Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Merrifield.
Hi Melissa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
At an early age, I was always involved and an achiever. I was involved in 4-H, the tag program at school, sports, etc. This would be the foundation of my drive at a very early age. Especially because my parents were divorced very early on in my childhood. My mom would remarry and that marriage ended in a very traumatic way. I found myself at an early age having to be the second adult and helping raise my sisters.
My career began at an early age. I was 14 when I started working. My first job was in the Housekeeping and Laundry Department at a Nursing home every other weekend, and then I transitioned to working the other weekends at a truck stop that featured fine dining on one side and traditional truck stop booths. The owner was probably one of the toughest bosses that I had ever had. By the time I was eighteen, I transitioned to working full-time at the local Hy-Vee. Even as an 18-year-old, I learned and grew with my job at Hy-Vee working as a deli shift manager, catering coordinator, and springtime party planner. I learned skills in this role that still utilize in my career 25 years later. At this point in my career, we made everything from scratch and learned how to cater events to up to 100o plus people.
While I was working at Hy-Vee full-time during my senior year, I was also attending college at a community college. By the time, I had taken all the classes that I could without physically being on campus, I had to make a decision to move from a small town in Iowa to Cedar Rapids. Hy-Vee provided me with an incredible opportunity to transition from Deli shift manager to Assistant Front End Shift Manager at one of the largest stores in Cedar Rapids.
Once I moved to Cedar Rapids, I soon realized the opportunities were much larger, I realized that running front-end management of a grocery store wasn’t my true calling. I began to explore opportunities while I finished up my double associate from Kirkwood Community College. I found myself in an internship with McCleod USA researching NPX better known as area codes. Not very exciting but what I did get the opportunity to experience was the world of Corporate America, I mean lunch rooms, meetings all day a walking trail, town hall meetings, and I could go on. I believe this to be one of the first pivotal moments of driving my career forward momentum. During my internship, I worked as a key carrier at a retail provider and also picked up a part-time shop working at a local nightclub/bar.
Once my internship ended, I had the amazing opportunity to join the local credit union as a teller, still while keeping my part-time job at the bar. At the Credit Union, I worked my way from a teller to a marketing assistant. This is where I learned the benefit of community marketing and the value of working towards a career goal and going after it. While I was at the credit union, I decided that it was time for me to go back to school to get my BA. The Credit Union still uses the logo I designed over 14 years ago, leaving my mark.
I enrolled at Mt. Mercy College, and during my studies at Mt. Mercy College, I help lead all the research for the college to transition from College to University status. During my studies, I was also one of the first students to complete accelerated studies at the college. I decided to go after a double major in both Marketing and Business. During my studies, I continued to work both full-time and part-time.
My career path and who I am continually growing and evolving to & who I have continued to strive to be if I didn’t talk about my 5-year dedication to working as Coyote Ugly of Iowa in the largest nightclub in Cedar Rapids as a showgirl. This was an opportunity for me to become confident in who I am. I wasn’t the skinniest or the prettiest girl that worked in the bar, but what I did create was an experience. I had fun, I did my job, and I used my marketing talents to help me be a better salesperson. The same people who trusted me with their finances at the credit union would be some of the same people that would come see me at the bar on the weekends. This was my first job, and there was a special bond between all of us who worked there we truly were a family unit. I bought my first house at the age of 21 because of this part-time job that I worked 12 hours a week but made 50k a year at. I made more money at this job than I did at my full-time job. This job created a moment in my life that the nickname still carries on to date, the friendships, and even though the bar closed over 22 years ago, the friendships still remain solid.
When the bar closed, I decided that it was time for me to hang up the shot tray and focus on my career.
This is also during the time I was attending Mt. Mercy college. There was a major financial struggle that happened when the bar closed and made a decision not to go back into the industry. I could have very easily gone to the next bar down the street and tried to great a similar experience, but I knew that I wanted more.
