Kristina Etter.
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Experience · Curiosity · Purpose

I've never been interested in doing things halfway.

I'm a lifelong problem-solver, an independent thinker, and a professional whose path has crossed technology, leadership, publishing, entrepreneurship, and hospitality.

Different industries. Different challenges. One constant: I care deeply about doing the work well—and making it matter.

Get to know me  ↗See the impact ↓
Kristina Etter professional color headshot
Curious by nature. Intentional by choice.
Technology & Leadership✳Communications & Publishing✳Hospitality & Operations✳Independent Thinking
01 / The work speaks

Experience that leaves a mark.

Across industries and roles, I've found fulfillment in seeing the tangible difference a thoughtful solution can make.

$800K

Identified savings

Annualized savings from enterprise cellular analysis and carrier negotiations at Pioneer Hi-Bred.

$2.1M

Annual IT budget

Municipal technology operations and seven-person team leadership.

Top 1%

Airbnb host

Eight years devoted to thoughtful, consistently excellent guest experiences.

10 months

A publication rebuilt

Independently migrated and reconstructed an established digital publication.

02 / A little about me

One career.
Many chapters.
A common thread.

I have never believed that the boundaries of a job description should define the limits of what someone can accomplish. My best work has often started with a question: Could there be a better way?

I've rebuilt teams, coordinated citywide infrastructure, untangled corporate expenses, managed an independent publication, and designed hospitality experiences that made people feel genuinely cared for. Sometimes the solution is technical. Sometimes it's human. Often, it's both.

I'm motivated by curiosity and grounded by a simple expectation: when I commit to something, I want to give it the attention, integrity, and care it deserves.

“I don't need every opportunity. I want the right opportunity to do something worthwhile.”
My story / The person behind the roles

I follow the question until I find an answer.

An unconventional career with a surprisingly consistent approach.

I've never been interested in doing something simply because it's how it has always been done. I want to understand the reasoning, the people involved, the obstacles, and the opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.

That's taken me from corporate telecommunications and municipal IT leadership to digital publishing and hospitality. In one chapter, I was studying expenses and negotiating cellular contracts. In another, I was overseeing infrastructure work connecting public buildings. Later, I found myself rebuilding a publication's technology so it could survive, all while creating hospitality experiences where every detail mattered.

The settings look different on paper. The work feels familiar to me: gather facts, ask useful questions, put good systems and people in place, and take responsibility for the outcome.

“I don't need a particular title to care about the quality of my work.”

I believe a business can be successful while still treating people well, caring about the environment, and making a positive contribution. I want to believe in what I'm helping build. When I do, I bring every part of my experience to the effort.

Now, as a full-time traveler, I've made room to examine what matters to me beyond the routines of an established career. I haven't retired from ambition. I've become more intentional about where I invest it.

03 / Selected experience

Different worlds.
Transferable strengths.

The environments have changed. The instincts—investigate, organize, build, improve—have stayed the same.

01.

Technology & leadership

From enterprise mobility at major corporations to rebuilding a municipal IT team and overseeing fiber connectivity, police systems modernization, and technology operations.

Problem-solving · Strategy · People
02.

Publishing & digital communications

Years spent writing, editing, coordinating contributors, and keeping a niche industry publication alive—including a ground-up technical rebuild when its future was uncertain.

Editorial judgment · Independence · Digital
03.

Hospitality & operations

From exceptional Airbnb hosting to Chamonix food-and-beverage administration: guest experience, training systems, SOPs, expense review, and complex event support.

Service · Operational rigor · Care
04 / Experience in context

The whole picture.

A professional history that crosses industries without losing its focus on improvement, communication, and thoughtful execution.

2005–2013Enterprise mobility & telecommunications

Wells Fargo Financial · Pioneer Hi-Bred

At Wells Fargo Financial (2005–2008), I specialized in emerging enterprise mobile technology and became the organization’s first BlackBerry subject-matter expert. At Pioneer Hi-Bred (2009–2013), I managed corporate cellular programs and identified approximately $800,000 in annualized savings through nationwide expense analysis, account consolidation, and carrier negotiations. Earlier work at Maytag Appliances helped establish my corporate technology foundation.

