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Crista O'Keefe Brandt

  • Founder and Regional Director, Valerie's House Pensacola

Biography

Crista Brandt is the visionary behind the Pensacola Chapter of Valerie’s House, an organization devoted to providing grief support to children and families who have lost a loved one. In 2020, Crista partnered with Valerie’s House CEO Angela Melvin to establish peer-to-peer support groups in Northwest Florida, helping create a compassionate space for children facing the same isolation and confusion she experienced after losing her mother to cancer at age 11.

Crista’s journey into grief advocacy is deeply personal. Her mission, as she describes it, is to turn her tragedy into a gift for a grieving child today. Under her leadership, Valerie’s House Pensacola has grown from serving 15 children and 10 caregivers to supporting over 550 individuals in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Her dedication has been recognized with the 2024 Pensacola Area Commitment to Excellence Advocate of the Year award by the Greater Pensacola Chamber, and her chapter was awarded an IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area grant.

Before founding Valerie’s House Pensacola, Crista spent over two decades excelling in technology and software consulting, sales, and project management. A graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, she honed her expertise working with Fortune 500 companies in roles spanning enterprise account management, digital transformation, and strategic consulting. Her extensive experience managing multi-million-dollar accounts and leading cross-functional teams now serves as a foundation for her impactful nonprofit leadership.

Crista is also an active community leader and a graduate of Leadership Pensacola. She remains involved in organizations such as IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area. Her commitment to service and her ability to blend business acumen with personal empathy make her a fearless advocate for grieving children and families throughout Northwest Florida.

Above all, Crista considers her proudest accomplishment to be a mother to her 13-year-old daughter, Carter. Parenthood is the most rewarding and fulfilling role for Crista, but also the most challenging. She is deeply committed to guiding her daughter through life, striving to model resilience, perseverance, and love, acknowledging that parenting comes with its share of challenges, self-doubt, and continuous learning. For Crista, being Carter’s mother is the greatest joy and privilege of her life. Crista lives in Pensacola with her husband, daughter Carter, and their toy poodle Abby, affectionately known as Fat Abby.