Host Simon Hodgkins is in discussion with Hristina Racheva, whose journey is anything but conventional. After more than a decade of leading localization, product, and experimentation teams at major global organizations, including the European Commission, Google, and Skyscanner, Hristina made a bold pivot. Today, she’s a somatic guide and nervous system educator helping individuals and leaders reconnect with their inner wisdom to show up more authentically in both work and life.

This episode examines the intriguing interplay between high-performance corporate environments and the profoundly personal, yet often overlooked, realm of somatic awareness.

From Localization to Transformation

Hristina describes her career as running in two parallel streams. One followed the traditional trajectory of success, leading teams, managing global products, and delivering results in fast-paced, multilingual, and multicultural environments. As a localization leader, she operated at the intersection of language, technology, and culture. Her work demanded not just strategic acumen but an acute sensitivity to how communication lands differently across global audiences.

That background is foundational to how she sees leadership today.

The other path in her life was quieter but just as potent: a growing interest in somatic practices, nervous system regulation, and self-inquiry. These practices gradually gained importance as she realized that traditional leadership tools alone were insufficient to sustain well-being in high-pressure roles.

Burnout and the Turning Point

It wasn’t until Hristina experienced burnout firsthand that the two paths began to converge. As she navigated her recovery, she discovered that the way she was working relentlessly, performatively, often disconnected from herself, was no longer sustainable. That realization was a turning point.

Through somatic studies and deep personal work, she began to transform how she showed up, not just professionally but as a human being. Eventually, this led her to leave the tech world behind and dedicate herself fully to supporting others on similar journeys.

What Is Somatic Work?

For those unfamiliar with the term, “somatic” comes from the Greek word soma, meaning body, not in the anatomical sense, but as the lived, felt experience from within. Hristina explains that somatic work is about reconnecting with that internal experience, primarily through the lens of nervous system awareness.

Rather than focusing on mindset hacks or confidence frameworks that operate on the surface, this work goes deeper. It helps people recognize automatic stress responses that shape how we lead, listen, and react, especially under pressure.

As Hristina states: “It’s not about thinking differently. It’s about being different.”

Embodied Leadership is More Than Just a Buzzword

Hristina breaks down what she calls the “layers” of leadership:

• What you do: the tactical, day-to-day responsibilities of leading

• How you show up: often described as “authentic leadership,” which can sometimes feel limited to sharing vulnerabilities

• Who you are being: your inner state, your presence, your capacity to regulate yourself and hold space for others

This third layer is what she defines as embodied leadership. It’s about cultivating the internal awareness and regulation needed to lead with clarity, steadiness, and integrity even in the face of pressure or conflict.

For those working in localization, where cross-cultural nuance, global collaboration, and constant change are the norm, this kind of leadership is especially relevant. Hristina’s insights speak directly to the hidden emotional labor that localization professionals often carry, navigating complex dynamics while translating not just language, but meaning and context.

She shares a compelling example from her past, where she felt something “off” about a former manager despite their outward friendliness. That intuitive discomfort later proved valid. What she sensed was not about words or demeanor but the underlying nervous system state, which people unconsciously pick up on.

“You can’t fake your embodiment,” Hristina says.

Transformation Through Small Shifts

While her programs may sound profound, the changes they bring about are often simple yet powerful. This is the heart of Hristina’s work: creating space. Space to pause, to check in, to ask, “What do I need right now?”

It’s deceptively simple but, in today’s culture of constant doing, profoundly radical. And for professionals in fast-paced, detail-intensive roles, such as localization, it offers a much-needed recalibration.

Supporting Leaders and Teams in the Global Workplace

Hristina now works in three key areas:

• 1:1 Coaching: An eight-week personalized journey helping clients build nervous system capacity and reconnect with their inner cues.

• Embodied Leadership Programs for Teams: Helping groups understand how their nervous system states affect communication, collaboration, and leadership presence, which is essential in global, multicultural settings.

• Self-paced Course: A new workshop that explores the science behind the nervous system, the impacts of chronic stress, and practical tools for regulation.

For those looking to dip a toe into the work, she offers a discount code for VistaTalks listeners on her new course. 

This is the link to the course: https://hristinaracheva.com/b/yourbodyonstress

Discount code: VISTATALKS20

A Thought to Take With You

As a parting message, Hristina reminds us that change doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful. Sometimes it starts with something as small as a breath, a pause, a moment of checking in.

“We override our needs constantly,” she says. “But if you don’t know what you feel or what you need, how can you support yourself?”

For anyone working in high-demand, fast-evolving fields like localization, her message lands as both an invitation and a reminder: your presence, not just your output, matters.