Core strengths: research, technology operations, vendor negotiation, financial analysis

2008–2009Project delivery

Project Manager · LightEdge Solutions

I coordinated telecommunications and technology implementations, supporting client infrastructure, server setups, system changes, stakeholder communication, and the dependencies that keep projects moving.

Core strengths: project coordination, customer communication, technical translation

2013–late 2015Leadership & municipal service

IT Manager · City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota

I joined during significant team turnover and hired six employees to rebuild capacity. I led a seven-person IT team and managed approximately $2.1 million in annual departmental spending. Separately, my work included coordinating more than $500,000 in citywide fiber and microwave communications installations (completed on time and within budget), supporting a $2 million police department technology transition involving squad-car equipment and servers, and engineering a public-facing spending-transparency portal.

Core strengths: leadership, public-service accountability, infrastructure, cross-department coordination

2017–2024Independent publishing

Content Editor, Publisher & Lead Content Strategist · Niche technical publication

I wrote and edited hundreds of articles, coordinated freelance writers, managed daily editorial work, and supported advertising and audience engagement for a niche technical publication that reached approximately 80,000–100,000 monthly visitors at its peak. In 2021, I stepped in when closure was imminent and spent about ten months independently migrating and rebuilding its aging website to keep the publication operational.

Core strengths: editorial leadership, digital operations, writing, self-directed problem-solving

Eight years · overlapping with publishingIndependent hospitality

Airbnb Host · Colorado

I managed guest communication, property presentation, cleanliness, visitor planning, and responsive service from inquiry through departure. My goal was to make guests feel more like family than transactions. That philosophy helped earn top 1% host recognition and a consistent record of excellent reviews.

Core strengths: customer experience, quality standards, independent business operations

Hospitality administrationFood & beverage operations

Food & Beverage Administrator · Chamonix Casino & Hotel

After joining as a restaurant host, I was promoted into food-and-beverage administration within two weeks. I helped refresh outdated SOPs, establish training tracking, support room-service training, audit linen charges, redesign menus, and coordinate concerts and other large-scale events.

Core strengths: process improvement, training, expense review, events, guest service

Download my resume ↗
Black-and-white portrait of Kristina Etter
05 / Perspective

A change of scenery.
Not a change of ambition.

After years of building a career and meeting the expectations that come with it, I made a deliberate choice to live differently. As a full-time traveler, I've had the space to reflect, explore, and rethink what I want my work—and my life—to contribute.

That perspective has made me more selective, not less driven. I value ethical leadership, real craftsmanship, care for people and the environment, and organizations that believe success means more than a bigger bottom line.

I'm drawn to people with ideas worth believing in and challenges worth solving. I love good stories, thoughtful spaces, nature, learning, and the freedom to follow curiosity wherever it leads.

“The view out my window changes. My standards don't.”
Let's start a conversation ↗
05 / What guides me

A few things I believe.

Trust the people

Leadership is service.

Hire for capability. Give people the tools, authority, and support to do their best work. Then respect their expertise.

Ask the next question

Curiosity is a discipline.

I start with facts, follow the evidence, and keep digging until I understand what is actually happening.

Care about the outcome

Quality isn't optional.

Whether it's a system, a story, or a guest experience, excellence lives in the details that others might overlook.

Find the bigger purpose

Values matter.

I want my work to support organizations that treat people fairly, take responsibility, and leave things better.

06 / Beyond the résumé

More than one way to be curious.

Professional experience is only part of who I am. Travel has brought fresh perspective to interests I've always valued: nature, storytelling, independent thought, and the ways people can build a more thoughtful world.

I am especially drawn to ideas and organizations that expand opportunity for women and invest in the wellbeing of communities.

ExplorationNew places, unfamiliar perspectives, and learning by experiencing.
StorytellingFinding the truth, the context, and the human meaning behind an idea.
HospitalitySpaces where people feel genuinely welcomed, respected, and cared for.
PurposeBetter systems, responsible organizations, and work worth believing in.
06 / Selected impact

The stories behind the results.

