Where Are They Now?
Kristi Ratliff Watkins is a natural leader, whether she’s overseeing 11 salons, handling logistics for Saint Gobain or bringing the Miss Dublin pageant back to the Dublin community.
Watkins graduated from Dublin High School in 1994. She had grown around hairdressers, and after graduation she earned her cosmetology license and began working in salons.
“My aunt had the Hair Affair and I always liked going there,” she said. “It was always just a really fun environment and that’s what I wanted to do.”
Watkins’ work made it easy to find jobs as she moved from place to place with her thenhusband, who was in the military. She also liked how her work could improve people’s outlook.
“I just love to be of service to people,” she said. “You know, if somebody’s having a bad day I could make their hair look better and make them feel better — it makes their day and it just makes you feel good to help somebody else.”
Eventually she became a supervisor for Regis Salons, overseeing 11 salons and 150 stylists.
“I had salons all the way from Austin to Killeen all the way down to Palestine so it was a lot of driving,” she said.
Spending all that time on the road meant she was missing out on milestones in her children’s lives. “I’d leave at 7 in the morning and not get back until 6 or 8 at night,” she said.
And her schedule meant it was difficult for her two children to take part in sports or other extracurriculars.
So in 2008, after 15 years of doing hair, Watkins decided to move back to Dublin. “My daughter was going into her eighth grade year and she had always wanted to move back,” she said. “And my ex and I had divorced and he was stationed somewhere else, so we moved back.”
Watkins found a job in customer service at Saint Gobain and has steadily moved up since then. She is now the North American logistics coordinator for the company. She helps make sure the incoming and outgoing shipments from Saint Gobain get where they’re going smoothly.
“I’m a problem solver,” she said. “If an issue comes up I can think outside the box and try to come up with a solution to get it done right… I’m always trying to do my best to not only just save the company money, but also think about our customers and what benefits them and what can help keep them coming back.”
Watkins plans to stay with the company and keep learning about her role. “Saint Gobain is really, really good to their employees,” she said. “You’re not just a number — they actually care about your wellbeing.”When she has free time, Watkins is usually spending time with friends or with her grown children, Aaron, 27 and Madison, 24. She and her children all live in Dublin within walking distance of each other. “We try to do a lot together,” she said. “We’re very appreciative [of each other].” Watkins’ daughter is pregnant and due in December. “I’m looking forward to becoming a nana,” she said.
Watkins is also active in the Dublin community, and has recently started back up the Miss Dublin pageant, which stopped for two years during the pandemic. “We’ve had such a great response,” she said. “We had a lot of girls come out for it and we’ve gotten nothing but great feedback from the community on the fact that we did it right. We brought it back the right way for the community so that these girls can experience what their parents and even some grandparents experienced when they were in it.” Though the pageant is a competition, Watkins encourages a constructive and positive attitude surrounding the event.
“I really emphasize encouraging women to not look at each other as competition but to build each other up and celebrate each other,” she said. “It’s a tough world out there and we need to have each other’s back and root for each other’s success.”
Throughout her life, Watkins has found inspiration in her faith, and now attends the Double N Cowboy Church in Dublin.
Watkins’ advice to Dublin graduates is to stay strong in their faith. “Always keep God first,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if the person next to you seems to be achieving more than you are. You’re your own person. God made you special the way you are and you just keep worrying about yourself and what can make you succeed.”