Kristel Swayze knows Cabarrus County because it shaped her – and because she has chosen, again and again, to build her life here.

She grew up in local classrooms at Shady Brook Elementary, Kannapolis Middle School, and A.L. Brown High School, before heading to UNC–Chapel Hill to study sociology and history. Those years gave her both a deep respect for this community and a clear understanding of how schools and local institutions quietly shape the everyday lives of families.

After college, Kristel began her career at Blue Cross Blue Shield, working in the Individual Policy Program. She spent her days talking with people navigating illness, uncertainty, and complicated rules written far from their kitchen tables. It was her first clear lesson in how much leadership matters; how clarity, fairness, and common sense can steady people, and how their absence can do the opposite.

In 2002, Kristel took a leap and started her own business from her home. Over the next two decades, she grew it carefully, learning how to manage people, budgets, and long-term plans, and how to make decisions knowing others depend on you to get them right. She learned that progress rarely comes from flash. It comes from showing up and doing the work well.

Kristel and her husband, Ken, are raising their two children in Cabarrus County. Raised by an educator herself, she has stayed closely connected to public schools, volunteering with PTOs across the county and working alongside teachers and families. Those experiences have reinforced a simple truth she’s seen everywhere she’s worked: places thrive when people feel respected and resources are used with care.