Unlocking Potential

There was one defining moment that inspired MERIKAY HUNT, founder and president of Coach MKay Companies, to become a lifelong learner. 

After just eight months working at an Applebee’s in Florida utilizing skills she acquired over years as a teen working in restaurants, Hunt was fired.

“That was the catalyst for me to learn about leadership, human practices, conflict resolution, and other developmental areas to improve my professional performance,” she says.

Today, her company is dedicated to unlocking leadership potential through discovering purpose, aligning people, evaluating processes, and improving communication through relationships that elevate business success.  

Hunt’s adventure to owning her own company traveled a windy road. Her father was a dentist who encouraged her to follow in his footsteps. Hunt first attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a pre-dental student. She worked as a dental assistant in a Raleigh practice and then for her father’s practice for six years. She applied for three consecutive years to UNC’s dental school, but she was not accepted. 

“I felt like a failure,” she recalls. “But my father told me that I had made his practice profitable through changes we made to systems and processes.”

That was Hunt’s nudge to pursue consulting. Her father further encouraged her to become a public speaker.

Hunt achieved her Bachelor of Arts degree from UNC and her Master of Science degree  in human resource counseling from North Carolina A&T State University. She landed her first internship at High Point Regional Medical Center followed by seven years in sales at Dale Carnegie Training before taking a position with HCI-EBS Inc., a health care consulting firm. 

“That was a God appointment,” she says. “My father became ill the following year. The hardest team meeting I’ve ever facilitated was the grief counseling session for his staff the day after he died.”

Hunt spent time as an adjunct hospital chaplain and was the director of patient and family experiences for High Point Regional Health System. Her first stress management workshop was for physicians and nurses, and she hosted her first-ever podcast about remote working from a sailboat.  

In 2007, Hunt launched the three pillars of Coach MKay Companies: executive coaching, professional development, and keynote speaking. Her trademarked catalyst methodology assists clients in creating meaningful change that has purpose, strengthens people, improves processes, and boosts performance.

Hunt has coached physicians, dentists, chiropractors, sales directors, financial planners, and boardroom executives. She has developed over 100 webinars and 1,000 training programs on communication, conflict resolution, customer service, human relations, leadership, patient experience, presentation skills, work/life balance, and team dynamics. She is a nationally awarded speaker, having presented over 1,000 customized programs to organizations across the United States.    

Hunt is a member of the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce, for which she recently presented two free leadership workshops – the next on is on February 19 on multigenerational workplaces – and is a member of the Cape Fear Yacht Club where she will assist with a youth sailing camp this summer.  

Helping people with both career and personal life objectives brings Hunt great joy.

“It’s inspiring to help people overcome obstacles and create positive change,” she says. “Always be willing to find the learning lessons in every setback to use as a stepping stone to success.”

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