Christina Iskandar shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Christina, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
What I’m most proud of building isn’t a product or a business. It’s my way of life.
Every day, I get to work alongside my two best friends: my husband, Marc, and our Barketing Manager, Hashbrown. Together, we’ve created a rhythm that feels calm, joyful, and meaningful. Work and life flow together naturally.
Some days that means morning hikes in the Colorado sun; some nights end with us dancing at Red Rocks to live music, one of my greatest passions. Those moments remind me that success isn’t about how many hours you work; it’s about how fully you live them.
This life didn’t happen by chance. It took years of focus, patience, and shared vision. Marc is the best partner (in life and business) that anyone could ask for. His creativity keeps me inspired, and his steady optimism helps me stay grounded. We balance each other in a way that makes both our marriage and our work stronger.
Through Nurture Productivity, we help others find that same sense of balance. Our mission is to show that business can be both profitable and peaceful. Watching clients reclaim their time and rediscover joy in their work reminds me why we started this journey in the first place. It proves that the calm, intentional path can lead to the most fulfilling kind of success.
People often see the harmony and freedom now, but not the years of sacrifice it took to get here. There were long nights, tough choices, and moments when we questioned everything. Yet every challenge shaped us. Each one brought us closer to the life we have today, built with intention, gratitude, and partnership.
That’s what I’m most proud of. A life that reflects our values and gives us the space to truly live them.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Christina Iskandar, CEO and Co-Founder of Nurture Productivity, a consulting agency I run with my husband, Marc. Together, we help boutique marketing agencies scale sustainably by building systems that balance creativity, structure, and peace of mind.
The idea for Nurture Productivity came from a breaking point. After years of leading high-pressure marketing teams, I was diagnosed with a rare venous condition that forced me to step away from work. What began as one of the hardest moments of my life became the most transformative. It taught me that no level of success is worth sacrificing your health or sense of purpose. I wanted to build something that proved growth could be sustainable, fulfilling, and human.
That mission has guided everything since. We specialize in creating tailored ClickUp and HubSpot systems that help agencies eliminate chaos, automate the repetitive, and focus on what they do best. Marc brings deep expertise in AI and full-stack marketing, while I focus on operational design that keeps people at the center.
In less than two years, our systems have powered over 100,000 automations, saved 15,000 employee hours, and generated nearly half a million dollars in measurable client savings. We also recently became HubSpot Solutions Partners, giving our clients priority access to advanced integrations, dedicated support, and the latest tools to accelerate their growth.
At its heart, Nurture Productivity exists to create calm in the chaos. Every process we build and every workflow we design helps business owners reclaim time, clarity, and confidence. That’s what makes our work special.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
The person who taught me the most about work is my grandfather, Anthony Scalice, or Pa, as I’ve always called him. He’s a Brooklyn-born son of Sicilian immigrants, an Army veteran, and one of the most quietly determined people I know.
Pa’s lessons were lived, not lectured. At eighty-seven, he still wakes up every morning to run a mile. That steady consistency shaped how I think about discipline. He grew up in a cramped one-room apartment, waking early to tend the coal furnace. He later became the CEO of multiple New York City companies. The arc of his life taught me perseverance.
He showed me that success is not about being the smartest person in the room. It is about surrounding yourself with the smartest people. He also taught me something deeper: if you want real freedom, you have to build it. “You only get what you accept,” he told me, recalling one of his first big negotiations. He asked for a number so high it scared him, and he got it. I think about that every time I send a proposal that stretches what I thought was possible.
From him I learned that hard work is not only effort. It is courage. The courage to ask for more, to believe in your worth, and to keep showing up long after others stop. Those are the lessons I carry into my life and into our business every day.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me how fragile everything is, and how much peace depends on balance.
Before I got sick, I believed hard work could fix almost anything. I treated exhaustion like a sign of dedication, not a warning. I ignored what my body was trying to tell me until it stopped giving me a choice. When I could no longer move at the pace I was used to, I had to face a truth I’d been avoiding: success means nothing if it costs you your health.
Those quiet months of recovery were some of the hardest of my life. The world kept moving while I stayed still. But in that stillness, I learned to see what I’d been too busy to notice. The morning light through the window. The sound of my husband’s voice. The simple grace of breathing without rushing to the next task.
That time taught me that balance is not optional. Health, peace, and connection are not luxuries to be earned after achievement. They are the foundation of everything else.
Success taught me how to climb. Suffering taught me how to stay grounded. It reminded me that the most important things are quiet, often invisible, and easy to lose if you are not paying attention.
Everything I’ve built since then, including Nurture Productivity, comes from that truth. Work can be ambitious and kind at the same time. You can grow without breaking yourself in the process.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
There are two lies that come up again and again, and they often feed into each other.
The first is that you have to love every part of what you do. The truth is, almost nobody does. Even people in the most “dream” careers face the grind. Artists still spend nights chasing invoices. Influencers still edit endless clips and manage comments. Chefs still mop floors when the lights go out. Every passion comes with its share of hard, repetitive work.
I’ve seen this lie paralyze so many young professionals. The first time their job feels heavy, they assume they’ve chosen wrong. But the truth is, you have to earn your way to the parts you love. It takes time, skill, and patience to escape the worst parts and focus on what gives you energy. That only happens when you stay long enough to grow into mastery. Still, there’s a seed of truth buried in the myth. You should feel a pull toward what you do. For me, that pull is the spark of working beside my husband, Marc, and supporting other entrepreneurs as they find their footing. If you have that core joy, don’t quit when it gets hard. That’s where the best lessons hide.
The second lie is that success has to look a certain way. Early in my career, I believed it too. I thought real success meant a big team, luxurious company retreats, and an office with skyline views. But Nurture Productivity will never look like that. We’re not trying to be a Fortune 500 company, and we don’t need to be. We’ve built something lean and deeply fulfilling. With low overhead, we keep most of what we earn. We live below our means and focus on the freedom that comes from choice, not appearances.
The truth is, a successful business doesn’t have a single look. It has a feeling. For us, that feeling is calm, balance, and the quiet confidence of knowing we built a life that truly fits us.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. When have you had to bet the company?
The biggest risk we ever took was the moment we decided to make Nurture Productivity our full-time focus. At that point, there was no backup plan. I was recovering from a rare venous condition that had forced me to leave a demanding agency leadership role, and Marc was balancing long hours in his marketing career while helping me rebuild both my confidence and our vision. On paper, it wasn’t the right time to start a business, but waiting for the right time can become its own trap.
We made the call sitting together at our kitchen table, staring at the same spreadsheet we had been obsessing over for weeks. The numbers didn’t make sense, but the idea did. We wanted to prove that an agency could grow without grinding people down. That became our north star.
In those early months, every client mattered. Every contract felt personal. We spent more nights than I can count mapping workflows, testing automations, and refining systems until they finally ran the way we imagined. There were moments we weren’t sure it would all hold together, but what kept us moving was a shared belief that freedom mattered more than comfort.
That single decision reshaped everything. It taught us that risk is not something you take once; it is something you live with until the vision pays off. One of our closest friends, Eamon, once said something that has stuck with me ever since: If you bet on yourself, you’ll always win. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but now I do. Betting on yourself isn’t about certainty. It’s about trust. You might lose money, sleep, or stability for a while, but you gain something far more valuable, proof that you were capable all along.
That’s the lesson I carry with me every time we make a new decision for the company. Bet on yourself. That’s the only bet that guarantees growth, even when it doesn’t look like it at first.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nurtureproductivity.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nurtureproductivity/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nurture-productivity
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nurtureproductivity/
