Influential Women Profiles Christa Collins: Regional Sales Manager At Tarkett Sports Indoor
Christa Collins is a results-driven business development and sales professional currently serving as Regional Sales Manager at Tarkett Sports Indoor in North America. Managing a two-state territory across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Christa specializes exclusively in indoor sports flooring solutions for gymnasiums, recreation centers, fitness facilities, and community spaces. Through her work, she brings together design expertise, technical knowledge, relationship-building, and a deep understanding of the needs of athletic environments.
Christa’s position is highly dynamic, requiring her to balance local client engagement with regional travel and national trade shows. Whether she is meeting with architects, visiting a jobsite, working alongside installers, or educating clients about flooring systems, she maintains a hands-on approach and remains committed to delivering solutions that meet the needs of both facilities and the people who use them.
With nearly two decades of professional experience, Christa has developed a unique career that blends interior design, construction, project management, commercial flooring, sales, and business development. She began her career as a Selections Coordinator with Toll Brothers, where she assisted new homebuyers in creating their dream homes. This early experience gave her valuable insight into client service, design selections, materials, and the process of translating a customer’s vision into a finished environment.
Christa later expanded her professional expertise as an Account Manager with Derr Flooring Co. and Shaw Contract. Working within education, government, and multifamily market segments, she developed deep knowledge of commercial flooring and strengthened her ability to build relationships, understand client requirements, and navigate complex projects.
Before joining Tarkett, Christa served as Director of Design & Client Experience at Providence One Development. In this position, she led client engagement and design strategy across construction projects, further strengthening her ability to connect design intent with functional, real-world applications. Her diverse experience ultimately positioned her to successfully bridge the gap between design, technical applications, and sales.
Christa holds a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Although her education provided the foundation for her career, she believes a college degree should not define the limits of a person’s professional future. Instead, she views education as a platform that can be used to pursue opportunities that align with an individual’s strengths, interests, and evolving goals.
This perspective is central to the advice Christa gives young women entering the industry. She encourages them not to feel confined by the title associated with their degree. Her own career demonstrates how an interior design background can open doors to project management, field operations, commercial flooring, sales, business development, and leadership.
Christa initially gravitated toward interior design because of her ability and interest in drawing floorplans, buildings, and architectural perspectives. As she gained professional experience, however, she discovered that she particularly enjoyed being in the field, learning from others, overseeing installations, and cultivating relationships. Those interests eventually guided her toward a career that combined design and project management before leading to sales and business development.
She believes women with design backgrounds have significant opportunities across the broader building and construction industry. Their understanding of how materials and products are applied in real-world environments provides valuable insight that can translate into specialties involving flooring, wall coverings, millwork, countertops, furniture, and other architectural products.
Christa’s passion for sports also plays an important role in her work. As a former competitive swimmer, she understands the influence athletic environments can have on individuals and communities. She believes sports teach teamwork, resilience, discipline, and leadership—values that can benefit people regardless of their background or circumstances.
That philosophy fuels her work in sports flooring. For Christa, athletic facilities are more than functional spaces. They are environments where athletes develop skills, build confidence, learn to work with others, and overcome challenges. By helping create safe, high-quality flooring environments, she contributes to spaces designed to support athletes of all ages and abilities.
Christa attributes her professional success to a strong work ethic, the support of family and friends, and a genuine passion for her career. Her husband, Patrick Collins, has been particularly instrumental in her journey. While managing his own career, Patrick also oversees their home and helps care for their children while Christa frequently travels for work, sometimes during important family moments. His encouragement ultimately helped motivate Christa to return to the career path she had built over the years.
Christa was also strongly influenced by her parents, who came from lower-income backgrounds and instilled in her the value of hard work and sacrifice. Those lessons have remained foundational throughout her professional life and continue to influence how she approaches challenges and opportunities.
Returning to a manufacturer’s representative role with Tarkett in a highly competitive East Coast market has been a significant achievement for Christa. Because she had already developed strong relationships throughout the industry, the transition felt seamless. She was able to re-engage with clients and partners, perform at a high level, and continue expanding her business while delivering results.
Throughout her career, Christa has benefited from advice provided by business coaches, influential leaders, and clients. One principle that continues to shape her approach is the belief that professionals are not simply in the sales business—they are in the relationship business.
For Christa, genuine relationships are built on honesty, integrity, and trust. She believes that when professionals develop authentic connections with the people around them, clients and colleagues naturally seek them out when they need solutions. Once that level of trust is established, she believes the sales process becomes much more natural.
As a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Christa sees both challenges and opportunities. As a sales manager for a company that manufactures sports flooring, she regularly works with construction teams and flooring installers. There are times when she is the only woman in a room filled with male decision-makers.
Although those situations have sometimes been intimidating, Christa’s professional growth has allowed her to view them as opportunities rather than obstacles. She is also encouraged by Tarkett Sports’ efforts to increase female representation throughout the industry. Christa is one of three female Regional Sales Managers within her team; while women make up much of the company’s customer service, inside sales and logistics team. Christa believes that these female dominated roles are the backbone of Tarkett Sports success. They balance a demanding workload and ensure that she and her colleagues can focus on building strong foundational relationships with clients.
Mentorship has played a significant role in Christa’s professional development. During college, her lighting design professor, Dr. Kesner, challenged students to give 110% and maintained high expectations that helped prepare them for professional careers. Later, when Christa entered the flooring industry, installer networks became an important source of technical education.
She frequently visited jobsites, asked questions, and learned directly from installers and experienced colleagues. Christa attributes a significant portion of her flooring expertise to the professionals who took the time to educate her early in her career. She believes there is always more to learn and hopes to provide similar guidance to young professionals entering the industry.
Looking ahead, Christa’s career goals include pursuing a leadership position where she can continue to motivate and educate others. She views mentorship as an important way to give back to the industry and help prepare the next generation of professionals who will eventually take on leadership and technical roles.
Outside of work, family, nature, and meaningful experiences with her children are central to Christa’s life. She and her family enjoy hiking, gardening, and spending time outdoors with their two boys, ages four and six, and their American Staffordshire Terrier, Memphis. Everyday activities, from planting potatoes in the garden to stacking firewood and hiking challenging trails, become opportunities to teach her children kindness, teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, and the importance of looking out for one another.
Christa also understands the challenge of maintaining boundaries in an increasingly connected professional world. With frequent travel, meetings, emails, and phone calls, stepping away from work can be difficult. As a full-time working mother, she recognizes that burnout is real and that traveling professionals may sometimes miss important family moments.
For Christa, learning when to step back is essential. By taking time to hit the gym, enjoy her family and appreciate the small moments, she can return to work refreshed, focused, and ready to pursue the next goal.
Ultimately, Christa wants her children to understand both the importance of a strong work ethic and how deeply they are loved. She strives to demonstrate that professional ambition and family commitment can coexist, even when achieving that balance requires intentional effort.
Through her work at Tarkett Sports Indoor, Christa Collins continues to combine her interior design background, commercial flooring expertise, relationship-driven sales approach, and passion for sports to help create athletic environments where people can perform, grow, and thrive. Her career reflects the power of adaptability, authentic relationships, continuous learning, and the willingness to turn a traditional career path into something uniquely one’s own.
Learn More about Christa Collins:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/Christa-Collins
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