Christina DeLullo

Some native Philadelphians appreciate their hometown only after they’ve moved somewhere else – for college, maybe, or a new job. Once the shine of new geography wears off, they realize what they left behind: 

Philly’s big personality, eccentric characters, carbonated sports teams, edgy arts and culture, award-winning foods, and loveable vibe of grit, warmth and fun.

When they return home, it’s like, “Wow, I will never take this place for granted again!”

Let’s just say that Phambassador Christina DeLullo is not one of those people. 

“I have loved Philly my whole life!” says Christina, 27, a bubbly old soul who grew up in West Passyunk, took the bus to middle school in Bella Vista and then the subway to Olney, first for high school at Central and then college at LaSalle. She experienced firsthand the city’s multilayered vibrance on its streets, in its classrooms, and in the homes of friends she made across  scores of different neighborhoods.

“Every time I got to know a new section of Philly and the people who live there, it made me love the city more,” she says. “Philly is all heart – and the people make it beat.” 

That’s why she was thrilled to join the Phambassadors.

“Being able to connect with others who feel the way I do, and hear about their own neighborhoods and favorite places, it makes me reflect on my own experience of being a proud Philadelphian,” she says. “It’s like the city is a tapestry and every one of us is woven into this beautiful fabric.”

By day, Christina works as an administrator for U.S.Facilities, the contractor that stewards complex city buildings like the Municipal Services Building, One Parkway, and the Criminal Justice Center. These are big, aging structures with daily demands—from HVAC to tenant reconfigurations to the literal wear and tear of a civic front porch. 

She thinks of her job as “community care” by way of maintenance: helping public workers and the public itself experience thoughtful, welcoming spaces.

So it’s a perfect fit for Christina, whose natural traits of curiosity and friendliness are also practical tools that help her give back to the city that makes her so happy. 

“I’ve had wonderful mentors,” she says. “I’m now at an age where I can be a mentor, too.”

On Saturdays, that means you’ll find her at Fleisher Art Memorial, where she took classes as a kid, volunteered as a teen, and is now a paid weekend assistant. 

On weeknights, you’ll find her in the classroom – she’s an adjunct professor at both LaSalle, where she earned her bachelor’s degree, and Manor College, where she picked up a masters. Her subject is communications, but her strongest classroom tool is inquisitiveness. She pushes her students to ask better questions “not just for school purposes, but throughout life.” 

And in between – when she’s not belly-dancing at Philly Dance Fitness, checking out the wildlife at the Discovery Center in Strawberry Mansion, hiking in the Wissahickon, or prowling the Bok’s eclectic maker-spaces – she’s reveling in the city’s crazy-quilt cuisine: communal Middle Eastern feasts at Marrakesh and Ethiopian Abyssinia, noodles in Chinatown, the high-end eateries and down-home diners of South Philly. 

In Christina’s world, Philly offers a thousand ways for long-time residents and brand-new arrivals to find, engage, and belong to each other.

And if they need her help to do it, well, says Chrisitna, “That’s what the Phambassadors are here for.”