About Kristeen Romero

The System Architect Who Was Never Built for the System

If there was one thing I learned growing up, it's this:
When a system is rigid, people break. But when a system cares, people thrive.

I am a "Third Culture Kid", born in the relentless hustle of Hong Kong to Filipino immigrants. From the outside, I lived between two worlds. But on the inside, I often felt like I didn't belong anywhere.

Growing up, the system was always fighting me.

Public examinations like the HKCEEs and HK A-Levels were not designed for independent thinking; They were designed for absolute precision. In Biology, Chemistry or even Mathematics, you were penalized for not using the exact phrasing or steps in the scoring rubric—even if you understood and explained the concept perfectly.

My secondary school placed me in the "Science Stream" because that's where all the "smart" students go, even though my strengths were in Humanities. I spent years forcing my brain to work in a way it wasn't wired to, and my grades suffered for it. My friends were in the same boat, so our teachers held an "intervention" meant to encourage us to improve, but all it did was make me feel like I wasn't enough.

When I finally switched to a Band 1 school that allowed me to take Humanities subjects for my A-Levels, I thrived in class. I was top in most subjects when it came to school exams but I ended up failing the public exams anyway.

I didn't know it then, but in addition to the cultural differences, I also was navigating an undiagnosed neurodivergent brain (I received my ADHD diagnosis at age 30) through a system that demanded conformity.

Filipino Mangoes, School Buses and Service

While Hong Kong taught me about competition, speed and rigidity, my summers in the Philippines taught me about community, kindness and care.

Every year, I would return to my parents' home province of Pampanga, which didn't have an international airport for much of my childhood. Back then, we needed to fly into the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila before having to drive 1.5 to 2 hours to reach our destination.

Though my mother had a high-flying job at Mattel handling collector Barbies, my role model became my mom's eldest sister, Tita Chat. She was an elementary school teacher who lived on a modest salary. While she didn't have my mother's corporate resources, she practiced a radical kind of generosity that still inspires me to this day.

Before we arrived, she would spend hours cooking our favorite meals, and purchasing the Philippine mangoes and balut I was absolutely obsessed with. She woke up really early in the morning to go to the market and other locations where she knew specific vendors would be. She made sure all of our favorite foods were ready for us as soon as we got home.

My parents would typically return to Hong Kong for work after a few days, leaving my older sister and I in the Philippines for the rest of our summer vacation. School was still in session for local students during this time, so her husband would let me ride along in his school bus to pick up students from the elementary school. My first couple of summer vacations there were spent learning Tagalog with Tita Chat after she had just finished working a full school day.

Sometimes, they'd take me to their favorite sari-sari store (small neighborhood convenience/grocery store) and treat me to a popsicle or random street food. Their son, who was a year younger than me, also introduced me to other kids in our subdivision so I got to experience a lot of Filipino street games.

They really made sure that I was never bored. I got to be an actual kid during my summers.

The Turning Point: Yellow Slippers

Because of the pressures of public exams in secondary school, university life and building a career in Hong Kong, I was unable to visit the Philippines for half a decade. When I could finally return regularly again, I was already in my mid-20s.

At that point, my parents had recently purchased a condominium for their retirement, so that's where we stayed for one of our trips. Though our extended family was unable to greet us when we arrived, Tita Chat and her family made sure to leave us each a housewarming gift: a simple pair of house slippers.

I looked at mine and noticed they were yellow.

I paused for a minute, confused. Then it hit me. Yellow was my favorite color as a child because my favorite Teletubby was Laa-Laa.

After all those years apart, after all the chaos I had experienced in Hong Kong, dealing with stress-induced hair loss, worrying about my future, going to therapy in secret, taking up several side hustles to pad my CV and make extra money while at school...

they remembered that one tiny detail that I had honestly not even thought about for more than a decade.

Thinking about this always brings tears to my eyes. It wasn't about the price of the slippers. It was the thought and effort they put into the gift.

Revenue Operations with Care and Resilience at the Forefront

Today, when I build and consult on systems and processes, I bring two core things with me:

(1) the lessons of growing up in the highly-competitive landscape of Hong Kong —especially as a neurodivergent ethnic minority; and

(2) the spirit and culture of the Philippines, where I learned the power of kindness, facing challenges with humor, and celebrating each person's individuality.

Put together, you get the grit and efficiency of someone from a fast-paced city mixed with empathy and a human-first approach (sprinkled with the occasional meme here and there).

I go into every project with the lived experience that systems work best when they are built for people and address real human concerns and emotions. Real change comes from empowering individuals with the knowledge and confidence to use these systems and become self-sufficient.

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Virtual Workshop

HK$2,730

Tailored training conducted via Google Meet based on your business needs.

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Full meeting recordings with chapter timestamps
AI-generated meeting notes with recap & action steps
+HK$1,170/additional training session

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HK$3,810

Tailored training conducted in your office or any in-person location in Hong Kong.

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AI-generated meeting notes with recap & action steps
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For businesses that just purchased HubSpot and are starting completely from scratch.

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