This column serves as a spotlight, highlighting the everyday people who work and live in Callaway County. The Fulton Sun takes a moment with someone who is not usually featured in the news but is just as instrumental in making our community the strong and beautiful place we all know and love.
Andrea Ravelo, 47, lives in Fulton with her husband and son. A former teacher at Fulton High School, Ravelo is a business owner at Lulu's Frozen Yogurt and Fab Station in the Brick District. Ravelo is from Argentina originally - she came to mid-Missouri while her parents studied at the University of Missouri and later returned to complete her own studies at the university. On Memorial Day, she and her dog Sage were walking on Fifth Street.
Q: What was your first job?
I was a teacher. First I taught Spanish and then science.
Q: Who inspires you most?
I never think about that stuff. Whenever I see those questions, I'm like I don't know who I'd pick. I hope I'm never asked that (laughs)
Q: What have you done in life that was most fulfilling?
I guess having the chance, the opportunity to do different things. I was a teacher and I enjoyed that and then I was a grad student and got my PhD and I enjoyed that and now I'm a business owner and I enjoy this - that might be why I don't have just one person that I like.= because I do different things.
Q: What is something you are proud of?
I guess completing things that I've started, like finishing my degree or being a teacher for several years - just following through.
Q: What profession would you like to attempt?
I like what I'm doing right now. One of the things I've always liked, but know I wouldn't do is to be a flower farmer. But I'm a lazy gardener, so I know it wouldn't work for me. I like plants. I'm a botanist by study. I was a biology undergrad and my PhD was botany.
Q: What profession would you not like to do?
I would like to try just about any job short-term. But. physically demanding jobs. That's why I wouldn't want to be a flower farmer because I know I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Anything that is very physically demanding would be interesting to try, but not for a long time.
Q: What is something no one knows about you?
I'm really open, I don't know if there's anything people wouldn't know.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Callaway County?
I really like Fulton, that's why we stayed. I like the small-town feel of the whole county. You get to know people around you, even people from neighboring little towns. It's like you're all one big neighborhood.