Please join us in welcoming our new Operations Manager, Krisayla (Kris) Rasmussen!

Kris is originally from Norfolk, Nebraska where she earned her high school diploma and an associate degree in business administration from Norfolk Senior High School and Northeast Community College, respectively. She moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in August of 2017 to continue her education and earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) in May 2019. Upon graduating from UNL, she worked for a local marketing agency for about a year and eventually realized that she deeply missed being in a higher education environment. This realization prompted her to resign from the marketing agency and begin working as an administrative assistant for the UNL Department of Agronomy and Horticulture in December 2019. As someone who greatly values education, Kris jumped at the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree using the UNL Employee Scholarship benefit (which waives tuition for full-time UNL employees). Thanks to this generous financial support, she will be graduating from the University of Nebraska–Omaha in May of 2022 with her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree completely debt-free! Although Kris loved her time at UNL, she eventually decided that she wanted to pursue a strategic role that would give her more targeted and extensive experience in project management while still remaining in the higher education industry. Thus, in October of 2021, she resigned from UNL and began working in the President’s Office of Southeast Community College as a Project Coordinator where she has been working to this day.

Kris is very passionate about the arts; in her free time, she loves to indulge in activities such as reading, listening to music, watching films and plays, photography, and flexing her creative writing muscles by writing poetry and short stories. Like most people, she was first introduced to classic literary works from Shakespeare in her high school classes. But rather than focusing solely on getting a good grade in the course like most of her peers, Kris found herself mesmerized and captivated by Shakespeare’s storytelling methods, including his masterful incorporation of universal themes, memorable words and quotes, and enduring characterization. With unwavering support from her long-term boyfriend, John, and her cat, Dexter, Kris is excited to use her extensive business expertise to help Flatwater Shakespeare Company successfully execute its programming and events and increase appreciation and awareness of Shakespearean literature in the Lincoln community and beyond. She will be helping the company coordinate its budgetary activities, including identifying and applying for grants. She will also serve as the “face” of the company, meaning she will answer most inquiries and that you will likely spot her sporting her “Where there’s a Will, there’s a play” Shakespeare shirt when selling tickets and concessions at the box office.