Cecilia Castro Caratini advises moms to “have fun and get dirty”
By Caribbean Business Staff

 Cecilia  Castro-Caratini is skilled not only at managing the finance and  human resources department of one of Puerto Rico’s largest information technology (IT) consulting firms but also at maintaining a healthy balance between motherhood and her career.
The comptroller for Integration Technologies Corp. (Intech) believes that the quality of time is more important than the quantity when it comes to raising children, so she makes the most of her time with her sons Roberto Enrique and Diego.
“have fun and get dirty” is Castro-Caratini’s advice to new mothers who want to enjoy the magic of motherhood.  The Washington University accounting graduate always knew she would be a working mom and was confident she could juggle a professional career and a healthy family life.
“More than anything, I am eternally grateful to my family, especially my mother in law who have been a tremendous help to my husband and me. We have counted on them to take care of the boys”, says the comptroller.  “I know how important it is that children grow up surrounded by family because that is how I was raised.”
Castro-Caratini says her husband, the administrative manager of Popular Assets, also makes her life as a working mom a lot simpler by being a dad who take son his fair share of parenting responsibilities for their eight-month-old and two-year-old sons.  He is the one who wakes up for middle-of-the-night feedings.  “It makes all the difference in the world to have a supportive husband, even though many women manage on their own.-I sometimes wonder how they do it,” she says.
The family of four often spends weekends at the beach building sandcastles, walking in  the park, or spending time at home with home with mom reading children’s books out loud. “My favorite part of motherhood…is discovering the world through their eyes”- says Castro-Caratini. “ I love to watch Diego stare at branches moving n the wind or at Roberto Enrique having a great time splashing around in a puddle”.
Castro-Caratini also manages to squeeze in some personal time to listen to music, read a good book, or to go out with her sisters.  “Even though time may seem scarce, everyone need to unwind,” she says. “Sometimes you just need to make time”.
Castro-Caratini has been a part of Intech team for four years.  The San Juan based IT consulting company was established in 1993 and designs, implements, and maintains networks, systems, and business applications for enterprises throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.  It is the third largest IT professional services company in Puerto Rico and no. 295 on the 2003 Caribbean Business list of the Top 300 locally owned companies.