If you want something done around Plant City you need only call Christine Miller. When Miller, president of the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, gets behind something it has no choice but to succeed. There are no amount of hours or levels of hard work she isn’t willing to commit to get the job done.
“Plant City is home,” Miller said. “Why do we all work so hard? Because this is home. It’s a home we love, a home we want our kids to be proud of living in.”
She and her husband Les Miller went on their first date in Plant City’s Historic Downtown in 1997. She said she knew immediately she was going to marry Les and that they were going to start their family in Plant City. She and Les have been married for 19 years and have three children.
The work ethic Miller inherited from her parents has allowed her to tackle seemingly insurmountable obstacles without a second thought. Her father worked for Tampa Electric for 37 years and never once took a sick day. At the same time he ran a side business and was heavily involved in the community.
Her mother never sat still. She was always working a job, whether that was owning her own business, working for the City of Tampa or serving for a nonprofit. She was a community activist and taught her children the importance of giving back.
“I remember sitting at our kitchen table building newsletters with rubber cement and printing them and folding
them,” Miller said. “She knew she could impact her community with her service and that was passed on to us.”
In 2016 Miller came on board with the United Food Bank of Plant City. Acquiring funding was her main goal and she set about completing a business process overhaul in an attempt to successfully get programs up and running via the food bank.
She knew the work was helping families, helping children across the city, so despite how dark things would sometimes appear, she was happy to be able to keep pushing for change. In her time at the helm the budget grew tremendously, as did the staff. In 2012, approximately 12,000 people were served annually, by 2015, that number had grown to 30,000.
“The job was a blessing,” Miller said. “I felt like I got to see the greatest parts of Plant City. What I mean by that is it was my job to raise the money, but I got to work with the most generous people in the community. Whether it was a school teacher doing a fundraiser in her classroom or one of the wealthiest families in Plant City quietly dropping off food or checks and not asking for anything in return. I felt very blessed and it always seemed to happy when I needed it the most.”
After growing it to a point where she was proud of the body of work it had become she was approached to
consider stepping in to lead the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce. She said it was a way for her to continue serving her community in a larger capacity and be able to affect a variety of change throughout the city.
“If I could help businesses grow and help this community grow, what better way is there to help benefit my community?” Miller said.
Miller isn’t simply someone who can be content with working a job for a paycheck. She needs whatever work she pursues to have meaning, to be beneficial to someone other than herself. She works tirelessly at the Chamber, helping it continue to grow and serve Plant City and said her drive is influenced by the change she literally sees every day.
“Look at things like the Candidate Forum we just held,” Miller said. “There was a need in Plant City for this type of event. People were looking for a way to get informed before they went to the polls. The only way it would be impactful was if it was successful. The only way it would be a success is if we put blood, sweat and tears into it.”
Following in the footsteps of former Chamber President Marion Smith has been a blessing, Miller said. The foundation she laid in her 15 years of service was essential when Miller took on the privilege of leading such an impactful institution.
She said she believes her greatest accomplishment thus far has been assembling the powerhouse team she has to help her run the Chamber and take it to new lengths. They’ve been able to bring back the Lunch and Learn series, move the tourist information center to the building and create new events to help increase networking and grow the number of members.
When all is said and done she hopes that people remember her as a proactive leader, a relationship builder and a doer.
“Personally, I think people are able to say that they knew that I cared, regardless of if its the smallest project I helped them do with their kids up to helping them create business. My sister said I have the gift of making people feel important no matter who they are. This isn’t a game. I’m not a politician. When I care, it’s genuine. I want people to know I cared and that I loved to laugh, because I’m pretty darn funny.”
She and her husband won Dancing with the Locals in 2017, she has served as a Rotarian, is a Paul Harris Fellow, has coached horse judging teams at Tomlin Middle School and has served on a PTA board for 13 years. She said she is so proud of the work the Rotary is doing in Plant City and said the Rotarian motto of service above self is something she has tried to follow her entire life. Plant City is her home and she said she loves every minute she gets to spend serving her town.
“I love that we still have hometown events like the tree lighting and the parade through town,” Miller said. “This town, this way of life, I would fight for something like that. I’m so blessed to be in a job where I can spend every day working to make this town better.”
