Christyna Harris Steven Harris 

Meet Christyna Harris of Edward Jones

Dressed in business best and clutching a makeshift attaché case, Christyna Harris stepped up to the microphone and proudly announced, “I want to be an entrepreneur.”  She was five years old when she made her life goal declaration to an audience assembled for a Black History Program at her church in Memphis.  Her future was wide open.  Fast forward twenty years and three hundred miles north to find Christyna wearing an updated version of that first business suit, laptop briefcase swinging from her right hand, as she walks through the door of her office in the Insurance Marketing Department at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

    A “Southern Belle at heart,” Christyna grew-up in a closely-knit Memphis family.  The importance of family, education, church, and community are the heart and soul of the Harris family core values, and ignited in Christyna a strong passion for learning and sharing her gifts with others.  The second of five daughters born to a Baptist minister father and lifelong educator mother, who traveled the path of entrepreneurship herself between academic and administrative positions with Memphis City Schools, Christyna is now the lone “Yankee” in the bunch.  When she and her sisters return to Memphis from Atlanta, Nashville and St. Louis, the favorite family pastime is making music, most notably Gospel, with their large extended family.  “Before you know it, it’s two o’clock in the morning and we’ve been singing for six hours straight!”

    As a high school junior, Christyna discovered an affinity for marketing after competing in DECCA Marketing Management competitions.  She placed first at the local and state levels before moving on to compete in the international round.  And though she didn’t place in international competition, she felt the experience crystallized her focus and direction.

    Christyna excelled in academics and leadership at Clark Atlanta University.  She served in multiple SGA positions, rising to Senior Class President, as well as community service based and business-related posts, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., School of Business Student Council, and Beta Gamma Sigma Business Fraternity among them.  For fun, Christyna and friends enjoyed status as loyal supporters of the CAU Panthers especially during football and basketball seasons.

    After participating in the 2007 InSight St. Louis-sponsored trip, Christyna returned to Atlanta with an unexpected addition to her career opportunities list.  While in St. Louis, she networked with business leaders while acquiring a taste for some of the area’s cultural and recreational flavors.  It was a great experience, one that decidedly impacted how she envisioned life after graduation.

    During her 2007 visit Christyna interviewed with St. Louis-based Edward Jones, a leader in the financial-services industry with the one-of-a-kind approach of delivering investor products directly to the individual investor through a network of small neighborhood offices. Charmed by the Edward Jones philosophy to create a trusted personal relationship with each one of its individual investors, Christyna also felt the comfort of a good fit when she learned how high of a value the company places on supporting an inclusive environment for its associates.  Not only does Edward Jones embrace the uniqueness of its investors, it celebrates the individual perspectives and backgrounds of each and every associate.

    Though Christyna had other offers, she was most excited at the prospect of being hired by Edward Jones.  The Jones position was closest to how she hoped to use her marketing degree, and St. Louis was closest to her beloved Memphis.  Currently serving as Marketing Specialist in the Insurance Marketing Department, Christyna considers herself lucky to be responsible for marketing the rock-solid menu of Edward Jones insurance products.

    Christyna credits her introduction to Edward Jones, and decision to accept their offer, to InSight St. Louis and the southern-like hospitality she encountered.  Though she misses her native Memphis, and the hustle and bustle of Atlanta, she found “the vibrancy of a big city, yet the closeness of a town,” in St. Louis.  In the short time since she adopted St. Louis as her second city, she’s assembled a long list of favorite things to do.  Attending “Live at the Levee” shows quenches her musical thirst, while trips to Rib City (she’s a sauce girl) satisfy her cravings for good, old-fashioned Memphis-style barbeque.  Cardinals’ baseball, outdoor stage productions at The Muny in Forest Park, Six Flags, and night spots on The Landing are just a few of Christyna’s other favorites. 

    What about Christyna’s ambition to be an entrepreneur?    “Every moment I spend creating and developing marketing material that ultimately helps someone meet a need or realize a dream, or when working with youth from my church to make their dreams or goals real, I believe that I have fulfilled a part of my own dream.”  Living a dream and bringing others along with you, the classic components of entrepreneurship.  It looks as if Christyna is headed in the right direction . . . just as predicted twenty years ago.   Her future is truly wide open.