Episode 18 | Turning down the obvious path (Rosario "Charo" Cestau Murphy)

Halfway through her career, Rosario "Charo" Cestau Murphy did the thing nobody advises. She left a global role in Boston and moved to Latin America for a job that was smaller on paper. Her own words for the move: "I call this going from the Pentagon to the trenches."

In this episode, Christian Rados sits down with Charo for a conversation about the decisions that do not show up well on a CV. About arriving in Buenos Aires with an affiliate to build, a home still to find, and a pregnancy nobody had planned around. About Boston calling her back, more than once, and the photo of her children she held up every time. She is clear that the no was never the hard part. Making peace with it afterwards was.

It is also a conversation about what innovation actually requires on the ground. Global patient brochures telling families to eat filet mignon. A local nutritionist hired to rewrite them into something affordable. Why diagnosis, not therapy, is the real bottleneck in rare disease. And a definition of winning that has room for dinner at home.

About the guest
Rosario "Charo" Cestau Murphy grew up in Uruguay and trained as a geneticist before a scholarship took her to the US, where she switched to an MBA in Boston. She held global and regional roles at Biogen, Vertex and Genzyme, co-led the integration after Sanofi acquired Genzyme, and built a biotech affiliate in Buenos Aires from scratch. Today she runs RC STEM Consulting, advising companies on go-to-market and international expansion, and coaching people through the career decisions she has already had to make herself.

In this episode
Reversing the standard career path, from global to regional
What gets lost when you only ever see the strategy
Building an affiliate while pregnant, in temporary housing
Why the global playbook fails on the ground
The diagnosis gap in rare disease
Turning down the move back to Boston
What she tells people weighing the same decision
What success looks like now

Connect
Rosario "Charo" Cestau Murphy: linkedin.com/in/rosariocharocestaumurphy
Christian Rados / WILLING TO WIN: linkedin.com/in/christianrados-biotechdreamteams

Full Episode also on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts

ABOUT THE HOST

Christian Rados is a Munich-based executive headhunter for venture-backed biotech in Europe and founder of Rados Recruiting. Since 2011 he has placed permanent and interim leaders in biotech, pharma, and MedTech, over 1,000 placements from Director to C-level and board. Every search starts with a stage-first leadership analysis: stage first, then the seat, then the human. Willing to Win is his podcast with biotech leaders who built companies against the odds.

Website: rados-recruiting.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christianrados-biotechdreamteams