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     Elisha Ferrell, a current resident of New Jersey, is a woman of faith, a hospitality professional, and an entrepreneur.  She also possesses a genuine heart for service.  Elisha is the Founder and Hospitality & Experience Strategist of Elevated Experience Consulting LLC, a hospitality-informed consulting and advisory firm focused on helping organizations strengthen how they operate, engage, and create experiences for the people they serve.  Elisha describes the firm’s philosophy in three words: Structure. Execution. Experience.

    Elisha says that Elevated Experience Consulting provides hospitality-informed consulting and advisory support to leaders and organizations that want to strengthen how they operate and how people experience their brand, organization, or event.  “Our work currently centers around Experience Readiness and Integrity Reviews, High Visibility Protocols and Etiquette Support, and Post-Experience Debrief and Corrective  Actions.  Depending on the engagement, this may include assessing operational readiness before an important experience, strengthening key experience touchpoints, identifying potential gaps before they become problems, developing readiness tools and protocols, assisting with day-of execution, and evaluating an experience afterward to identify opportunities for improvement.  To be clear, EEC is not an event planning company.  Our role is to strengthen the structure, execution, and experience surrounding the moments that matter,” Elisha said.  

    Born and raised in New York, Elisha has deep family roots in Walterboro and Charleston, South Carolina.  “I would consider myself a Northern girl with a Southern twist,” she says.  Growing up with both influences shaped how Elisha connects with and cares for people.  She adds that she was taught to be nice, something that became deeply embedded in who she is.  “I learned early that kindness, generosity, and making people feel welcome cost nothing, and I still believe it takes far more energy to be rude or unkind than it does to simply treat people well.”  Faith has been foundational in Elisha’s life from the very beginning. Her mother raised her in the church and taught her that having a relationship with God is essential, passing on the same faith foundation that Elisha’s grandmother had instilled in her mother and her mother’s siblings.  Elisha says that her mother was the first person to recognize and cultivate her gifts, giving her opportunities to serve, volunteer, organize, lead, and use her hospitality and administrative abilities.  Service became second nature to Elisha.  Whether she was serving on the usher board, singing in the choir, fundraising, volunteering at school, helping at church, or stepping in wherever she was needed, Elisha learned early the importance and significance of service.  

    The foundation Elisha experienced followed her into her professional career, beginning with Hyatt Hotels Corporation.  There, she grew from a front desk agent into supervisory and management roles, and later expanded across human resources, communications, government, administration, global stakeholder engagement, and operational support.  Each experience, Elisha says, strengthened her understanding of people, service, leadership, and the work that happens behind the scenes to create an excellent experience.  She would eventually earn her Bachelor of Arts from St. Francis College and later a Master of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management.  Today, she utilizes each experience and lesson while managing and building her brand, Elevated Experience Consulting LLC.  

 Mi’Amor L. Johnson of Milwaukee, WI, possesses a genuine love for people, especially her family, and words.  While managing the day-to-day rigors of being a teenager, which involves school, sports, listening to music, hanging out with friends, and more, Mi’Amor also loves to write.  

    Writing is a gift that Mi’Amor realized early in her young life.  She says, “I began officially writing when I was 10 years old, but I unofficially began writing even younger than that.” Mi’Amor shares that her vision came from looking through her notebook and writing down random thoughts about her name, prayers, etc.  Amazingly, at age 10, she wrote her first book, and that was when it all became serious for her.  “The vision honestly came from my mom and dad.  I saw writing as something that I randomly did, but they saw it as greatness, and as a gift.”  

    Mi’Amor has published several books that are intended for young readers between the ages of 3 and 10.  Her works are part of a series about a young character named Samantha.  Samantha, Mi’Amor says, is a fictional character who gives children a lot to look forward to and teaches lessons about life, morals, and history.  One of the books, 10 Days With Samantha, takes readers through a 10-day journey in the day-to-day life of a little girl named Samantha.  In 10 Days with Samantha, Mi’Amor creates this young girl who is simply excited about life.  She shares the love and joy Samantha has for her family members and friends.  Readers learn what makes Samantha happy and what makes her afraid and also learn that it’s because of her own moral convictions and daily reflections that Samantha is able to overcome her fears and struggles. Readers truly get a chance to practice connection with the thoughts and feelings of another child, and  Mi’Amor says this happens not only for the sake of knowledge, but to demonstrate true care and concern with joy and gratitude.  Mi’Amor closes each day of the book with a simple prayer for Samantha, and she says that Samantha is a character that readers will learn to love and enjoy because of the good characterization skills utilized in the story she has written.