As the bar closed, I sought out another part-time opportunity to bridge the financial gap. I tried going back to serving at a restaurant and working events at an embassy club but the money that I was used to making just wasn’t there. David’s Bridal was opening a new store in Cedar Rapids, I applied and got the job as a part-time wedding consultant. I still worked full-time at the Credit Union, this was just my side gig, extra revenue. I loved working with brides to help them find their dream dress, but you want to talk about some sales goals. 90 minutes to sell the dress, the shoes, the bridesmaids, and all the bells and whistles. Bridal Christmas is real and those dresses are heavy. This experience would continue to benefit me down the road and allow my future self to be involved in an amazing industry!
As graduation from college approached, I started to feel that my career at the credit union was becoming stalled and my next level to reach would be years from reach. I decided that it was time for me to spread my wings and look for new marketing opportunities. I obtained my first corporate marketing opportunity as the Marketing Assistant for Coral Ridge Mall, General Growth Properties. I helped implement regional and local marketing opportunities for one of the largest malls in Iowa. Wow, I learned operation management skills, and how to manage Santa. During this time, I also had a lot of life changes including getting married, having my first daughter and even experiencing the loss of our home to the 2008 flood of Cedar Rapids. This was also the first time in my career that I would be downsized, the marketing budget was slashed, and comminuting back and forth didn’t make sense. While I worked here, I experienced how to lend a hand to those who need it the most. This team of professionals showed compassion and strength when I personally needed it the most. The entire team from the mall management office came to help us muck our house in wading boots, took up personal donations, etc. A lesson in humanity and being good humans, and assisting others to come from being in a place of complete vulnerability will carry forward in a career in a big life-changing way.
After Coral Ridge Mall, I sought out my next career opportunity as Marketing Manager for a lending company, & starting my own business. This was still in the 2008/2009 time period, a tough time for to me be a lender or be in the lending space. I helped create a lender partnership across the state of Iowa that allowed credit unions that didn’t offer a mortgage portfolio the opportunity to assist their members with lending without having to turn clients away. Again, in my career path, I have been blessed with incredible mentors and people who believe in, support, and want to help me grow. The mortgage broker did just that, while also teaching me true entrepreneurial spirit, 2008/2009 was truly a feast or famine time in lending.
It was during this time frame that I had to figure out what else I could do to bring in additional revenue to our family. At this point we now had two small children, daycare was expensive, and we were still recovering from flood loss. The financial impact of a major disaster has a ripple effect on you for years to come, and you won’t even know it exists until you fast forward 10 or even 15 years from the time it happened. At this time, social media was just starting to pop up, and being a marketing professional, I identified how costly printing was. I launched my own business called Mel’s Designs, I filled in the gaps with small businesses helping them with graphic design, events, and strategy. At one point, I had over 44 clients, without ever advertising. I even had enough volume that Vistaprint created a reseller program that I was one of the very first to be a part of.
I was hustling and exhausted. With two children under the age of 3, and my husband working crazy overtime, working and running my own business, I lost a lot of what I gained over myself over this time. Wow, brings tears to my eyes just writing this down and realizing again another pivotal moment in my career journey & professional journey.
The state of the economy forced me to hang up my mortgage lending efforts and reenter the workforce fully stem ahead. I still was running my business. I took a job with an agency where I got to learn the world of
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
On the way to dream sometimes on the way you get lost and find a better one. Many struggles have been overcome to create a life that I am proud of.
These struggles of life from Losing your house to a flood.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a connector, I love connecting with other people and opportunities with each other. When I moved my family to a brand new market and took a huge leap of faith. I learned that my superpower is connecting.
I am a marketing professional with over 25 years of experience.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
That I have worked extremely hard to become and overcome all the hurdles and approach those hurdles as a positive force instead of a negative force. My story has many complexities just like my drive to succeed. I think there are a lot of things that people don’t know about how my story has shaped and impacted my future self. There are also a lot of people throughout the journey that has been there to mentor me, support me, assist me, and cheer me along the way.
My career path began at 14 and there have only been a couple of times in that journey, that I have only held just one job.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mmerrifield79
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.merrifield
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-merrifield/
- Twitter: @merrifi1
- Other: https://t.co/MDxFrU8jLx
Image Credits
Whitney Warren and Happy Hogtor Photography
