Melea McRae is Founder and CEO of Crux KC and Co-Founder and CEO of Crux-Xcelerate, however her favorite title is that of mom. Her 18-year-old daughter Addison will graduate high school next month and become a K-State Wildcat in the fall. The two share a deep love of all performing arts. May marks a big month for Melea for another reason as well. She met her match, John Hall, in 2022 and the two are set to wed in their happy place of Coronado, California next month.
Dance has always been part of Melea’s life. She grew up practicing and performing tap, ballet and jazz, eventually choreographing her high school musical, “My Carousel,” and was on the high school dance team. She never met a dance floor that she didn’t love! In her spare time, Melea enjoys staying active by working out with her personal trainer and dominating on the pickleball court.
In 2016, Melea founded Crux KC, a fast-growing WBE headquartered in KC. The “un-agency” is a radical rethink of what marketing can and should be, providing fractional CMOs surrounded by a squad of specialists – a high-performance machine built for branding, messaging, content, communications, digital marketing and paid media – to elevate brands, amplify missions and fuel growth. In 2019 Melea co-founded Crux’s sister company, Crux-Xcelerate, focused on sales coaching and development, aligning sales with marketing to positively impact revenue growth.
When she’s not fueling business growth for clients, Melea can be found supporting local boards in the region. She is the incoming chair of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre board of directors; and serves on the boards of Arvest Bank’s Kansas City board of directors; KU Advancement Board at the University of Kansas Academic Medical Center; Rockhurst University’s Dean’s Advisory Board; the ECJC (Enterprising Center of Johnson County) board of directors; and the Children’s Mercy Research Institute Advisory Council.
Melea is a Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP) fellow and a member of the Forbes Communications Council and Kansas City Business Journal’s 2021 Women Who Mean Business/Women of Influence class. She earned her undergraduate degree from Webster University and an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University’s Helzberg School of Management.
Her love for the arts coupled with her passion for the Kansas City community is why Melea is proud to team up with Cristo Rey’s Dancing with the Stars, inspiring students to achieve their full potential and make an impact.
