Up Close with Monica Kristo

By Shirley Coyle, LC

During a post-college hunt for a “real job”, Monica Kristo answered a classified ad in the local newspaper for a customer service role for a family-run lighting company in the Minneapolis area. Monica landed the job, not knowing a thing about the lighting industry. It turned out to be the perfect place to learn the ins and outs of a small business, and to learn all about lighting. It was small enough to get hands-on training – not just in customer service, but also accounts receivable, payables, and data entry. Monica fell in love with lighting. She knew then that she could never leave it! She later moved on to a larger lighting company in town that was looking to grow. And there was lots of growth – by the time she left, the business had tripled in revenue, and Monica’s role had grown to Vice President.

In 2014, Monica took the plunge as an entrepreneur, starting her own company, the woman-owned business Rea Lighting, with her fiancé and master electrician, George, at her side. Her biggest challenge? “It was scary moving from the security of getting a regular, good paycheck to…nothing!” Monica’s established relationships, built over the prior years in the local community, were key to the success of her new business. She is someone who knows how to solve a customer’s problem, helping them with whatever they need.

Monica’s father, a first-generation immigrant from Sweden, who has since passed away, warned: “You’re never going to make any money selling light bulbs!” Happily, Monica has proved him wrong – Rea Lighting has grown to 9 employees, doing commercial and industrial work and handling everything from audits to installation, including a lot of service work for multilocation customers. As for the current challenges, Monica sees the ongoing labor and material shortages as the biggest issue.

Monica credits her involvement in NALMCO as a significant factor in her company’s growth, noting that joining NALMCO was one of the first things she did after establishing her own company. “It’s really important to get involved, to go to the conference and not be a wall-flower!” She notes that the connections and the networking have been so valuable – “We help each other out.” Monica has been deeply involved in NALMCO since joining – first on the Membership committee, then joining the NALMCO Board of Directors in 2019. She has been chairing the Program committee and will move to chairing the Membership committee this year.

Asked what her advice would be to young people considering our industry, Monica is effusive: “Yes, do it – get into the lighting business! The lighting industry needs to get to students while they are in tech school. I tell them about NALMCO’s first level certifications that can be taken while getting their hours in for journeyman or master electrician.” She notes the expanding areas of opportunity - not just commercial and industrial lighting, but also EV charging, horticulture, UVC, human-centric and solar.

One of Monica’s proudest accomplishments was her work with a team of NALMCO Certification committee volunteers to refresh the content for the CLMC (Certified Lighting Management Consultant) Certification Program. “It was a huge job, but really cool – editing and updating the hundreds of questions with all the technology changes.” The group members were surprised and delighted to be recognized for their work, receiving an award at the recent Annual Convention in Arizona. Monica is very excited about the upcoming 2023 Annual Conference, which will mark NALMCO’s 70th Anniversary.

What is Monica up to when not working on her own business or NALMCO? Spending time with family and friends at the cabin where Monica loves to entertain, to cook – “and everybody gets to bring their dogs.” Only about an hour’s drive from home, the cabin is “really casual, really fun” with a pontoon, fishing gear, WaveRunners, and a huge smoker – big enough to fit a dozen briskets. Monica’s 16-year-old son now loves to cook, too, making the rub and doing most of the smoking. At work or at play, Monica continues to create a lively, learning-filled environment!