Meagan Ivey
Meagan Ivey is a dedicated hospitality professional and entrepreneur based in Colonial Beach, Virginia, and the owner of Suga Jax Grazing Co, with over 13 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. Her career began as a server and bartender and evolved into leadership roles including hospitality instructor, manager, and ultimately operations and events manager for Lucky Strike. She is currently a Server with Entertainment Cruises Inc. aboard The Odyssey III in the Washington, D.C.–Baltimore area, where she is recognized for delivering elevated guest experiences and exceptional service. Across every role, she has built a reputation for creating memorable, detail-driven experiences that prioritize hospitality, personalization, and care.
Throughout her career, Meagan developed a strong passion for events and guest experience, particularly in her role as an events manager where she was responsible for enhancing customer experiences through catering coordination, menu planning, and high-touch service. She has always taken pride in connecting with guests and ensuring every detail of an event feels intentional and elevated. After years of working in corporate hospitality, she made the intentional decision to step away for a sabbatical to focus on personal growth, motherhood, and building her vision as a business owner. That time allowed her to reset, invest in herself, and begin laying the foundation for her own brand.
Today, Meagan leads Suga Jax Grazing Co., a mobile charcuterie business bringing a luxury, curated food experience to her community in Colonial Beach. Through creative offerings such as charcuterie cups for teacher appreciation events and local networking initiatives, she is building a brand rooted in accessibility, elegance, and connection. Her most meaningful professional achievement has been taking a leap of faith to invest in herself—transitioning the same skills, energy, and discipline she once applied in corporate hospitality into building her own business. In doing so, she has created a life that allows her to be fully present as a mother while pursuing fulfillment, peace, and purpose through entrepreneurship.
• Certified ServSafe Instructor
• American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor
• First Aid CPR AED Instructor
• TIPS Certification
• Hampton University - History
• Entertainment Cruises (now Hornblower Cruises) National Recognition for Highest Sellers
• Lucky Strike Entertainment Top 7 Event Manager for 3 Consecutive Months
• Hampton University American Red Cross Learn to Swim Program Award
• Phi Omega Delta Sorority Incorporated
• Feeding the Homeless
• Alzheimer's Walks
• MS Walks
• Cancer Walks
• Suicide Prevention Walks
• Mobile Playground Community Service Initiative for Low-Income Areas
• Volunteer -
M-NCPPC, Department of Parks & Recreation
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received was just do it. For me, it was the best advice because watching people build their businesses, they listen to so many people's inputs and it causes them to hold back a little bit on themselves. Even with myself, it's taken me time to get confident enough to be like, you know what, I'm going to just go ahead and just do this, because I can. I've already got my toes wet, I can jump in, literally. So just do it. If it makes you happy and it brings you peace, just do it. Peace over a paycheck.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Take what makes you happy right now and build on that. Someone needs what makes you happy, too. If you invest in yourself, invest in that, and that could make you money. I have this conversation with my daughter - she loves to do things like her lashes and her nails, and she has perfected them to the point where people are now asking her to do them for them. That's the way she can make money with her peers and even older people. So I would tell them, take your hobbies and turn it into income, find something that's easy to keep up with. Turn it into income. Get yourself off that tablet and find something that can make you money. If you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values in my work and personal life are time, leading with your heart, trusting your gut, and staying true to myself. Time is the most valuable thing - we can get money back, we can heal physically, but we can never get our time back, so it is valuable and precious. I also go by lead with your heart and trust your gut, because your gut will never fail you. If it doesn't feel right, doesn't smell right, doesn't look right, it's not going anywhere. It goes all across the board - if I open some pepperoni and it doesn't smell right, it's not going on the board, it's going in the trash. Same thing as if I feel it's just not a proper move for me and my family to do, then I will not do it. One of my biggest values is staying true to myself. Sometimes getting in higher positions or moving up or excelling kind of puts people to where they forget where they came from, so I try to always remember where I came from and remember my why. That keeps me grounded.
Locations
Suga Jax Grazing Co
Colonial Beach, VA 22443