When Calie joined StarrDesign—a restaurant architecture, design, and consulting firm in Charlotte—she stepped into a role that had been vacant for more than five years and rebuilt it from the ground up. What began as an empty marketing department became a fully functioning, strategic, and creative hub under her direction.

As Director of Marketing, Calie manages every facet of the firm’s brand and communications. She oversees daily marketing operations, lead generation, and sales funnel management, while crafting campaigns that connect the firm’s design expertise with the people it serves. She runs all digital channels, maintains the website, and develops cohesive messaging that reflects StarrDesign’s collaborative, people-first approach to design. If it touches the brand, it runs through her hands.

Her work blends structure and story. She created the 38-page “Let’s Eat” brochure, a publication that captures StarrDesign’s process, philosophy, and client success stories. She writes monthly newsletters, contributes to an industry trade column, and produces testimonial videos and case studies that highlight the human side of architecture and design.

Leveraging platforms like ActiveCampaign, Calie ensures every campaign is targeted, measurable, and effective. Her role is both strategic and hands-on—uniting marketing leadership with editorial storytelling to position StarrDesign as a trusted voice in the industry.

As Account Manager with Rick Laney Marketing, Calie directs high-profile media and communications campaigns for clients across diverse industries, leading initiatives that strengthen reputation, visibility, and reach. She develops strategic storylines, crafts compelling press releases and feature content, and secures placements in both regional and national publications.

Her leadership extends beyond media outreach—Calie manages client accounts end-to-end, ensuring every campaign is data-driven, narrative-focused, and executed with polish. She excels in transforming client goals into stories that cut through noise and command attention, earning trust from both her clients and the journalists she works with.

Known for her initiative and precision, Calie combines the instincts of an editor with the strategic foresight of a marketer. Whether she’s building a brand narrative or pitching a feature, Calie approaches her work with care, curiosity, and intention.

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When Calie joined the Charlotte location of Pet Paradise, a national pet care company, she found a communications department lacking structure, consistency, and systems. Reporting to corporate but working independently on-site, she transformed the operation from disorganized to exemplary—establishing a fully functional, creative, and customer-focused communications framework as a one-woman team.

She developed structured workflows, established a weekly content calendar, and launched strategic digital campaigns that increased followers by 35% and boosted engagement by 27%. But her impact extended far beyond analytics. Calie elevated the customer experience through personal, heartfelt touches that turned routine updates into moments of joy and trust.

Every pet that stayed with the facility left with a personalized “pawgress report” detailing their meals, playtime (often featuring the location’s pool), bowel movements, and personality—written with care, humor, and endless puns. For clients who paid for daily updates and photos, Calie not only ensured the service was consistently delivered—something that had been neglected before her arrival—but made it meaningful. She used a professional camera to capture each pet’s personality, wrote custom updates filled with warmth and detail, and made sure every owner felt connected to their pet’s experience.

Through her initiative, organization, and empathy, Calie turned Pet Paradise’s communications into a genuine reflection of the love and care at the heart of the brand—proving that thoughtful storytelling can strengthen trust and loyalty.