From the FBI to Google to Netflix: How a Career in Tech Prepared Me to Fight for Families in Crisis
If you’ve been following along with my story, you know I didn’t exactly take the traditional path to becoming the owner of an asset recovery firm. We’ve talked about my roots in East Alabama and my eight years in the Army, but today I want to pull back the curtain on the chapter of my life that usually surprises people the most: my two decades in high-level technology.
Whenever I tell people I went from working for the FBI and Google to helping families reclaim money after a foreclosure, they often ask, "Kristie, how on earth do those two worlds connect?"
To me, the connection is crystal clear. Whether I was managing server reliability for millions of users or tracking down a missing six-figure check for a grandmother in Georgia, the mission has always been the same: Solving complex problems for people who need a win.
Navigating the Maze: From the FBI to the Pentagon
When I left the Army, I brought my "Always Forward" motto into the civilian world. I started at BAE Systems, working on projects for the FBI. From there, I moved through some of the most intense environments you can imagine, the FCC, the Pentagon (ITA), and eventually USAID/OFDA (the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance).
In those roles, I wasn't just "doing IT." I was building systems that had to work perfectly because, in disaster assistance or national security, failure isn't just a bug, it’s a crisis. I earned my CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) and my PMP (Project Management Professional), and eventually my MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute.
I was often the only person in the room who looked like me, a Black woman in rooms full of high-ranking officials and tech giants. I learned how to navigate massive bureaucracies, how to speak the language of "the system," and most importantly, how to find the "glitch" that was holding everything up.
The Big Tech Years: Google and Netflix
Eventually, Silicon Valley came calling. I joined Google as a Hardware Operations Manager and eventually moved into Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) Management.
If you aren’t a tech nerd like me, "SRE" basically means my job was to make sure the services you use every day, like Search or Gmail, stayed up and running, no matter what. It required a mix of extreme data analysis, automation, and "incident response." When something broke, we didn't just fix it; we did a "postmortem" to figure out why it happened and how to make sure it never happened again.
At Google, I also found my passion for mentorship. I served as a Sage mentor, co-led Women@Datacenters, and was a facilitator for many course offerings. I realized that while I loved the tech, I loved the people more. I loved helping others navigate the same mazes I had mastered.
Then came Netflix. They actually recruited me, I never even applied! Working there was another masterclass in efficiency and high-performance culture. But by the time 2025 rolled around, life was shifting. I was pregnant with my daughter, and I realized that I wanted to use my "problem-solving brain" for something that hit closer to home.
The "Aha Moment": Why a Tech Exec Chose Foreclosure Recovery
You might be wondering how "Site Reliability" helps you get your money back from the government.
Here’s the truth: The government’s system for holding onto surplus funds after a foreclosure is, quite frankly, a mess. It’s a maze of outdated paperwork, legal jargon, and bureaucratic "black holes."
When I first learned about the billions of dollars in unclaimed surplus funds sitting in government accounts, my SRE brain went into overdrive. I saw a system that was "unreliable" for the people it was supposed to serve. I saw an "incident" (the loss of a home) that needed a "recovery plan" (getting the equity back).
I realized that the same skills I used to manage Google-scale data centers could be used to:
Audit government records with precision.
Automate the search for families who are owed money.
Project manage the complex legal filings so nothing falls through the cracks.
Securely handle sensitive documents (thanks to that CISSP training!).
Integrity, Expertise, and Care
Leaving the corporate world wasn't about "getting out of tech." it was about bringing that high-level expertise to people who usually don't have a Google-level advocate in their corner.
Most people dealing with foreclosure are exhausted. They’ve been through a traumatic experience, and the last thing they have the energy for is fighting a county treasurer or a court clerk for a check they didn't even know existed.
At Heritage Surplus Solutions, I get to be that "Site Reliability Engineer" for your family’s finances. I track the "bugs" in the system, I handle the "outages" (the legal delays), and I make sure the "recovery" is successful.
What’s Next?
My tech career taught me that no system is too complex to navigate if you have the right tools and the right mindset. It taught me to always move forward, even when the path isn't clear.
If you’ve lost a home to foreclosure, or if you know someone who has, please know that you don't have to navigate this "glitchy" government system alone. We’ve built a process that is designed for your success, with no upfront costs and a whole lot of tech-powered grit behind it.
Stay tuned for Part 4 of this series, where I’ll get a bit more personal and talk about the journey that truly changed my life: my path to becoming a mother through IVF.
Until then, remember: Always Forward.
Warmly,
