The Salisbury Post is continuing its 10-part series of People to Watch 2025, taking a look at individuals with a big year ahead of them.

Today’s feature is centering on Kristen Estepp, the project director of Youth Substance Use Prevention Rowan (YSUP), which as the name suggests focuses on substance use prevention. However, that’s not where it stops as Estepp said they “really expand that into seeing what our youth are struggling with, how we can help them.”

Estepp, 27, was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and moved here at two with her parents, Angie and Chris Estepp, when her dad got a job at Freightliner.

A graduate of North Rowan High School, Estepp said she is a huge advocate of the school. She received her bachelor’s degree in public health at Appalachian and her master’s degree in public health at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Changing her major in her junior year to public health, she realized during her first class that “this is it, this is where I belong and it’s been great ever since,” she said.

After completing college, Estepp returned to Salisbury and began working at the Health Department and said she loved working on this local level and being able to see how people are affected by the programs that are implemented.

She remained there for two years, managed the coalition and the public health education department.

Estepp has been at YSUP Rowan, 1322 S. Fulton St., Salisbury, a little over a year now and has loved it everyday

Karen South Jones hired her and serves as her boss, and Estepp praised her saying, “Karen is one of the best people I’ve ever met,” said Estepp. “She is such a good leader, such a good mentor, such a good friend, supervisor. She is just one of the best people.”

YSUP Rowan, a drug-free community awardee, is in the eighth year of a 10-year grant, she said, with hopes that the funding will be expanded.

At YSUP Rowan, Estepp manages the coalition, which meets monthly during which time she plans what will be discussed, events or activities that need to be planned, or bringing in someone if needed that can teach new trends in substance use prevention.

The coalition, she said, has numerous partners and numerous organizations, “who just have a passion, a purpose to serve our youth.”

She also works to spread awareness to bring more members into the coalition. 

While the organization has the drug prevention piece to it, she said they also pay attention to the other struggles that youth have including mental health and social connectedness, which focuses on feeling connected to the community.

Estepp also works with youth as they have a youth empowerment team. This was very important to them because they “wanted teens to come in and tell us what they were dealing with.”

Estepp said she loves working with kids and feels kids are special because they will not sugar-coat things and they can “tell very quickly if you mean what you say” and they will call you out if you don’t follow through on what you say you are going to do.

Their straightforward attitude, telling it like it is, is “a breath of fresh air,” she said.

Building trust with youth has to happen first, she said, “and it’s amazing to see once you start building their trust, building that relationship, how they open up and how they kind of really show you who they are and what they care about.”

Youth will come early to the council meetings to just hang out, Estepp said.

“They are comfortable being there and some talk about things that are deeply personal,” she said. “It’s not our place to guide them, but we want them to know they can talk to us and we will listen to them.”

At YSUP Rowan, Estepp said they focus on building up the skills of the youth, helping them learn leadership, plan projects, advocacy, service and volunteering.

Additional responsibilities include providing prevention education in schools, talking about substance use and promoting resources for those who want help.

They also offer parent education, which focuses on starting to have conversations early with their children and continuing those conversations so they know they can come to you and ask questions.

In addition to education and prevention activities, YSUP Rowan also has an annual art contest, providing students a way for them to use their creativity and express themselves.

The contest, Estepp said, also serves as a way to “spread the word about what we do and that we are out here.”

Her work with youth, her boss Karen and the fact that she loves what she does is what she said brought her to YSUP Rowan and what brings her back each day.

While serving, Estepp said she learns something new everyday but the biggest has been that “you showing up matters” to the kids, the coalition members and the community partners.

In addition to her work at YSUP Rowan, Estepp is involved in the community in other ways including Leadership Rowan; in Rowan Rotary serving as a board member, membership chair and marketing; active with Young Professionals; and adjunct for Wingate University teaching a virtual leadership in public health class for sophomores, juniors and seniors. 

 

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one record/album to listen to, what would it be and why?

My music taste varies. I love Taylor Swift, I love Morgan Wallen, country and Machine Gun Kelly has been my favorite rapper since I was 12. Very different, so I would put them all on one album.

They are very different so we are going to go with, maybe, “Midnights” by Taylor Swift. It’s just a good album. I can listen to it and I can feel calm and I can have a dance party and feel better, dance it out.

 

If they made a movie about your life, who should the producers cast to play you?

Emma Watson. Huge Harry Potter fan, like massive Harry Potter fan.

 

What is your motto/mantra/favorite saying?

On my wrist is a tattoo of my grandma’s (Nancy Estepp) handwriting and it says Say Your Prayers, and so that’s what she would tell me getting off the phone every time. In college when I was away, that’s the last thing she would say would be to say your prayers. And so I keep it close to me so I can always remember it and it’s special.

 

Do you have a personal goal set for 2025?

She said first, with a laugh, to move out.

Also, I would say to give myself the grace that I give others, to give myself the same kind of lax that I give others.

I am very much a perfectionist. I like for things to be done a certain way and I like for things to be a certain way. I am fine with other people and I’m like, “It’s fine, it’s fine,” but when it comes to my work and when it comes to me, there’s just an invisible standard. Yeah, I want to give myself the same grace I give others.

 

Who is someone that you will be watching in 2025?

So many people, I feel like. We have so many great community leaders that as I’m growing into a leader, I’m just trying to take everything in. 

Of course my boss, Karen South Jones. I’m always watching her. I’m always trying to learn how she handles situations, how I can better handle situations.

Another one is James Davis with the schools. He has taken me in and been such a mentor and friend to me and he does his job so well. So I’m always trying to watch and learn from him, how he treats the kids he works with and how he treats community partners and how he treats people on the street that he runs into on a daily basis.

Other than that, I would say my parents. I’m really trying to watch them this year. As you get older, you realize more the sacrifices that they made and you see the hard work kind of getting to them and kind of slowing down a little bit. I watch them handle so many things with grace, with hard work and with sacrifice, and I didn’t always realize it, so I’m trying to watch them and really be appreciative of everything they’ve given me and everything they’ve kind of put in my life. We moved down here for that. My parents didn’t know anybody. They made it work.