Ciji Brandenburg

While Ciji’s story starts out rough, it’s filled with hope and incredible God moments. She was born in North Dakota (that’s not the rough part yet). Her parents divorced when she was three and her mother died two years later. Her stepmother was abusive and she grew up never feeling “good enough.” Her family moved around and she found herself in Rapid City during her high school years. Throughout high school she suffered from depression and began making unwise decisions. As Ciji says, “By my senior year I was out of control.” 

Freshman year of college was more of the same. That year she met her future husband, Marcus at a party. In 2004, they married and life together started out pretty rocky. Prior to getting married, they both made a pact that church, the Bible, and religious stuff were never going to have any place in their marriage (ha…never say never).

Ciji began to contemplate divorce, and then stuff started to happen. A friend from high school called her and had a career opportunity for her and Marcus to consider. Ciji was selling vacuums door-to-door, so she was all ears. The company was operated by Christians and suddenly they found themselves surrounded. They attended a sales meeting in Kentucky and were invited to a Sunday worship service. They declined…and declined...and declined…and then accepted the invite. Long story short, Ciji found herself weeping and knowing that what was being talked about was what she had longed for. She accepted Jesus and stopped the party lifestyle immediately; however, Ciji’s faith added more strain to the marriage. She started attending church, and one day, seven years later, Marcus came to know Jesus.

Ciji had known about the work that Collision did since she led a group of girls from her church and some of the girls were involved with the student-led movement. Because of her high school years, she has a passion for students to know their true worth, purpose and identity through Jesus.

Today, Ciji and Marcus have a wonderful marriage with two children. In addition to serving with Collision, she owns her own photography business. Her husband serves full-time in the Air National Guard, and they enjoy the great outdoors every chance they get.