Influential Woman · Staffing and Recruitment, Hospitality Management, Publishing and Media, Life and Business Coaching
Kelli Dennehey Christina
Chief Executive Officer-International Best Selling Author, KDC-Making A Difference, LLC
Dallas, TX 75287
My boss offered me a commission-based recruitment job three times before I accepted. I was scared, but within six weeks I nailed it. The paths we fear most can be the best for us.
Kelli Dennehey Christina · In Her Own Words
In Conversation
Kelli Christina for Bold. Brilliant. Unstoppable.
Read the transcript
Kelli Dennehey Christina: Speaker: Kelli Christina, Chief Executive Officer- KDC-Making A Difference, LLCWhat does being an Influential Woman mean to you?Kelli Christina: Hi, uh, being an influencer, uh, whether you're female or male, and obviously I'm a female, carries a lot of responsibility. The first thing that I think about, uh, as an influencer in the way that I've been able to influence many, many people over the years is the first degree is trust, uh, whether we're discussing life or business, um, can people trust you? Do you carry honesty, integrity? Um, are you wise? Do you have nice wisdom? Do you know how to make an impact? All right, but all of this and all the advice that I've given both as in business and life, whether a business coach or a life coach comes from, do people trust you? Uh, have a beautiful week. This is Kelly Christina.What's one piece of advice you would give to younger women chasing their dreams?Kelli Christina: Hello, um, the best advice that I could give any of our young women, uh, is to stay on task, stay determined, stay resilient, create some strategic plans, but stay on task. Um, sometimes you have to take goals one day at a time, one week at a time, but continue to move forward. Um, I'm a very big advocate on education. Um, and uh uh I think education helps set us up in so many areas of career, um, before we start, um, but also. Do you have the proven ability in no matter what you do out there to go above and beyond and create results? Um, I tell everybody you want promotions, you wanna grow out there, you wanna get those big titles, managers, directors, executives, CEOs, great, uh, wherever you're working, uh, go above and beyond. Um, follow instructions, um, stay focused and give it everything that you've got, um, if you can do that, you will move, move ahead in whatever industry, uh, one step at a time. All right, have a blessed week out there. This is Kelly Christina.
Her Story
About Kelli
I started my career in restaurant management at a very young age - I was a boss at a young age and was promoted to manager before I was even a year into my business degree. I worked for Brinker and became one of only 2 females out of 50 kitchen managers and AGMs. As a single mom, I couldn't transfer constantly to reach GM level, so at a certain age I switched careers into staffing and recruitment. I started in hospitality recruitment at age 30, working 100% commission, and I did really well with it. Then I moved into medical and corporate recruitment, which was a huge learning curve, but I hit it very hard. In two years at corporate, they dragged me out of the corner office because my small team had built a $10 million division from just 12 travelers. I founded KD Staffing in 2007 because I had been a boss for so many years and wanted to take that next challenge. I'm also a medical lobbyist who worked with government officials part-time over a decade, exposing problems in my industry that needed to be fixed. I took on the Brad Pitt lawsuit regarding Make It Right and fan collections, spending 2 years counseling victims and filing with government officials, but the media buried my story and caused massive company damages. Despite being hospitalized and facing enormous challenges, I'm resilient and I'm rising back up. I opened KDC in 2018, picked up a major publisher (Morgan James Publishing with David Hancock), and I host the KellI Christina Show featuring dynamic leaders who work behind the curtain. My brand is about motivation, integrity, honesty, and making a difference - I'm very old school about trust in business and doing things the right way.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kelli
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to God and my faith carrying me through a lot, and to the basic foundations of who I am. I work at a higher level - I'm a top producer who can get something done in 10 minutes that takes somebody else 2 hours. My work ethic comes from being born Midwest, where people are very smart and work incredibly hard, and I come from a successful family that raised me up with those values. My grandfather was a famous turkey farmer who was loaded, but you'd never know it - he just worked 7 days a week and loved his family. There's something built into my foundation from a very young age - in high school, my friends were like, yeah, you're gonna be on top of a mountain, there's just something in me. I dreamed that I was going to run the entire country at a young age. It's that bold spirit in me that just keeps driving, even when everybody's warning me that something is dangerous, I just keep going. I also learned a long time ago to lower my level of patience to realistic expectations because I cannot expect people to perform at my level. Most people are not going to spend 7 days a week on a career like I do, and that's okay - not every person is the same.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best job advice I use and promote is job stability. If there is a way to get past a bad day or a bad week and start over, I promote start over. The reason I promote that is it goes back to the whole idea that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. So I promote, if you can forgive, if you can start over after a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, whatever it is, start over and keep going. Then you're gonna be on a road of success and stability. That to me is some solid advice for all the real people out there, and it doesn't matter what job we're talking about. I also had an attorney 16 years ago who spent quite a few years with me to make sure I knew enough about law to keep me clean in business, because he said I'm a top producer and in the name of money, people are always gonna try to talk me into things. He wanted to make sure I wasn't talked into the wrong thing, and that education was invaluable.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are trust, honesty, and integrity in business. I'm very old school - it doesn't matter what years or decades go by, I still believe there's trust in business, there's honesty, there's integrity, and there's a lot of things that I look at on whether I'm going to partner with you or be in a business relationship. I don't think some of those things are ever going to be outdated, they're always gonna be necessary, and that is part of my current brand. Let's make money, let's make top success - I'm a top producer, but let's do it the right way. Let's obey the law. I'm not gonna stand on stage and say 80% of Americans need to obey the laws but 20% are special and can do whatever they want. I'm not burying problems. As leaders, we have to stand up for what's right. I also believe strongly in taking care of people - that hospitality personality of loving people and taking care of people is a strong foundation deep inside of me. And I believe people have forgotten that it's not just about money making a difference - you can offer time, you can offer service, you can just do people a favor, and you're making a difference.
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