We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Reeves and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
My work life balance has changed here recently as I have decided to step more into being a content creator and YouTuber along with my career of being a data engineer. I absolutely have to ensure that I balance them both all while not burning myself out on either, but also creating the time and creative space to be successful at both. I think it’s very important to do what you love in life. Lucky for me I can have the best of both worlds because I love doing it all.

When I think about balance I think of evenly distributing my energy and time into what I am working on to make sure I produce well. If you don’t have balance that’s when things will seem to start falling apart. That can lead to less motivation, low confidence and imposter syndrome. Trust me I have been there, done that and learned from it. Another thing to think about when it comes to balance is yourself. Don’t forget to create that time to take care of you most importantly. So now balance is very important to me and I work at it daily.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So proffessionally I am a data engineer. I went to The University Of Alabama-Huntsville and graduated with my Bachelor’s in Information Systems with a concentration in systems analysis. I am most proud of myself for 1. Going to college and graduating through such a complex program and 2. Pushing myself to keep climbing in my career. I initially tried to make myself settle with just being a business analyst(imposter syndrome), but I had great people around me in my career to motivate me and I took the leap and I’ve made my way through software development to being a data engineer now.

The lessons I have learned along the way are to never doubt yourself, continue to have faith, and take the risks because you are capable of so much more than you can even imagine.

In doing all of this and becoming more confident in my skillset and happier, I started to travel, make memories and enjoy my life to the fullest. Then COVID hit and I needed to find something else to occupy my time which led me to creating content. I would just watch YouTube and scroll online and realized I like what these people are doing. Like I said before, I have always loved capturing memories through my adventures of traveling and trying new things. So I decided to take that and mix it with content, along with my love for software and I have just taken off with it from there. Now I have added Fashion, travel lifestyle content creator to my career path.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend came to town we would definitely do brunch, find fun activities to do and of course get into some of the night life fun Huntsville has to offer.

I’m definitely a brunch girl so a few of my favorite brunch spots here in Huntsville are : Biscuit Belly, Bar Vista for a rooftop brunch, or SZND for a day party vibe.

In my opinion Huntsville is still growing so I’d definitely plan a visit during a time there are exciting things going on to do such as a concert at the new ORION Amphitheater or Festival of some sort. Indoor rock climbing is something that I actually enjoy since trying here locally. If not, we could definitely take a day trip to Nashville and find things to get into.

Night life and places to hangout are plenty, but some of my favorites are Stellas, Blaque, or SIP. Any where and any reason to dress cute and go I’m there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would definitely say my family and close friends deserves credit for always encouraging me to go after what I want and believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.

Website: https://linktr.ee/Charmingsee

Instagram: @_charmingsee_

Facebook: Chris Renee or Christina Reeves

Youtube: Chris Renee

Image Credits
Tanisha Snell Photography

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutAtlanta is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.