Five projects that show how I approach challenges, take ownership, and create measurable value. Explore whichever stories interest you.

01 / Financial analysis

The $800,000 question

What if there were a more sensible way to manage an entire company's cell phone spending?

Read the story ↗
02 / Leadership & public infrastructure

Rebuilding capacity at Eden Prairie

Rebuilding a department while modernizing infrastructure that a city depended on.

Read the story ↗
03 / Publishing & perseverance

Keeping a publication alive

When an independent publication faced closure, I chose to build a path forward.

Read the story ↗
04 / Operations & hospitality

Bringing structure to Chamonix

A two-week transition from restaurant host to the operational details behind an exceptional guest experience.

Read the story ↗
05 / Independent guest experience

Hospitality that feels personal

A five-star review is not a lucky outcome. It's the result of deliberate standards, repeated consistently.

Read the story ↗
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01 / Financial analysis

The $800,000 question

What if there were a more sensible way to manage an entire company's cell phone spending?

The challenge

At Pioneer Hi-Bred, employees across the country were acquiring phones and expensing individual service plans without a unified companywide view of costs.

What I did

I gathered employee and plan data, organized the accounts by carrier, analyzed spending patterns, and worked directly with providers on consolidated corporate agreements.

The result

Approximately $800,000 in annualized expense savings from consolidating and negotiating carrier contracts. The initiative held my attention after hours because I wanted to understand just how much improvement was possible.

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02 / Leadership & public infrastructure

Rebuilding capacity at Eden Prairie

Rebuilding a department while modernizing infrastructure that a city depended on.

The challenge

The prior IT manager's departure had been followed by significant staff turnover, at a time when the city needed substantial communications and systems improvements.

What I did

I hired six employees and led a seven-person team with a $2.1 million annual departmental budget. As separate projects, I managed contractors and timelines for more than $500,000 in fiber and microwave communications installations, supported a $2 million police technology transition, and helped engineer a public-facing spending portal.

The result

The more-than-$500,000 communications installation was completed on time and within budget, while the team supported major modernization projects across the city.

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03 / Publishing & perseverance

Keeping a publication alive

When an independent publication faced closure, I chose to build a path forward.

The challenge

After years of editorial work, I learned the founder planned to shut the publication down due to a conflict involving another client. Its aging codebase posed another serious obstacle.

What I did

I took over operations and spent approximately ten months independently migrating and rebuilding the website—without compensation during that period—to preserve the work, audience, and ongoing publication.

The result

The publication survived the threatened closure and continues operating. Eventually, I moved on, but the organization had a foundation for continuing forward.

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04 / Operations & hospitality

Bringing structure to Chamonix

A two-week transition from restaurant host to the operational details behind an exceptional guest experience.

The challenge

Training processes needed structure; standard procedures were incomplete, outdated, or still carried the prior company's branding.

What I did

I helped rewrite SOPs, track training, support the launch of room-service training, audit duplicate linen charges, update menus, and support event operations.

The result

Clearer procedures, stronger training coordination, and identified billing discrepancies—supporting both the people doing the work and the quality guests experienced.

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05 / Independent guest experience

Hospitality that feels personal

A five-star review is not a lucky outcome. It's the result of deliberate standards, repeated consistently.

The challenge

Hosting independently meant being responsible for everything guests noticed—and the details they shouldn't have to notice at all.

What I did

I prioritized impeccable cleanliness, proactive communication, personal trip guidance, and treating every guest with care and respect.

The result

Eight years of hosting, excellent reviews, and top 1% Airbnb host recognition—with the satisfaction of knowing I'd helped people enjoy their time away.

The conversation is the beginning

Good work starts with shared purpose.

I'm always interested in thoughtful people, meaningful projects, and organizations doing something worthwhile. If you see a connection between what you're building and what I bring, I'd welcome a conversation.

Get in touch ↗

Open to remote collaborations, on-site projects, and select location-based opportunities.