustrators, KristiesLab aims to keep the spirit of Beirut alive.