Christina Collette was born on the Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. She is a third generation native to Colorado and graduated from Beer Creek High School in Lakewood. In high school, she participated in FLBA but excelled in Auto Shop as well as Wood Working.

Throughout her high school experience, she managed a Rite Aid store and once she turned 18, she moved into the Banking sector and focused her college studies on Law and Accounting. However, after 4 years in Banking, she quickly realized that both school and finance were not where she wanted to be. Banking did not bring out her passion and did not excite her. However, memories from high school of turning wrenches and working on cars in the auto shop along building and creating things with her hands in wood working continually captured her attention. So, she decided to change her career path. She took a risk and walked away from banking and got her first job with a manufacturing company. She started as a receptionist and within 9 months, became an estimating manager. From there, she became head of customer service and eventually was promoted to move out to North Caroline to help open and manage a new manufacturing facility. Throughout this experience, Christina realized that she had found her career pathway that not only allowed her to grow as a professional but also fed her passion.

From there, she managed an aerospace company giving her the opportunity to work with original equipment manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin and SpaceX. Within this role, Christina was able to help engineer new products and increase customer efficiencies while greatly reducing their scrap. During this time, one of Christina’s customers was Reata Engineering. Having already worked with Reata and knowing their reputation, when a job opening presented itself she took advantage of the opportunity and she applied.

Christina’s story in unique in that with each company she worked for, she began in an entry level position, and rose to General Manager or Director. She credits this upward mobility due to the massive opportunities that are available within manufacturing.

The Cherry Creek Innovation Campus and our students within the Advanced Manufacturing Pathway are beyond lucky to have Reata Engineering as and Industry partner  where students can participate in paid modern youth apprenticeships. These opportunities are only available because of people like Christina who are passionate about their career in manufacturing and passionate about investing in our youth. 

www.reataeng.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_manufacturing