"Alyssa really understood that to be effective as my executive assistant, she had to be trusted by the rest of the team. She has invested time and energy into that in a beautiful way."
— Stacy Williams-Duncan, Parish Priest & Founder
The Challenge
Stacy Williams-Duncan is a parish priest and the founder of Learning ForTE, a consulting company that partners with theological schools, seminaries, and nonprofits on change management, learning design, and educational technology. As a founder navigating the demands of a startup, Stacy quickly recognized she couldn't do it all alone — but she wasn't sure how to find the right kind of help.
After working with a business coach, Stacy received a clear directive: find someone she could truly delegate to, not just hand off tasks to. The distinction mattered. She didn't want to spend energy setting up every project herself before handing it off. She needed a partner she could trust to figure things out alongside her.
"[I needed] to be able to say, 'I don't know how to do this; help me figure it out,' and for them to carry more of that weight."
Finding the right person wasn't straightforward. Stacy's clients — theological schools and nonprofits — operate in a niche world, and she needed an assistant who could understand that environment. That's what led her to BELAY. "I didn't know how to find somebody, and it made a difference [to me] that BELAY had worked with congregations," she explains. The matchmaking process pushed her to get honest about what she truly needed, laying the groundwork for a meaningful partnership.
The Solution
BELAY matched Stacy with Virtual Assistant Alyssa McCormic, who brought a background in ministry and an immediate grasp of Learning ForTE's unique culture. Within her first weeks, Alyssa identified a critical pain point: Stacy's calendar was packed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with back-to-back meetings, leaving no margin for focused work — or rest. Alyssa stepped in to protect Stacy's time and help her build and maintain her ideal week.
Beyond calendar management, Alyssa worked to build trust with the entire team — taking the lead on remembering birthdays and sending gifts to employees on Stacy's behalf. As Alyssa put it,
"to be effective as my executive assistant, she had to be trusted by the rest of the team. She has invested time and energy into that in a beautiful way."
Because Learning ForTE was a young company, much of Alyssa's early work involved establishing foundational systems. "We've established some systems for client contracting, I'm managing our monthly report processes, and [I'm] managing Stacy's email, calendar and travel," Alyssa noted. Over time, Alyssa also stepped into the contracting inquiry process — becoming the front-facing person for new client outreach and freeing Stacy to operate at a more strategic level.
"I was spending too much energy keeping other people's work going, so I never had the time to think on a bigger level."
— Stacy Williams-Duncan, Parish Priest & FounderThe Impact
The results of Stacy's partnership with BELAY were both operational and deeply personal. For the first time, Stacy felt safe enough to take a five-day vacation — and leave her computer at home. She instructed her team to go directly to Alyssa with any needs while she was away.
"I've never felt comfortable enough or safe enough [until now] about having people here to have my back or watch my email [while I take time off]."
Professionally, delegating the contracting inquiry process marked a turning point. Stacy had long been spending her energy sustaining other people's workflows rather than thinking at the level her business needed. With Alyssa managing those processes, she finally had the bandwidth to lead strategically. "Being able to pass off those pieces and [being able to] work closely together as we automated the process is important," Stacy reflects.
Alyssa observed the change firsthand in Stacy's calendar.
"Being able to see some space on her calendar now — even if it's just blocked off for work — [means] she's not simply reacting to what is immediately in front of her, but either she's resting because she's able to take time off or she has more margin in her day."For Stacy, that margin wasn't just a productivity gain — it was a sign that she'd finally built a business with people she could truly trust.