Age 35  |  Partner, Capital Ideas

Christina Amys accumulated experience as an account executive at Gazette Communications Inc. in Cedar Rapids and two Des Moines companies – WHO-TV and The Atomic Advertising Group Inc. – before launching her own company, Springboard Advertising, in 2004.

She operated it until this year, when she merged business interests and balanced talents by joining with Mike Woody’s company, Capital Ideas. “I had always worked with Mike,” Amys said. “He started an agency, and after almost two years, he had things he didn’t like to do, and I did, too, and they complemented each other.” Now that they’re working together, “I love making sure everything is organized for our clients, all systems in place,” she said. “I handle the bookkeeping, and Mike is the creative person.”

Amys is an Omaha native who earned a degree in public relations at Northwest Missouri State University. When she worked as an intern in the advertising and sales department of Fox Sports in Dallas, “I really liked the ad side of it,” she said.

Here in Des Moines, she has volunteered with several organizations, including Lutheran Church of Hope, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and the Arthritis Foundation. Amys became involved with the latter group after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last fall. “My joints will slowly degenerate, but medicine is keeping it at bay,” she said. “I just want to be able to play with my kids and not notice it.”

Her biggest commitment, however, has been to the Junior League of Des Moines. Amys was named the group’s outstanding new member in 2003 and won its community service award in 2007. She’ll serve as an at-large director next year.

Amys’ husband, P.J., also grew up in Omaha, and it was his job that brought the couple and their two children – Sophia, 5 1/2, and Peter, 3 – to Des Moines. “Our parents would love having us back in Omaha, but we love Des Moines,” Amys said.

In her spare time, she enjoys golf, helping her husband’s barbecue team and traveling to such divergent locations as Sanibel Island, Fla., and Sturgis, S.D., for the annual get-together of Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders.