Meet our leadership team

In 2017, she received the Gary McCormick Lifetime Achievement Award from the Volunteer Chapter of Public Relations Society of America. She graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC with a bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in public relations.

Kelly is extensively involved in the East Tennessee community, having served in various leadership positions including board appointments with Second Harvest Food Bank, Knoxville Opera, Women’s Fund of East Tennessee, Susan G. Komen and Project GRAD.

Mom of Fletcher Kress (no, he’s not Fletcher Fletcher), Kelly is a lover of travel, football and all things culinary.

Kelly Fletcher: How our firm came to be

While living in Atlanta at the age of 28, I set out to purchase my first new car. It was one of the most frustrating experiences in my young consumer life. The predominantly male salespeople at the dealerships treated me like a second-class citizen and wanted to know when my husband was going to come look at cars with me.

I was so humiliated that I started calling dealerships to ask if they had a female salesperson I could speak with. I finally found one at CarMax, and she treated me with the level of respect and consideration I deserved.

That’s when I began to notice a void in the way marketers were communicating with female consumers. I was already in the agency business and became increasingly curious about how I could grow my knowledge around female consumer behavior and how women think and process information differently from men.

How did women make consumer purchasing decisions? Why were we an underserved market? Why did brands and businesses talk to us like we were delicate and needy?

Enter Jewelry Television, the national home shopping network based in Knoxville, TN. I made the move to Knoxville as the first director of corporate communications and public relations. Here we studied female consumer behavior, listened to what customers were saying and built actionable campaigns around the research. Fundamentally, this is how marketing communications should always be done.

After a few years, I grew weary of the corporate environment. I had always dreamed of starting my own agency, and I joked with former colleagues that if I was ever able to realize that dream, I was going to call it “My Agency,” because we were going to do things differently.

I launched Fletcher in 2008 as a single mom when my then-employer agreed to sign on as my first client. Talk about scary times!

Fletcher initially existed to help brands connect with female consumers. We still do that, but we’ve come a long way since 2008 and our experience and expertise is far deeper.

Still headquartered in Knoxville, TN, we employ highly experienced communications professionals in several states. We serve businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies in the business-to consumer, business-to-business and non-profit sectors.

Our culture is driven by my personal desire to help amazingly intelligent, working moms find their place in a business hierarchy that historically has not been kind to us. By fostering a sense of transparency, autonomy and humanness, we are doing just that.
And I could not be prouder.

Sarah is a graduate of Leadership Blount. In 2017, she was a finalist for Outstanding Young Professional of the Year through the Young Professionals of Knoxville and was named one of Asheville’s 40 Under 40 Young Professionals in 2012 by the Biltmore Beacon. In 2019 Sarah was named to Knoxville’s 40 Under 40 presented by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

She holds an MBA degree from Western Carolina University, a B.A. in Communication Studies from UNC Chapel Hill, a Hubspot Inbound Marketing certification and is a Certified Tourism Ambassador.

Sarah has served as a member of the board of directors for organizations, including the American Advertising Federation, the Western Carolina University MBA Advisory Board and the  Zoo Knoxville Leadership Council. She has also mentored high school students through tnAchieves. Sarah received Goodwill’s Special Recognition Award in 2018 for her direction of their annual fundraiser for a number of years. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, serving as the V Awards Chair in 2017.

When not working or volunteering her time, Sarah can be found chasing around her toddler, or chasing her husband on two wheels, motorcycling through the mountain roads of North Carolina and Tennessee.

She is the recipient of multiple media awards including national and regional Edward R. Murrow awards, two Emmy Awards, an Associated Press award and recognition from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.

She joined the Fletcher team in 2021 and has since led the firm’s media relations efforts with a proven track record of reaching millions across multiple platforms. Among her strengths are planning and executing mutliple media tours, organizing and overseeing video shoots and earning our clients media coverage in major news outlets from Southern Living to Forbes.

Allison is a graduate of Auburn University with a B.A. in Communication and Psychology. She is passionate about the East Tennessee community and has devoted time to the school system with Leaders for Readers, and was awarded Knoxville Young Professional of the Year in 2017 for community service.

Allison spends her off time at the little league baseball field, bouncing her new baby boy and cheering on the Auburn Tigers.

Melanie Vasquez Russell is a seasoned communicator with a strong foundation in journalism, storytelling and bilingual content creation. With a passion for uncovering compelling narratives, she began her career in advertising, translating English-Spanish campaigns in the Houston area before immersing herself in journalism. This journey led her to rural western Montana, where she covered county news and regional adventures, setting the stage for a 14-year career in newsrooms as a reporter, photographer, editor and digital producer.

Her dedication to impactful journalism has earned her recognition from the Montana Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest and the Society of Professional Journalists – Western Washington Pro.

Melanie joined the Fletcher team in 2025 and is keen at finding storylines to help brands gain earned media coverage: crafting press releases, media advisories, writing bylined articles, advertorials and blogging. She has her HubSpot certification in integrated marketing and is adept at crafting social media content with years of social media management experience in newsrooms.

A proud alumna of Baylor University, Melanie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Spanish (double major) with a minor in Medical Humanities.

Beyond her professional work, Melanie spends time with her family and finds joy in the outdoors, spending time gardening, fishing, hiking, camping and exploring the stunning landscapes of East Tennessee and western North Carolina with her family.

Shana Dewitt brings more than 15 years of brand strategy, digital marketing, and creative leadership to the Fletcher team. A seasoned strategist with experience spanning Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, higher education, and entrepreneurial ventures, she specializes in helping brands clearly articulate their value and build marketing initiatives that actually move the needle.

With a career rooted in both creativity and analytics, Shana blends art direction, UX/UI design, content strategy, and data-driven insights to develop campaigns that are as beautiful as they are effective. She has led large-scale creative programs, developed full brand identity systems, executed multi-channel digital strategies, and overseen cross-functional teams to deliver cohesive, high-impact results.

Before joining Fletcher, Shana founded and led her own creative agency for more than a decade, supporting clients across the country with branding, web design and strategic digital marketing. She has also served in key brand and marketing roles for organizations such as Redstart Creative, Ergon, Inc., and Primed Marketing — sharpening her expertise in organizational storytelling, audience engagemen, and performance-driven content development.

Shana is passionate about helping brands show up with clarity and confidence and believes that great strategy starts with truly understanding the people you serve. Whether she’s guiding a brand refresh, reimagining a digital presence, or building out a long-term content roadmap, she brings curiosity, empathy, and a deep commitment to elevating every project she touches.