We recently connected with Kelsey (K.Alyse) Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsey (K.Alyse), appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?

During the time I opened this business, I also began working a full-time job and realized very quickly my ability to perform at a high level at both jobs while also writing and performing spoken word poetry all while transitioning out of college was taxing. I then began the search of hiring on high school and college interns to work with me. In my spare time, I created job descriptions, uploaded those to Indeed.com and conducted phone and in-person interviews at a local co-working space that was all no cost to me. As a new business owner, this was critical to not add any additional expenses. This was my first time being on the other end of interviews as the interviewer I was just as anxious as the interviewee. Overall, it was a great experience, it taught me how to be specific with the skills I was looking for and it also helped me to get this business off the ground and running. I have been conditioned since my childhood to handle everything alone and have adapted the mindset that asking for help is not a weakness.

““You can do anything but not everything.” – David Allen

Kelsey (K.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?

Working in the field of Community Relations, I am blessed to see the direct impact translated from the business to our local community. After, applying for nearly fifty jobs and three weeks after graduating from college I was blessed to be presented a position for a notable global corporation that was right under my nose in the city where I grew up. This position was completely new to the company and by God’s grace appeared it was crafted especially for me right in the timing that I was seeking. In this role, I work with our twenty plus community partners, lead our internal business resource groups, oversee our global volunteer network, technology grant, and I am one of our two company leaders as we work with the American Heart Association to raise our $200,000 annual company goal for the Dallas Heart Walk. I additionally own my own event planning company where my team specializes in the planning and promoting of positive community events. My day job allows me to project manage events on a much larger corporate scale which in returns allows me to build my network, relationships and key contacts that are beneficial for growing my own unique brand through my business. In between both my job and business I perform original spoken word poetry pieces at events, schools, churches and similar speaking engagements and enjoy being able to inspire others through the gift God has given. Through all of these initiatives I love that they each are a bit of me and make a difference to others. It has been an extremely difficult journey that has pushed my mental health and overall purpose in life but it is my faith that has truly allowed me to reach the level of success that I have achieved thus far. I was a ministry major at the private Christian university my freshman year before switching to broadcast communications and was led to appreciate that we can all make a positive difference in any profession that we seek.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Communication and mutual values has been the key for managing my teams. I started off hiring on high school and college interns to assist me in building this brand. These students received school credit for their efforts while I also able to equip these devoted individuals with a foot into the world of event management and project management. Being in a positive environment where the team felt included, heard, and respected and comfortable enough to ask any and all questions helped make the job be an awesome experience for all. Below are some quotes from a few past interns.

“As a high school junior, K. Alyse has given me the opportunity to be introduced to practical skills outside of the classroom.”

“Thanks to the internship I learned that I wanted to be more in the creative side of marketing, and I had the opportunity to meet some of the most positive people in perhaps the world.”

“My time with K. Alyse was a wonderful and invigorating experience. Our team members provided knowledgeable information about marketing; to top it off they had amazing personalities and spirits. Thanks K. Alyse, you have trained me to become a better professional in my field of studies.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to express yourself and tap into your passions and God given talents and gifts is critical and the fact that I was able to create the opportunity to do this with work makes working enjoyable and rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kalyseimpactevents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k_alyseimpactevents/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kalyseimpactevents/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseyjones-kalyse