We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alyse Miller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alyse below.
Alyse , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
One of the biggest risks I have ever taken was starting my character company at the age of twelve. In the summer before my freshman year, I decided to step completely out of my comfort zone and pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a ‘real-life’ princess. There were no other character companies in the area, and even if there had been, I am sure they would not have hired a 12-year-old! I realized that it was up to me to achieve this goal by starting my own company.
When I began this process, I had absolutely no experience in party entertainment or anything business related. I never anticipated the long hours, monetary investments, and physical/mental exhaustion that would go into making this dream a reality. Despite all of these obstacles, I can now say that I offer seventeen characters, employ three performers, and have personally done over eight hundred in-person character visits over the span of three and a half years. Even though I was young and inexperienced, I had the support of my family and a passion for making magical memories for my community.
Alyse , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Alyse Miller – I am 16 years old and a Junior in High School. In my free time, I enjoy acting, singing, song writing, playing golf, reading, and learning sign language. I have an amazing and supportive family that has cheered me on every step of the way in my journey of creating and building my small business. I am currently in the process of earning my Associate Degree in Elementary Education from Liberty University and hope to one day become an Elementary School Teacher.
From a young age, I was enamored with princesses and their movies! I could often be found wearing multiple princess dresses at a time and could frequently be heard singing their songs at the top of my lungs. Trips to Disney were the highlight of my childhood, and I can still remember meeting all of my favorite princesses! When I had the opportunity to dress up as a princess for a little girl’s birthday party, I was all in! What started as a favor developed into a business and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
My company, Enchanted Princesses by Alyse, was started in 2019 for the purpose of bringing the magic of famous fairy tales to life for children of all ages. I wanted every child to have the opportunity to experience the excitement that comes along with meeting and spending time with their favorite princess! What started out as a one woman/one princess endeavor has now turned into a thriving business with multiple characters and employees.
Many people think this job is all about “playing dress up”, but it is so much more than that! Before each and every visit/event, there is extensive preparation that goes into looking and acting like these fairy tale characters. I pay special attention to detail and aspire to bring the most accurate representation of each character to every visit. I have devoted countless hours to character study and searching out high quality costumes and wigs to ensure that each visit sparks joy, excitement and imagination into the hearts of everyone in attendance. More importantly, I want each child to know that being a Princess is not all about the beautiful gowns and crowns, but about being kind to everyone and always trying to do what is right, even when it’s difficult.
After about a year of growing my business, I decided to create something for my followers and their families. I wrote two books which were released on Amazon in 2021 – My Princess and Me (for girls) and My Buddy and Me (for boys). These books are filled with activity ideas, crafts, recipes, experiments and journal prompts that facilitate spending time together and building relationships with the young ones in your life.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One of the most difficult challenges occurred within my first year of business. I started doing character visits in August of 2019, but by March of 2020, the world had gone into lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a business that depends on in-person interactions and large gatherings, the future of my newly established company seemed bleak.
As the world shut down around me and I was confined to my home, I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. I realized that I wanted to do something more for the community during this difficult time, so I formulated a plan to bring joy to the children who were also “stuck in their castles”. My sister became my first employee, and we worked to create free personalized video messages from the two characters I had already established – the “Snow Sisters”. We also made a free birthday video especially for those children who had to celebrate their birthday in quarantine. By the end of May, we had over a hundred requests for these videos, and we sent them to families all over the U.S. and even to a family that lived halfway across the world in France.
I continued to build my character line-up despite the lockdown and uncertain if I would ever be able to do in-person parties again. I offered free story times and events on Facebook Live with these new characters and was amazed at the response. I was shocked that these videos and live virtual events had such an enormous impact on the community and had brought so much joy to families during this terrible time.
As soon as in-person events were once again allowed, I offered short ‘sidewalk visits’ that allowed children to spend time with their favorite character in a socially distanced setting. The response for these visits was greater than I could have dreamed. I once again found myself doing what I loved, but in an even larger capacity than ever before. Though it took time and resilience to build back after the pandemic, I refused to give up on my dream and eventually, the hard work paid off.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
One factor that helped me build my reputation was offering and maintaining quality and consistency. I focused on presenting characters that not only looked the part, but also acted the part to ensure that every aspect of the experience was as believable and magical as possible. When starting my business, I invested every penny I made into purchasing realistic wigs and custom-made gowns. I spent hours learning how to perfect my makeup and look for each princess so I could accurately ‘transform’ into that character. I made extensive character guides and studied their mannerisms, voices, and movements for hours until I got them just right.
It took time to develop a quality product that maintained character integrity, but it was absolutely worth the effort. When I first started in 2019, I was only booked for one party every other month, whereas in 2020 (post-lockdown), I was booked almost every weekend. While social media sites such as Facebook allowed me to reach many families, word of mouth is what ultimately jump started these bookings.
I continued to work hard to build my company and my reputation by partnering with established businesses, increasing my character offerings, hiring quality performers, and upgrading my wigs and costumes. I have now received over 200 5-star reviews on Google and Facebook combined which helps to authenticate my reputation for potential clients.
At the end of the day, I love what I do, and making magic for children and families is truly my passion!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.EnchantedPrincessesbyAlyse.com
- Instagram: @EnchantedPrincessesbyAlyse
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnchantedPrincessesByAlyse
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@enchantedprincessesbyalyse736
Image Credits
Little Mermaid – Leeann Manzoni Photography