Texas Strong Woman - Melanie Meeks

MELANIEMEEKS

FOUNDER OFMEEKS MARKETING

Houston, Texas

Interviewed by Cheryl Moses

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TITLESFOR YOURSELF AND WHY?

As somebody that wears a lotof hats, I like the variety ofrelationships in my life.

Wife. I’ve been married almost16 years now, and my husband,Tim, is such a great encourager.

Mom. I’m a mom of three. Our oldest is almost 11 and getting into that middle school age. Yet, all the kids still call me Mommy. That name is sweet and nostalgic, and whenever Maddie, my oldest, calls me that, I flash back to the day she was born when I had zero clue of what I was doing. (I still have zero clue what I’m doing!)

I don’t use the titles Boss or Owner, or anything like that. I prefer Team Member or Colleague. I am really proud of our team and the intentionality we put forth. I look at us as cocreators working side by side.

Photo by Red's Photography

WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS OR MENTORS?

My parents are the type of people that make you believe you are the best at everything! We knew that they were going to pull for us no matter what. We could’ve chosen the most obscure career paths, and they would’ve thought it was the most exceptional thing they’d ever heard of in their entire life! I learned a lot from them. My dad has an incredible work ethic that he modeled for us as kids. Now my brother and I are both really hard workers. We definitely got that from him.

My husband, Tim, is a role model. I don’t think I've ever known anyone that is as positive as he is. Healways pulls out the very best in everybody. I’ve always admired that about him. That’s just what Tim’sknown for - being the nicest person ever.

Another mentor is my former boss at Kirksey. He modeled to me what it looked like to be a Christian inthe corporate world. Wes loves the Lord, as well as his wife and four kids, and he showed me what itlooks like to run a business, to be a man of integrity in the business world and to do it all with faith.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR OR CHALLENGE?

Right now, I'm afraid of something happening to someone close to me like my husband or kids. As parents, we are always trying to protect them from so many things, but there is so much we can’t control. I give them over to the Lord, over and over again. He gives them to me, and I have to continually give them back to Him because I have no control.

My challenge is juggling it all. I have three really different kids and a wonderful husband, but we’re really busy. We have to consider what each child needs. What does my husband need? What do I need? So, not to anyone else's fault, but I do get lost a little bit wondering what I want to do when I have spare time. There are just so many decisions to be made.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?

I am proud of the leader I’ve become. (I don’t mean that just in the work setting.)

In high school, the Lord showed me that I was going to be a leader, and it was something I resisted, bigtime! I wanted to be quiet and anonymous. I did not want to be at the forefront. However, I was in thedance and drill team world. I did the officer thing and all of that, so I got a little taste of leadership then.

Now, I just love people and pouring into them. I love having that kind of relationship where you developtrust with others. I always thought, I’m not a leader, but through the years the Lord has often put me indifferent leadership roles, including the company and leading in that way along with my team.

HOW ARE YOU BUILDING COMMUNITY RIGHT NOW?

Currently, we are building community with families that are friends of our kids. That’s what makes themost sense for us right now.

My 10-year-old, Maddie, does acting at a nonprofit theater, called Playhouse 1960. It is all volunteerbased. When your child auditions and accepts a role, you also accept a role as their parent to volunteer. I get to utilize my marketing skills there and help create marketing materials for the shows including the playbills, posters, and t-shirts. For others, that looks like building the set, cleaning the theater, or working on costumes. We are working alongside all of these other families that have kids our daughter’s age and developing relationships with them.

The same is true with our son, Bennett, who plays baseball. His team plays in tournaments, so we’re with those families quite a bit. In an environment like that you definitely form relationships, figure out what each family might be going through, and support all of the kids together. It becomes an extended family, especially when all of the parents are constantly helping me chase my three-year-old around!

Our youngest son, Jayden, was our foster son before we adopted him. When you’re getting your license to foster you are with other families in trainings for many hours! Any time I get to meet other foster families, we find an instant connection. This boy builds our community even more so because he talks to strangers all the time. That’s been fun but not at all expected.

I didn’t know we would have a team when I first started my business, but as things grew, we began adding team members. We’ve built a great team of friends, moms who are able to work and stay at home with their kids. We make it a point to communicate with each other and to gather when we can, sometimes for business but also for community building.

I’ve also stayed involved in the Society for Marketing Professional Services. I’ve served as the Houstonchapter president and worked on many of the different committees.

WHAT IS A FAVORITE QUOTE OR VERSE YOU LIVE BY?

From our fostering journey: “To whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48)

The word we keep going back to in every decision we make, that I feel like the Lord has spoken to us throughout our marriage and our lives together is, "capacity." We have the capacity for more. We know that we were made for such a time as this. The Lord has given us everything we need, and we’ve been blessed with a lot.

With fostering, specifically, we really felt the calling of, if not us, then who? We’ve said yes, to fostering inso many different ways before we actually started fostering. We babysat for others, gave donations foradoptions, and bought car seats, but we hadn’t said the big "yes" to it yet.

Photo by YG&Co. Lifestyle Photography