Maralee McKee

Hello!

Thank you for stopping by my author's page. I'm honored you're here.

I'm Maralee McKee, and I love equipping people with simple, savvy, sincere skills to become the best version of themselves and the cool breeze in the lives of others. My style of writing is relaxed and relational. It's my hope that as you read my pages, you will feel as if you're enjoying time with a friend.

My love for sharing modern manners began about 15-years ago with my own feeling of lack. I grew up in a home broken in a million different ways. From a young age, I was alone and afraid. I knew that my home wasn't "normal." I didn't quite know what normal was, but it's what I prayed for every day. It didn't take long for inferiority to settle hard in my heart like dry cement. I grew up feeling uncomfortable ... even unworthy ... around others.

I never imagined that my greatest weakness (self-consciousness) would one day be erased, and and that helping others as the Manners Mentor would become one of my greatest joys.

"Manners" comes from the Greek word for "hand," or "handle." The purpose of manners is to simply give us a heads-up for how to best handle people and situations. I'll bet you're like me: you feel so much better when you're confident about the best thing to say and do and how to show yourself in the best possible light around others. And, that's exactly the gift that manners gives us.

In my writing, you won't find pretense, fluff, or rules just for the sake of rules. I've embraced the grace and timeless wisdom of our grandmothers' etiquette, but taken out any pomp, exclusion of others, and pretense. I've replaced them with the modern how-to of being kind, considerate, and gracious, and added how to set and maintain boundaries that are needed and healthy in today's me-focused, technology infused, fast paced culture.

Setting and defining the standards of personal interactions for this generation is my goal and honor, and in "The Gracious Mom's Guide to Authentic Manners," you'll find manners with heart--not haughtiness. If you want to know how to best handle what daily life throws your way, and then pass those gracious skills onto your children so they too will be well-liked, secure, and kind, this is a book you'll want on your bookshelf from the time they're four till they're fourteen or older.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME:

I'm a native of Orlando and a lifelong resident. My husband and I have two sons. Our youngest has some difficult academic challenges and is home-schooled. I love having as much time with my family as possible and cherish the moments--the simple and the sublime.

We have a Sheltie, and a cat who seems to think it's her job in life to make us her personal servants (a job we've taken to nicely). I adore chick-flicks, cooking, and visiting my favorite city, Savannah. I hate to do laundry and have a pet peeve about people talking on their cell phones in the stalls of public bathrooms. (Really...in the bathroom? Can't either of those two things wait until one of them is completed?) :)

I'd love to keep in touch. You can visit me:

www.MannersMentor.com (The most read social skills blog in North America!)

www.MannersThatMattertoMoms.com

www.Facebook.com/MannersMentor

www.Pinterest.com/Maralee_McKee

www.Instagram.com/MaraleeMcKee

MY CREDENTIALS:

Since starting in 1996 I've been blessed to teach seminars to executives at AT&T, Hyatt, Gaylord Entertainment, Chick-fil-A and many other Fortune 500 companies. I speak to women's, church, and ministry groups, and my children's classes were featured nationally on NBC News as "The one course that could change your child's life." I've been a TV and radio host. The Manners Mentor for Warner Brother's daily morning show, "The Daily Buzz," and interviewed by mega blog, newspapers and magazines across the U.S. including: USA Today, The Huffington Post, The Street, Parents Magazine, All You, Taste of the South Magazine, and even Nick, Jr.