Ask Michelle Butler where she has felt the most appreciated as a businesswoman and her answer might surprise you: Cuba.

“I was never taken seriously by my U.S. male counterparts,” she says about her days as CEO of the Navarretta Group, one of the first firms to facilitate exports between the United States and Cuba. “But in Cuba, equality of women is important. They listened to me.”

Butler’s fascination with Cuba began as a graduate student at UCSD. From there she led the first official trade delegation to the island, securing a $10 million trade pact for California.

After the export market to Cuba plateaued, Butler, 36, decided to take on a different challenge: the Women’s Business Center of California. Finding the organization a financial mess, she closed it and restructured it. The non-profit business counseling and training center reopened in February.

“Women have obstacles that are unique to them,” she says. “They are not only the caregivers for children, they are for the extended family too, which means they go in and out of the work force for periods of time.”

Butler’s Cuba experience taught her job satisfaction is worth the struggle. “I learned we don’t ever stop facing challenges if we want to be successful,” she says.