Title: Personal Body Guard

Company: DynCorp International

Location: Memphis, TN

Kristina Frey-Keller has worked a plethora of jobs to make ends meet. She started out majoring in fashion merchandising and minoring in art at Mississippi State University, and followed that with an internship in Nashville, TN. Ms. Frey-Keller also served as a retail manager for decades, but eventually decided she had enough and began training at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Police Academy. Upon her graduation in 2006, she spent some time working as a Shelby County sheriff, which provided her with the knowledge and tools necessary to transition to her dream job.

In an effort to follow her passion, Ms. Frey-Keller started applying to jobs overseas as a police mentor. Eventually, she received a call from a recruiter who was willing to give her a job on a personal protection detail in Afghanistan, which is where she is today. Ms. Frey-Keller is going on her fifth year with DynCorp International, a private military contractor, and she absolutely loves her job. It took a long time to get to where she wanted to be in her career, but she is very happy with the path that she chose.

Some of the most challenging things Ms. Frey-Keller had to deal with were succeeding in a male-dominated industry and being away from her family and friends. Still, she doesn’t plan on returning to the U.S. anytime soon. Ms. Frey-Keller hopes to see more acceptance for women in role like hers in the future, and believes that they should be able to receive and maintain a certain level of respect for what they are doing.

When Ms. Frey-Keller does return home, she intends to move to Manhattan, NY, which is a goal on her bucket list that she would love to check off. She plans on working as a bodyguard for as long as she is physically able to, however, so when she comes back to the U.S., she would like to serve as the personal bodyguard for a family. Ms. Frey-Keller is currently working on a book for memoirs of the trials and tribulations she went through to get to where she is today.