2020 40 Under 40: Melinda Honey, 40

Last edited 2:37 p.m., June 30, 2020

As director of community relations at the Skaggs Foundation, Melinda Honey continually looks for initiatives that will help improve the health and wellness in Taney and Stone counties.

In the spring of 2019, at the foundation, Honey helped propose a two-county project to integrate a mental health program with Burrell Behavioral Health to help prevent teen suicide. The program will affect an estimated 800 students, and in October, the foundation awarded a $120,000 grant that will bring mental health providers into the school for students without insurance.

Outside of the Skaggs Foundation, she currently is serving as president of the Branson Tri-Lakes Kiwanis Club.

What is your best productivity hack? I love to get in the office early, leave my email closed, move the to-do lists out of the way and just dig into my most important projects.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? I have been blessed to have William Mahoney, the president of Cox Medical Center Branson, as my mentor. The best advice he has given me is to take time for myself, my marriage and my family.

How many times do you hit the snooze button? A better question might be how many alarms do I set every morning – about six to seven. I set alarms for when I need to stop doing what I’m doing and get ready, when I need to be getting the boys up or when I need to be getting somewhere.