Christina Southard has spent the last twelve years working as a Realtor in St. Louis, and the way she talks about the work makes it clear this is not just a job to her. She is a St. Louis native, born and raised in North County, and the youngest of four children. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor’s in business, and later went to Lindenwood University for a Master’s in Professional Counseling.
Her career did not begin in real estate. It moved through several industries before she found the work that suited her best. Today, she is with Keller Williams Realty West, serving St. Louis County/City, St. Charles County, Lincoln County, and Warren County. Her approach is shaped by everything she did before she ever picked up a real estate license. She often tells clients that a home is not just a transaction. It is one of the most important assets a person ever invests in, and she carries that thought into every listing, every showing, and every closing she works on.
Growing Up in the Family Business
Christina grew up in the asphalt business. Her father owned the company and started running it out of their basement and backyard. She watched her parents, her uncle, and her brothers work long, hard days to build a small operation into a large, successful asphalt business, until they sold the company in 2004. As a teenager, she worked there during the summers, learning the trade and watching how hard her parents worked to make it successful. She started with accounting, filing, and other office duties. By the age of twenty-one, she had moved into outside sales, selling asphalt driveways and parking lots. In that industry at the time, women were not in sales; they were in the office. She learned she loved working in the field with customers and learning from the crews on the job sites. That early exposure to running a small business and dealing directly with customers shaped how she works today.
A Career That Took the Long Way Around
At the age of 23, she decided to try something new, selling cell phones for MVP Cellular, back then an Ameritech dealer and now known as Verizon. She spent four years in cell phone sales and was regularly one of the top-performing salespeople at each store where she worked, from South County to North County. In 1997, she moved on to The Tile Shop in Ellisville, where she sold ceramic tile and worked as the Design Studio Manager. There, she helped contractors and homeowners pick out materials for their projects. In 1998, she went back to school for professional counseling, and in 2001, she started working in social services, helping homeless families move out of shelters and transitional housing into permanent homes.
In 2004, she had a daughter, and she raised her as a single parent with the support of her own family and her daughter’s father’s family standing alongside her. She continued in social work for twelve years, partnering with landlords, tracking down resources, and walking beside families through some of the hardest moments of their lives. In 2012, she left social services and went to work in her family’s restaurant business. Working there put her back in front of customers, talking to them, serving them, and making sure they had a good dining experience. Two years later, in October 2014, she earned her real estate license, inspired by the idea that real estate would let her get back out and work with families again. She started part-time as an agent while still working at the restaurant and raising her daughter. In 2016, the family sold their share of the restaurant, and Christina went into real estate full-time.
What Social Services Taught Her About Real Estate
The years in social work left a mark on how Christina handles clients now. “What I learned in social services was to sit beside my clients and listen to envision their story, experiences, struggles, and support them in rebuilding their lives,” she said. She brings that same posture to real estate. She listens to what her clients need, whether they are selling, buying, relocating into St. Louis or out of it, or saying goodbye to a home that belonged to a parent or grandparent who has passed. She is comfortable working within the terms of a trust or will, and she makes sure the right title company is involved so the deed transfers cleanly to the next buyer.
Transactions where families are working within the terms of a trust can be emotional for the people selling the home. It matters that they feel supported and guided through the sale of a family home. With so many other emotions and demands pulling at them, they need to be able to trust their agent completely, knowing she has their best interests in mind at every step.
Doing More Than the Job Description
Christina is known for going further than most agents would. She has cleaned up landscaping, deep cleaned, painted baseboards, helped clients declutter and pack, swept floors, and handled contractor bids and schedules. She has used her own furnishings and a garage full of acquired items to stage empty houses so they feel a little more like home. These are just examples of the kind of work she does without a second thought. To her, that is simply what it takes to get a home ready and on the market the right way. She is not an agent who just puts a sign in the yard. “One of my brokers told me at one time I need to wear a tool belt to my listings because I never know what I might end up helping with,” she said.
She has also worked with clients moving into new construction and families relocating from out of town. For clients who cannot be there in person, she sends photos and updates, and she has managed remote closings, inspection repairs, and small fixes herself. That way, out-of-town clients never had to come back, or when they arrived, the home was ready for the family to move in.
A Track Record and a Life Outside the Office
Christina’s results speak quietly for themselves. During her time at Coldwell Banker, her team ranked in the top three percent of all Coldwell Banker agents in the St. Louis and St. Charles market. Outside of real estate, she fosters dogs and volunteers as a transporter for rescues across St. Louis, St. Charles, and Illinois. The same instinct that drives her to help clients pack a kitchen or clean up a yard shows up in this work too. She gives her time to the things and the lives that need a little extra care.
A Company That Reflects Her Values
Keller Williams Realty West is locally owned, and Keller Williams was recently named one of the best companies to work for in 2025. She values the company’s RED DAY tradition, when agents spend a day working at local nonprofit agencies and giving back to community organizations. The local and national chapters of the KW Cares program have supported agents and communities affected by tornadoes and floods. That spirit of giving back is what taps into the social worker in her. For Christina, this is what sets Keller Williams apart. The company does not treat its agents as just a source of revenue. It values them as people who sometimes need help too.
For every family Christina works with, she values the investment they are making. To her, it is their home, their money, their investment, and she works for them. She wants each family to understand that a home is not just a paycheck for her. It is where they will live, eat, work, and grow for years to come.
