Meet Christina Cornelius
From the surface Christina appears to be a young woman who has it all together and excels at whatever she puts her mind to. However, beneath the surface, she is a very complicated figure who is intentional about her healing and growth.
Christina is a senior project manager for a local start up government consulting firm, TouchPoint Strategies. She also is the founder of the non-profit organization Women Exceeding. Although she is a native of Chicago, Illinois, like many transplants, she has fallen in love with the great city of Houston, Texas.
Women Exceeding (WE) was born from a passion for helping others reach their full potential and a genuine appreciation for women working towards their dreams. Their founding team shared a love for learning about the journeys of various women from a myriad of backgrounds. They wanted to create a space that validated the norm of support and community, as well as, challenge negative stereotypes of combativeness among women. Women Exceeding continues to strive to spread the message of unity and collaboration to achieve greatness.
These are ambitious goals that WE has put forth not the only mirror the ambitions of its founder Christina Cornelius. Listening to Christina’s story you will find a person who is true to herself and to others.
Christina has been an overachiever her entire life, but this partially stemmed from a need to prove her worth in accomplishments. After her father’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2016, she really started focusing on resolving unreconciled trauma from her childhood.Through this journey of healing, she has realized the lack of space for black women to show anything but greatness to be considered not only successful, but competent and deserving. It was this that made her work through several months of excruciating pain due to endometriosis without sharing her condition to get proper work accommodations. When she finally took time off to deal with her health, she felt shame, guilt, and anxiety.
Christina has also experienced the barriers to proper healthcare that women are faced with. Over a course of two years she had the same surgery three times with three different surgical teams. She found that often she was not being taken seriously and when she complained about pain she was treated as if she were drug seeking. She found comfort in two women physicians, Dr. Shannon Warren and Dr. Julie Brewer who acknowledged her experience as a black woman and took her complaints seriously.
Despite her health challenges, Christina preserved. She left her previous company and stepped into her current role which has proven to be better for her physical and mental health. Christina learned that in order to be of service to others, she has to first be of service to herself. She learned the importance of enforcing boundaries and choosing what stress she exposes herself to.
Her struggles are real and complicated and yet she continues forward. Her personal losses have been tremendous and yet she continues to move forward. Her veracity to succeed at the things she is passionate about is only matched by her brilliant smile she shares with those she helps.
When working with Christina people will find that she is true to her purpose to help. She has learned “just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should do it”. Knowing this about oneself makes it easy to know that what she does put her time to is going to get her full attention. This work ethic has helped her to succeed where others have failed. It is what draws people to work with her and help her in her endeavors.
Christina looks for truth in the work that she does and the relationships she has with others. This level of authenticity provides a space for great mentorships and collaborations to occur. Like the name of her non-profit, Christina embodies the Women Exceeding name.
Ironically enough, Christina started Women Exceeding as a way to encourage women to follow their dreams despite the challenges they may face. She believes that we live in an era where counterfeit images on social media leads to others feeling that they are inadequate. To counteract this affect, she is transparent in her journey. She wants other women to know that there is always more than what is seen at the surface.
