Kristi Yost smiles at her desk in the Faribault County Development Corporation office, located at the Ag Center in Blue Earth. Yost began assisting the nonprofit’s executive director, Tim Clawson, as an interim in February but is now FCDC’s administrative assistant. Yost brings experience from both Kiester and Albert Lea to the position, which tasks her with aiding the county’s business growth.

Kristi Yost played an instrumental role in helping the Faribault County Development Corporation (FCDC) find a new administrative assistant.

She called local media to advertise for the position. She helped executive director Tim Clawson collect resumes of applicants.

The only catch?

Yost, too, wanted the job.

That did not stop Clawson from hosting interviews and weighing his options. After all, upholding FCDC’s nonprofit mission, to be the county’s “leading resource for facilitating economic development” in area business, is a big responsibility and one that a new assistant would be asked to share.

But it is a responsibility Yost longed to embrace. And, now, it is one she officially does as FCDC’s administrative assistant.

“It’s great,” she says with a smile. “I’ve always wanted to help any way I can, and I think any way you can help a business stay alive in today’s economy is important.”

Yost, of course, had the benefit of serving as an interim assistant under Clawson before applying and interviewing for her position, which she says helped prepare her not only for FCDC tasks but in getting acquainted with the county.

“It was great to learn about all the programs,” she notes, “and learn a lot about Blue Earth and all the small cities, their heart to grow.”

But her first step onto the FCDC staff, even as an interim, Yost says, required patience and prayer.

“It took a leap of faith,” she says.

Before coming in to assist Clawson on an interim basis starting Feb. 13, Yost was still working a part-time job with Larson Manufacturing, of Lake Mills, Iowa. Dropping that position and reshifting her work focus to Blue Earth were unofficial requirements of the interim duty, which Yost says came about in a flash.

“I got a call from Tim, who found my resume,” she says. “That was on a Tuesday, and I was asked if I could start on Monday.”

Fortunately for Yost, she says her employer encouraged her throughout the speedy process, allowing her to make almost an immediate transition into the FCDC office at the Ag Center in Blue Earth.

All of a sudden, even if it was not guaranteed to last, Yost was back in a position that felt right.

“For three years I did small cities development with the Albert Lea housing authority,” she says. “I was also the administrative assistant to Section 8 public housing staff there.”

Budget cuts ultimately led to Yost’s departure from Albert Lea in April 2016. But during that time she also kept busy as a member of the Kiester City Council.

“And Kiester was going through a lot of changes at the time,” Yost says. “The grocery store there was sold to the city. There was discussion about a school closing and becoming a charter school.”

In other words, Yost is not new to dealing with local, small-town business.

And that is exactly what she does alongside Clawson with FCDC.

As an interim, she admits she was not fully involved in giving partnering or prospective businesses the assistance they normally receive, but that is no longer the case.

“From computer skills to marketing and working with businesses in the area,” Yost says she is essentially the “right-hand woman” for Clawson in aiding county development.

“And Tim is very easygoing to work for,” she says, recounting the day in early March when Clawson informed her she had been selected as the office’s new administrative assistant.

“We had just finished our new logo,” she recalls, “and he came in, sat down and was looking at our business card and asked me what I thought of it.”

Yost, of course, praised the new design, which she went on to help unveil at FCDC’s annual meeting on March 22.

“But he said, ‘There’s something wrong with the card,'” she remembers. “And then he said, ‘It should have your name on it.'”

Since then, Yost says she has taken pride in reigniting the business development flame that drove her work in Albert Lea and Kiester, where she has lived with her husband, Darrell, since 1998.

Outside of work, Yost has plenty to do as an avid camper and kayaker and mother to three kids Sarah and Steven and three step-kids Christopher, Kayla and Colby. She says she has even given thought to running for a return to the Kiester City Council.

But when it comes to FCDC, she is right where she wants to be.

“I pray I’ll retire from here,” she says. “Just seeing all the EDAs the entities we work with that have that drive to help, seeing them all work together is a huge difference.”

FCDC says its goal is “to utilize Faribault County’s resources to create a better economy for businesses, which will create high quality jobs, and foster the growth and diversity of Faribault County’s economic foundation.”

It offers assistance to prospective, relocating and current businesses thanks to private annual memberships and government contracts.