Kristy has taught at Coe College, Cornell College, and Illinois State University. She is an artistic associate of Working Group Theatre, where she has appeared in All Recipes Are Home, Out of Bounds, The Broken Chord, Mayberry, Rust, Atlas of Mud, and in the road company of Denali, which won the Cincinnati Acclaim Award for Best Ensemble. Credits include seasons with Iowa Summer Repertory, Riverside Theatre, the Old Creamery Theatre, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble.

Kristy earned a BA in History and Religious Studies and an MFA in Acting from Illinois State University.