Maria Christina Panis Poisot was born in Houston, Texas in 1973. The oldest of five siblings, she was raised in the Hiram Clarke area, and later moved with her family to Missouri City and then Sugar Land. Christy attended Catholic school while growing up, graduating from Kempner High School in 1991. For college, she studied at the University of Houston Downtown and supported herself by working first as a waitress, and then as the editor of the University newspaper. After obtaining her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration in Computer Information Systems in 1997, Christy earned a scholarship to pursue her MBA at the University of St. Thomas. At the same time, she landed a job with Shell Oil Company as a Support Analyst, where she worked while pursuing her MBA. She and her husband Andre were married in 2002, and her children Jacqueline and Remy were born in 2003 and 2008, respectively. Christy is active in the Center for Asian Pacific American Women as well as other community organizations, and she hopes to write a children's book someday about growing up as a Filipino American.
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