Positively impacting children is Cristin Beene’s life’s work. The owner and CEO of Central Christian Academy, a Christian preschool and daycare, has a Bachelor of Arts in Child and Human Development from Washington State University, but she began working with young children officially, at the Boys & Girls Club, when she was 16 years old. “My mother always told me starting early on as a child that she knew I would be a teacher,” says Cristin. “I was the neighborhood go-to babysitter.” After working in several daycare and preschool settings, then operating a licensed in-home program as a young adult, Cristin completed her certification to become a childcare director. She raised her young family and completed her degree while working full-time as the founding Director of Little Life Academy at New Life Church. After that, she combined her entrepreneurial spirit with a lot of hard work and took a leap of faith. They are now proudly celebrating 10 years of serving the community of Greenbrier and 15 years of business in Faulkner County.