Some Central students know Christine Bell as a Career and Technical Education teacher; others have heard she is a marathon runner. Fewer know about Bell’s job experience before coming to Central.

Bell went to college in Louisiana and studied what interested her: marketing. While in college, she got a job in the hospitality industry as Sales Director of Events at a local Best Western hotel.  According to Bell, this was hard work, especially for a college student.

“I managed all groups that would come to the hotel for any event: weddings, business meetings, conferences or pageants,” Bell said. “It was a lot of weekend work. For the biggest event, the Shell Oil company picnic, I had to work up to 80 hours [a week]!”

After graduating college, Bell moved on to work with Miller Brewing Company as Chain store Sales Representative. Bell was in charge of selling the product, displays and endcaps to both local and national chains.

“Halloween was huge [for selling displays],” Bell said. “For some of the stores we’d make almost like a haunted house that customers would walk through.”

The hardest part for Bell was not the work itself but the environment.

“When I was at the hotel, it was with all women, and when I went to Miller it was all men,”  Bell said. “Men are very cutthroat in that industry. Some of them just didn’t like seeing a female working with them.”

After years in the private sector, Bell decided to pursue a career in education, an area familiar to her since both her parents and sister are teachers. With the knowledge Bell has gathered during her career, she believes it’s beneficial for students to get exposed to the business world while in high school.

“When you’re in high school, start doing internships, shadowing and really figuring out what you want to do,” Bell said. “Do that now, and it will help you get jobs later.”