About Our Team

 

Christen grew up on a farm in the very small town of Silex, Missouri, where she learned that hard work was not an option – it was expected daily to help maintain the property and business that her family owned.  The family business is Stillwater Kennel, a dog training and boarding facility (which doesn’t close on weekends, holidays, or during inclement weather).  Christen’s daily chores included a variety of farm tasks including cleaning kennels, walking dogs, mowing grass, and caring for the 250+ birds that were raised on the farm for hunting and training purposes. 

 

This work ethic carried over into her school as well.  She participated in just about every extracurricular activity including softball, basketball, track, volleyball, band, 4-H, Future Farmers of America, National Honor Society, and her favorite – Student Council.  Starting in 6th grade, Christen became facinated with student government and volunteer leadership and held the President or Vice President role in her class until her Junior year when she stepped into the office of President of Silex High School for her Junior and Senior years.  It was then when her leadership and organizational skills began to shine when given many opportunities to plan many successful events for the Silex School District & Community.

 

After graduation, Christen enrolled at the University of Missouri - Columbia where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management.   While at Mizzou, she worked at the University of Missouri Dairy Farm, Pier 1 Imports, and Drury Hotels.  During this time, Christen lived in Columbia supporting herself through these jobs and learning once again to balance the various personal & professional responsibilities.  She also found a great deal of enjoyment in a new hobby - DockDogs.  This is a sport where dogs jump from a dock platform and they are measured to see who can jump the furthest.  At her first event, Christen introduced herself to the founders and owners of DockDogs and the next month, she started fitting in 'work opportunities' with DockDogs, traveling the US, while finishing her last year in college. 

 

After earning her degree, she continued to pursue her career at Drury Hotels which was a very productive eight year duration of commitment to the Drury brand.  The Drury philosophy embraces quality and value, service and hospitality.  It is these key components that made Christen strive to be the best that she could be and she moved quickly within the organization.  After 6 years in various management roles, she moved to a position in the corporate office as a Training Specialist.   Christen helped train all new hotel managers, assisted in opening new hotels, became certified in Franklin Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and spent a large amount of her time working on special projects that would impact training guides or procedures which she was also responsible for maintaining and updating content throughout.

 

During her time at Drury Hotels, Christen continued consulting for DockDogs.  In her first year of consulting, she nearly doubled the size of the DockDogs Clubs Program and it was no longer feasible to do the work in a part time role.  Although a VERY difficult decision to make, Christen chose to step out of the corporate world and enter the small business world for herself and become a full time consultant for DockDogs.  The opportunity allowed Christen to move into a home office and begin preparing for additional opportunities to help other small businesses who were getting started.  Those opportunities arose and Christen was able to help several friends with their small businesses.  At about the same time, Justin and Christen started their family and added a little girl who arrived in December 2010.  Being a full time mom quickly took up the majority of Christen's time and she was once again in a situation where she had to decide which direction to go with her career.  Yet another difficult decision, Christen decided to step away from her dream job at DockDogs.

 

Since 2011, Christen has continued to provide various consulting services for small businesses, coach individuals in how to best showcase themselves in a resume and cover letter, and most recently completed a 3 year project with Drury Hotels' Recruiting Department.  In 2013, Christen and her husband moved back to Silex to a farm adjacent to Stillwater Kennel and have continued to focus on growing the family dog training & boarding business.

 

Now, she would like to help you.  Most of us have times during the day or at night when thoughts cross our minds - things that we wish we could get done but don't have the time or problems that may be standing in the way that we cannot overcome on our own.  Christen wants to know what is 'keeping you up at night'?  How can she help you reach your goals?  There are no strings attached - let her listen to your story!  Contact her today to set up an appointment in person or via telephone for a free consultation.