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Sharon Christopher, attorney who became a leader in Trinidad and Tobago banking - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Sharon Christopher has had three different careers. She’s an attorney, she has worked in banking and finance, and now she is the founder and CEO of Sharon Christopher and Associates, focusing on leadership development, motivational speaking and personal/life coaching.

Christopher’s contributions to the business, banking and finance sectors have been numerous, and earlier this month she was recognised for it with the Chaconia Medal (Gold), one of Trinidad and Tobago’s highest awards.

“I was honoured to think that my work has been recognised on a national level… I mean, you work and you don’t necessarily work for people to honour you, because my real joy is doing the work and seeing that things come out how I envisioned them to be… But it is a privilege to be so honoured and it’s a humbling, beautiful feeling,” the former deputy CEO of First Citizens Bank told Business Day at her home in Westmoorings.

Christopher was born in Grenada and is a naturalised citizen of TT. She grew up in Alyce Glen, Petit Valley. She retired from corporate life in 2016, but said when she started off professionally she was an attorney, and had no formal training in business. What she had was a willingness to learn and people to teach her as she went along. She holds a bachelors of law degree from the UWI Cave Hill, Barbados campus.

“My professional career started when I came back from London after doing a masters in law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

"I came back at that time when Selwyn Richardson, God rest his soul, was attorney general…I was brought in to work as a state counsel II, and there began five of the most exciting years of my life,” from 1981-1986.

When Russell Martineau, SC, succeeded Richardson, Christopher said he, like Richardson, became a legal mentor. Martineau assigned her to the international finance desk, which was out of her litigation comfort zone.

[caption id="attachment_946334" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sharon Christopher now heads her own leadership development company after a career in law, finance and banking. - SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]

“This meant I had to travel with the Ministry of Finance. The country was undergoing major infrastructure works at that time and was borrowing heavily on the international markets. I would go and give legal advice.”

When she was first assigned there she was hesitant because she was “a new lawyer.”

But Martineau said, "You’re a lawyer, and you can do it. You go there and if you sit at the negotiation table and you get stuck on a point, you tell them to stop, you get back to your hotel, you call me and we discuss it.’”

Christopher said it was one of the most important lessons she has learnt in her career, and she is fortunate to do so at such an early stage in the game. It’s a lesson she tries to teach her clients, especially the women.

“When you face your fears, a whole world opens up to you.”

When she left the government service to work at the Central Bank, she said, it was not because she wanted to, but because she had

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