King's Daughter's Kitchen

I have always admired athletes with their priorities in order… God, family, work. One athlete, Kelli Finglass, the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, knows all about these.

Kelli is a Christian, a leader, and woman of principles and grit who carries herself with dignity. She has the guts to let the world see her life up close, and she looks like an amazing boss from her hair to her heels. Don’t let those lady heels fool you. Under that perfect hair is the calculating mind of a consistent winner who catches and corrects the team’s slightest mistakes.

Kelli could have chosen many places to work with her degree from the University of North Texas in International Marketing. Instead, she reinvested herself and her time into the lives of countless young women who come from all over the world to try out to make the team.

Kelli’s team aren’t just cheerleaders. They become her family in that she cares for them like their mother and their boss. She teaches girls boundaries, that if broken, can get them kicked off the team and sent home. She ensures that the girls learn etiquette, public speaking, and leadership in order to be more employable after their time on the team.

Kelli, as part of the Dallas organization, requires each girl, once on the team, to sign a contract. The contract allows Kelli to see cheerleaders’ social media pages. It protects the organization but also protects the girl in that it allows Kelli to get the cheerleader help if she needs it for body shame or health issues or self-esteem and mental, physical, or emotional abuse or stability. She is there to grow girls into leading ladies from the inside out, to help them become better people in society. Her door and her heart are always open to listen and to help.

I admire that Kelli is mentally and technologically “with it” and juggles the timing of her commitment to the squad all day. She also has a lifelong marriage and a family. Likely why it works is because she makes time to celebrate what God is doing in her life. She visits His house to praise Him on Sundays with joy. Kelli has her priorities in the right order… God, family, work.