Meet Kristi

December Champion of the Month, Kristi Phillips, is an Employment Consultant based out of Rise’s Northeast Minneapolis location.

Before joining Rise, Kristi served as an AmeriCorps member at Ramsey County Libraries, where she led digital literacy and accessibility programs and taught classes on essential computer skills to help people secure and maintain employment. Prior to that, she worked in the Russian department at the University of Tennessee and was even selected for a Fulbright program to teach English in Belarus in 2020, a plan that was unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kristi chose Rise because the employment consultant role allowed her to focus on what she loved most: supporting people to grow and succeed through meaningful employment.

Kristi’s Impact

Kristi’s dedication shines through in everything she does. Her favorite part of the job is spending time with the people she supports. She shares, “It always brightens my day when someone I support calls to tell me about their day and how things went at work.”

Colleagues describe Kristi as a true go-getter, someone who isn’t afraid to dive into challenging cases and figure things out. Her willingness to ask questions and provide support to others has earned her admiration across the team.

As colleague Clint Cordero puts it, “Kristi always offers to help her fellow employment consultants if she can. She genuinely cares about the people she supports. She jumps right into situations, gets to know all parties quickly, and works to find solutions. Even months later, she checks in because she cares.”

Clint added, “Kristi is always a champion to me!” Kristi’s Director, Dan Meyers, agrees wholeheartedly: “Kristi, by all counts, is GREAT!”

Kristi is most proud of how the people she supports have grown during her time with them. She feels honored to support them as they achieve their goals and celebrates every success along the way.

Kristi Outside of Rise

When Kristi isn’t making an impact at Rise, she’s embracing her love for animals by dog-sitting in her spare time. She enjoys bullet journaling and embroidering fun animal designs onto clothes. Kristi also works a second job as a library assistant at a law firm in Minneapolis, where she files updates to laws and processes new books.

Her hard work and passion for helping others truly make Kristi a Champion of the Month!