HER STORY
About Cristie
A life of leadership, resilience, and the choice to rebuild.
Cristie's life has been shaped by responsibility, leadership, loss, and the conscious choice to rebuild with intention. Her work today reflects the experiences that formed her and the perspective that emerged through them.
1
Early Life
Cristie’s life began with responsibility early. Growing up in an environment shaped by instability, she learned to manage what was uncertain for herself and her little sister, carrying more than most do at a young age.
As a teenager, she stepped into motherhood on her own, choosing responsibility in spite of uncertainty.
Responsibility
came early.
2
Leadership Under Pressure
That sense of responsibility followed her into her career, where she built her path without a traditional education. She earned her place in offices, boardrooms, and on stages where she often felt she had to prove she belonged, learning to lead with clarity even while navigating internal doubt.
During the 2022 mortgage crisis, she stepped into regional leadership at a mortgage firm at a time when uncertainty, layoffs, and instability defined the environment. She led her team through these difficult decisions with transparency and steadiness, earning trust and stabilizing morale when it mattered most.
She learned not only how to lead teams through uncertainty, but how to remain steady when the stakes were real.
She learned not only how to lead others through uncertainty, but how to remain steady when the stakes were real.
3
Loss + Rebuilding
But the greatest test of that steadiness came outside of her career.
After the loss of her son, Cristie entered a period defined by shock and survival. For a time, simply getting through each day was enough.
With time, she recognized that survival was not the goal.
She chose something more.
She chose to rebuild her life with intention. To find peace and joy again, redefining what legacy meant for herself, her marriage, her remaining children, and other women walking through similar devastation.
Survival was
not the goal.
She chose something more.
4
Integration + Impact
Today, Cristie leads from a place shaped by all of it.
She is writing a transformational memoir that explores resilience, leadership, grief, and what it means to rebuild a life with intention after everything changes. The book brings together the experiences that shaped her and the choices that followed. It offers a grounded, honest perspective on integrating what happened, not dismissing it, and moving beyond survival to build a life that feels steady, meaningful, and whole.
Cristie is the Founder and President of the Taylor Hagen Memorial Foundation, where she supports women and families navigating grief and loss, creating spaces for healing, connection, and hope. Learn more here.
Creativity has also been part of how she processes and heals. What began as a personal outlet grew into JaneVille, a large-scale LEGO city and storytelling platform that blends creativity, healing, and community impact. Now a recognized brand featured in The Wall Street Journal and on Fox News, JaneVille reflects Cristie’s belief that creativity can open doors to connection, hope, and healing.
Her life reflects what it means to lead in business, in family, in community, and in the moments that define who we become.
Cristie believes growth comes not from avoiding hardship, but from learning how to move through it and integrate it with intention, responsibility, and choice.