This talented entrepreneurial couple inspires and supports each other every day — Chris in his real estate business, Lewis Realty Associates, Inc., and Misty in her own salon and spa, Salon Blue.
Chris and Misty Rackley juggle two businesses and two kids, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Both were bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early in life. Chris was just eight years old when he learned firsthand about running a family business.
“My great-aunt owned the real estate company, and I started working with her as a kid washing real estate signs,” Chris says. “Then, as a teen, I worked in the office during the summer, handling accounting stuff. After college, I came back home, figuring out what I wanted to do when I grew up. So, I went back to work for my aunt and got my real estate license. And in 2000, when she was ready to retire, I took it over.”
Today, Lewis Realty Associates Inc. has grown from a one-person office to a team of 23, managing more than 140 vacation rental properties and even long-term rentals along with selling properties in and around Topsail Island.
“We’ve been here for a long time,” Chris says. “We’re all local. We know Topsail. We all live and work here. Anyone looking to purchase in the area, whether it’s an investor or a family looking to relocate or to buy a second home, Lewis Realty is an expert in this market.”
While Chris has been earning designations and recognition as a top Realtor in Topsail, Misty has been successfully building Salon Blue. She started working as a stylist at the young age of 19. She spent the first few years of her career working for other salons but wanted her own independence.
“I had worked for salons that closed down, and so that was the motivation for me to open my own place,” Misty says. “I realized I didn’t want to be dependent on anyone else.”
In 2010 she opened Salon Blue in Holly Ridge, but after eight years of the business flourishing, she outgrew the space. She and Chris purchased an old farmhouse off Highway 210 and renovated it into a charming cottage-inspired aesthetic The new location opened just three months prior to COVID in 2020 and the consequential shut-down. Fortunately, Salon Blue was able to weather the pandemic and continues to grow.
Today Salon Blue has six stylists, a receptionist and an esthetician providing a wide range of hair, brow and lash services as well as spa services including facials and microdermabrasion.
Chris and Misty aren’t the only business-minded members of their family. Their two daughters are also budding entrepreneurs.
“Six-year-old Harbor draws imaginative stick figures with cute sayings like “spring into action” and our oldest, 10-year-old Brielle, makes her own perfumes out of essential oils that she sells at the salon,” Misty says.
Lewis Realty Associates, Inc.
320 N. New River Drive, Surf City
(910) 328-5211
Vacation rentals: vacationsontopsail.com
Sales: realestatetopsail.com
Salon Blue
1775 N.C. Highway 210 E., Hampstead
(910) 507-1272
salonbluehampstead.com
