When I first started Misty Saves the Day, it was about creating a life that I loved. I wanted to be able to take time to be with my kids, to make my own schedule, but still wanted to bust my ass while I did it. I’ve always been the kind of person who found identity in whatever my profession is. It was crucial to me after I found Wren that I had worked, but that I changed the way that I was working. What I don’t think I could’ve anticipated? How many people were totally down to just get rid of the responsibility of social media and impart it on me (well, now, us).
How the Team Happened
Wanna know the weirdest shit to me ever? I have a TEAM. An amazing team of people who choose to work with me on a daily basis – and my awesome clients. Misty Saves the Day is successful and able to function with so many clients because of these awesome ladies, and I couldn’t be more thankful.
It was really tough to finally decide that I wanted to have staff. Ashley made it easy, though. She was my first employee. I’ve also known her for over 22 years (which shows our age, but whatever), so there was a ton of trust there. That was the biggest part of it: trusting some one to take my baby and run. To do things the way that I needed them to be done. I started Misty Saves the Day in October 2015 – and by July 2016, I had my first employee in Ashley Calton.
From there, I hired Lauren Windham. She started as an intern in the summer of 2016. She was referred by a friend, and I can clearly remember sitting in a coffee shop with her and she said to me, “I hear that you’re pretty sarcastic and to the point. I’m really nice, but don’t worry, you can be yourself.” And that has rang true for the last three and a half years. I officially hired her in November of 2016.
Adding More
It was a lot to choose to add more people after Ashley and Lauren – I trusted them, we had a good thing going. But I knew in order to grow, I had to grow my team, too. Then I added in Kacee Atkinson and Britney Lowe. These two answered my ad for employees (and I knew that I was looking for two people, but didn’t necessarily readily say that in the ad). Kacee works for Stage Right Lighting, so I already knew her (a little bit!), but our phone call made it clear that she would be a great fit. The same goes for Britney, who has a full-time job as a social worker and is a shooting assistant for Sharon Elizabeth Photography on the weekends. I felt like they got it – they understood what Misty Saves the Day is all about.
So I think it’s time that you get to know these girls. They’re part of it all – they’re the reason that 2019 was by far the most successful year for Misty Saves the Day.
Get to Know the Team
When we had these pictures done by the always awesome Valerie Demo, it was the first time that we’d all gotten together (like, even before Kacee and Britney joined the team!). Fun things that we learned: all of my staff have babies under 1. Those are some badass moms right there. The beauty of what we do and how we work is that we can make our own schedules, work at any time, and make sure that we still have time to have lives, families, go on adventures.
I asked the girls to give me some fun facts about them – so here goes nothing (and they are some good facts). They’re in order of the picture above!
Kacee Atkinson
I’m secretly a huge WWE wrestling fan, as a kid my dad took me to a match and I haven’t stopped watching since.
I love animals. I have two dogs Marley & Jameson, I rescued both of them impulsively. ( I never told my husband and told him they were his Valentine’s Day gift ????) He was surprised to say the least.
I can’t go a day without drinking Diet Dr.Pepper or as I call it DDP. My obsession is so bad, I even have a shirt that says DDP queen given to me as a gift ????
I’m very competitive, board games, sports games, trivia – you name it, I want to play and win.
Out of all the classic Disney movies, I’ve only ever watched Lion King and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. was never a fan of cartoons or animations so I’ve never watched any of the Disney Princess movies, Aladdin, Little Mermaid. It’s a little weird, I know.
I need you to know that after reading that last fact about Kacee when she sent me the information, I promptly gave her a list of movies that she needed to watch in sequential order.
Ashley Calton
First fun fact about Ashley: she’s not good at writing fun facts about herself. But lucky for her, I’ve known her for more than half of our lives, so I’ve got a lot.
She’s terrified of bees and wasps. And anything that flies. Also moths (which I found surprising, because I was with her up until that point).
We met in 7th grade in Ms. Erskine’s English class. She sat in front of me and was wearing a white tank top. I think it had stars on it, but that could be my own happy memories just putting stars places.
She hates spicy food more than me. I’ll at least put pepper in stuff – she vetoes putting pepper in anything. Her husband doesn’t like condiments, so I’m not quite sure about food at their house (they actually get by, and it’s pretty good).
She’s from Virginia Beach, but went to college in Richmond at VCU and stayed there for a long time until relocated to Roanoke a few years ago.
Misty Prewitt
You guys know enough about me – but for fun, I had one of my favorite people, Mike Dragon, come up with some fun facts for you (since I’m not any good at it either):
I’m loud. Like, very loud. Annoyingly loud. (I added in that part).
I friendship to a fault.
I work as hard as I can.
I like getting fancy but love not being fancy, too.
My favorite color is olive green but I wish it was mustard yellow. (When he first told me this, it was life-changing, and so so accurate).
Lauren Windham
I have a five month-old son and he’s pretty much the love of my life (Don’t tell my husband).
I recently sat front row to see Kristin Chenoweth and it was a huge deal for this former musical theatre kid. That concert completed my musical bucket list (which included Michael Buble, Josh Groban and Idina Menzel). I loved her so much in Pushing Daisies.
My husband and I have been together since high school. We’ll celebrate four years of marriage in February.
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is my favorite movie ever. During my senior year of college, my best friend and I drove to Richmond and had breakfast at Tiffany’s – we drank Starbucks coffee and ate croissants in our little black dresses while we waited for the store to open.
My love languages are flowers and dessert (especially cake).
Britney Lowe
I married a heart throb with a Georgia accent.
I’m rocking motherhood with my awesome baby boy.
I work as a social worker full-time and do wedding photography.
Reality television is my guilty pleasure – give me any show on Bravo! I miss Project Runway. The old Project Runway.
Originally from North Carolina and will always be a Carolina girl at heart.
We’re All So Different
The beauty of all of this? We’re all so different. Even though I have known Ashley more than half my life, but I’m so glad that these girls bring so much to the table. It’s a fun crew to front, and be part of. They teach me things every day.
Want to get in on having this awesome team work for you? It’s the new year – time to start something fresh, and if it’s your social media, I’m pretty sure we’re all down. Send me an e-mail at misty@mistysavestheday.com to learn more – or just hang out on the website and see what’s up with all the cool stuff that we get to do.
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