“I’m now the person I always wanted to be”
This month we highlight One of Our Own, Kristina Bell, who joined First Trust in August of 2024 in the Marketing Department, where she concentrates on the UIT product line and such items as fact sheets, sales ideas and highlight pieces.
Kristina graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a dual Business and Advertising Degree, and shortly thereafter, she joined FTP.
Kristina’s journey isn’t an easy story, but it is one of triumph and resounding hope. The Foundation is grateful for her willingness to tell her story.
Growing up in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, as Kristina did, was challenging. Austin is one of the most under-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago--one that is plagued with high crime, notable unemployment and significant drug and alcohol abuse.
As Kristina tells it, she witnessed all of these difficulties in her neighborhood, and sadly, her family has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Many friends and family members she grew up with did not have an easy road, and most of them did not attend college. Only two family members attended and finished college.
Kristina was always smart. She knew from a very young age that she loved learning, and she had a plan for her life. Her grade school, Howe School of Excellence, is where Kristina first soared (the school’s logo is a plane, shown right!). This is where she fell in love with dance, joining her school’s cheer and dance team as the youngest member and later becoming the captain. Many times, Kristina would come home after school to an empty apartment where she would concentrate on getting her homework done. It paid off. Kristina graduated third in her class!
Her next stop was Lane Tech College Prep High School, the biggest and one of the top high schools in Chicago, where she had to “test in” and earn her entry into the school through academic testing. Kristina wanted to experience a better, more diverse education, along with the ability to dance, one of her greatest joys in life. She became a dancer at Lane Tech, eventually becoming team captain. During her high school years, Kristina still faced challenges at home, but she stayed focused on her goal to soar.
During the time Kristina was walking to grade school, she noticed a bright new building being constructed on Laramie in the Austin neighborhood. It became the third location of By The Hand Club for Kids, and this is the part of the story that converges with the FT Cares Foundation.
The VERY first meeting the Foundation ever took was in 2012, and it was with Donnita Travis, the founder of By The Hand Club for Kids, a Christ-centered, after-school program. Her idea was simple: to help kids in Chicago’s most under-resourced neighborhoods experience abundant life by taking them by the hand and nurturing them—mind, body, and soul. The Foundation has been involved with By The Hand Club for Kids ever since and is close to $175,000 in donations!
Who knew that young Kristina Bell would begin going to By The Hand after school each day with her friends--dancing, understanding how to walk with God and learning many other lessons while she was there?
After choosing the University of Illinois for its academics and diversity, and receiving a full scholarship, Kristina was devastated during her sophomore year when her mother suddenly passed away. It was a dark time, and Kristina’s faith was shaken. In fact, she wondered if there was a God.
Today, after experiencing the death of a parent, she considers it a “blessing” that she found God again. She now centers her life upon Christ. He is the solid rock upon which she stands. She enjoys attending Christ Presbyterian Church in Wheaton and participating in a weekly Bible study with dear friends.
Kristina is happy that she found the strength to join a dance community at the University of IL, becoming its Artistic Director. At the University of IL, Kristina worked three different jobs to keep herself going. She was a barista, a dance instructor and worked as an intern at Commvault, a cyber security solutions firm. She was on her own while in college without a healthy family structure waiting for her at home. There were many tough times, and yet God provided for her by bringing people from By The Hand to support her throughout college.
Kristina graduated in May 2024 and began looking for a job. She interviewed and was hired in the Marketing Department here at FTP. Now, as a Wheaton resident, she has her own apartment and is enjoying her new community.
As Kristina says, she sees everyone as a “child of God”, and she radiates the peace and happiness of someone who has persevered through adversity and is now the person God created her to be.
Kristina: THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING THE FOUNDATION AND LETTING US
TELL YOUR STORY!
If you would like to hear more, reach out to Kristina: Kbell@ftportfolios.com
VISION Helping children who live in under-resourced neighborhoods have abundant life.
MISSION By The Hand is a Christ-centered, after-school program that takes kids by the hand and walks with them from kindergarten through college, loving and nurturing them—mind, body and soul.
By The Hand began in 2001 with 16 children from Cabrini-Green. Since then, it has witnessed transformation within the lives of its kids—and within the organization. Thanks to the countless people who started with one step, one gift, one prayer, one student, By the Hand now serves more than 1,800 kids from Cabrini-Green, Altgeld-Murray, Austin, North Austin and Englewood (as shown by orange arrows, left).
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