A powerful reflection on loss, resilience, and transformation. Through adoption, grief, and family bonds, discover how choosing to survive rather than remain a victim can reshape your life's purpose and meaning.
Her Story
About Kristina
Kristina Maez oversees Sales and Logistics for the company she and her husband founded in 2004 in Santa Fe Springs, California. The business specializes in industrial textile printers, offering the printers along with parts, ink, and ongoing customer support. Drawing on experience in the printing industry that began before the company’s founding, Kristina manages billing, logistics, customer support, and day-to-day operations.
After returning to school as an adult, Kristina is completing her bachelor’s degree online, with graduation expected in May 2027, and plans to go on to earn a law degree. She also holds a Certificate of Achievement from the Institute of Children’s Literature. Her published work includes a poem featured in a Who’s Who publication and articles in printing industry magazines.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kristina
01What do you attribute your success to?
First and foremost, my faith. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, my faith has guided every part of my life: my challenges, my blessings, and everything in between. It has given me strength when things were hard and gratitude when things went well.
Right alongside my faith is my family. We’ve been through many ups and downs together, but through all of it, we’ve always known we can rely on one another. That support has carried me through every chapter of my life, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I ever received came from watching someone lead by example. Howard Furst at AAA Flag & Banner was one of my greatest teachers. He was never the kind of leader who stayed behind a desk. He was right there on the front lines with us, in production and in shipping, getting his hands dirty to get the job done.
What he taught me is that you have to show your crew you’re willing to do the work yourself. When your team sees you working alongside them, they respect you, they trust you, and they give their best. I’ve carried that lesson with me ever since, and it’s how I try to lead in my own business today.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Believe that you can. You can build a career, raise a family, and go back to school, all at the same time. Too often, the only limits we face are the ones we put on ourselves, whether it’s worrying about our age or simply telling ourselves “I can’t.”
Raising four daughters, and now watching my grandchildren grow, has been my greatest inspiration. I want them to see through my life that anything is possible when you’re willing to work for it. Don’t let anyone, including yourself, tell you otherwise.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is the competition. There are a lot of companies selling printers, ink, and parts, and customers have more choices than ever. But I’ve found that competition also creates an opportunity to stand out. If you work hard and you’re honest with people, you attract the right customers, the ones who value integrity and stay with you for the long run. In our business, trust has always been our greatest advantage.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity, above all. When I tell you something, you can count on it, because my word is my bond. I’m simply not able to be dishonest. It’s not who I am, in business or in life.
Alongside integrity, I believe in hard work. I’ve never been afraid to roll up my sleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done. Those two values, honesty and hard work, have guided me through every season of my life, and they’re the foundation of the relationships I’ve built with my family, my customers, and everyone I work with.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Kristina
Victim or Survivor: The Choice That Shapes Us
From loss and grief to a life that matters: one woman's journey from victim to survivor.
Every life has a beginning we didn't choose.
Mine began with being given up for adoption.
For many years, there was a part of my story I simply didn't know. I was raised by a family who loved me, parents who became my anchor through every high and every low. Whatever life brought, we stuck it out together.
Still, I wondered.
When I finally found my birth family, it felt like a blessing I had been waiting for my whole life. I had sisters. I had a mother I could finally look in the eye.
But finding them also showed me everything I had missed.
I never grew up alongside my sisters. I never shared the ordinary moments, the late-night talks, the secrets, or the everyday closeness that sisters take for granted.
And just six months after I met my birth mother, she was gone.
Her death left a gaping hole, along with all the what-ifs that come with it. She never got to know her granddaughters. We never got to be the mother-daughter duo I had imagined for so long.
But I loved her.
I loved that she was honest with me, even when the truth was hard to hear. That honesty became part of who I am.
The losses didn't stop there.
In 2013, I lost my birth father, who had become my best friend. In 2017, I lost my adoptive father. And this past June, I lost my adoptive mother under circumstances that are now the subject of a pending lawsuit.
Today, I consider myself an orphan.
Grief like that can change a person. It can harden you. It can make you bitter. It can convince you that life has simply been unfair.
And sometimes, it has been.
But I have learned that in every hardship, we are given a choice.
We can be a victim.
Or we can be a survivor.
Being a survivor doesn't mean the pain disappears. It doesn't mean pretending the losses didn't happen or that the what-ifs don't still visit late at night. It means refusing to let the hardest chapters write the ending of our story.
What if our losses could teach us to love more deeply?
What if our pain could give us a purpose?
What if the hardest moments of our lives became the very thing that helps someone else?
For me, that is exactly what happened.
My losses deepened my love for my family: my husband of 37 years, my four daughters, my grandchildren, and my best friend's little boy, who calls me Gigi. They strengthened my faith, which has carried me through every season. And losing my mother set me on a new path toward elder law so that other families have someone in their corner fighting for the people they love.
We cannot choose every chapter of our story.
We cannot undo what has been lost.
But we can choose what we do next.
So hold your family close. Say "I love you" while you still can. Forgive quickly. Live honestly.
And whatever life hands you, rise above it.
Because surviving is not the end of the story.
Making your life count is.
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