Annie McDaniel has brought smiles to thousands of local school children over the years as her lovable “Miss Annie” persona, and today she’s extended her reach into the lives of people in Birmingham and far beyond through an inspiring social media platform. “Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen” entertains its followers with recipes, tips, and home projects, but does so much more than that. It gives people encouragement and inspiration, especially as they go through hard times. By being transparent with her online friends about her family’s struggles and victories, McDaniel and her husband Daryl hope to show the love of Christ. “We really see it as a ministry,” McDaniel said. “To know that our experiences can help and encourage other people is a blessing.”
The Influence of Miss Annie. These days, McDaniel lives a bit of a “double life.” She visits schools in eight systems daily, while also maintaining the Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen website and various social media platforms. Her role as Miss Annie, though, was her first love. Miss Annie’s Educational Adventures began in 1999 when she started to visit schools and daycare facilities to present three programs about native Americans, woodland animals, and the cornhusk doll. That small repertoire grew into one that includes programs on various scientific topics and 15 different costumes. During the winter months, you may find her dressed up as a snowman or penguin teaching about the science of snowflakes or marine animal blubber. McDaniel had a love of science and learning from a young age and once dreamed of being a teacher. After marrying young, however, she focused on her husband Daryl and their growing family. While working with Daryl as caretakers at Hargis Christian Camp in Chelsea in the 1990s, McDaniel was asked to help with outdoor programs about bugs, and she quickly said yes. “They hired certified teachers, and I wasn’t one, but I was so eager. So, Miss Annie was born,” she recalled. “Then a lady I worked with said we could do this in schools, and we began doing programs together.” After the woman moved, McDaniel took a leap of faith and began doing school programs on her own. “I wanted to wear a costume and have themes and grow it from what we’d been doing,” she said. “I was terribly nervous, but it turned into a beautiful gift.” She said that the experience was just one example of many in her life of God recognizing her gifts and honoring her with opportunities. “God knew what my heart desired, that I wanted to be a teacher at a young age, and He gave it to me,” she said. “It’s been a sweet, sweet thing.” For more than 25 years now Miss Annie has entertained school children through creative science lessons- and made many friends along the way. She said that many of the young teachers today know her from when she visited their schools when they were students.
Lives Upended. The McDaniels’ lives changed dramatically a decade ago when Daryl suffered a massive cerebellar stroke, and then in 2020 when the Covid pandemic abruptly halted all of her in-school work. Daryl’s stroke went misdiagnosed for four days until it was determined he’d had a stroke in the cerebellum. Doctors gave him a small chance of survival and then after having a hole drilled in his head they still didn’t know if he’d recover. “I went home from that diagnosis praying fervently. But once I got up off my knees, I remembered the words, ‘You can do hard things.’ I put three signs around my house with those words,” she said. “They helped me make it through those days in ICU, then at Lakeshore.” When he finally left the hospital, McDaniel said that a nurse whispered to her in encouragement, “Stronger every day.” Today, she and Daryl consider those two phrases – “Stronger Every Day” and “I Can Do Hard Things”- as their mantras in life, and use them on their posts, videos, and other social media platforms for Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen. Looking back, McDaniel sees the miracle in her husband’s recovery. He had to learn everything all over again and tiny steps were victories. Now he is alive and thriving- and even able to appear on Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen where he often does videos and shares recipes. The other huge challenge to upend their lives was the COVID pandemic and its effect on her schoolwork. Her regular practice is to book school visits a year in advance, but COVID essentially caused her to lose her livelihood. She didn’t work in schools for almost two years and knew she’d have to come up with something to make up for her lost work. At the time, Annie’s friend Sue Garrett had begun posting food videos on Facebook in 2020 as “Mama Sue.” Her videos had begun to garner interest, and she’d published a cookbook. McDaniel asked her to meet for coffee. At that meeting, they discussed how Sue could turn her hobby into a business with the help of a friend who managed social media. When Sue discovered she had breast cancer, Annie and Sue started working together alongside Angela Deaver (her social media whiz of a friend). Mama Sue’s popularity continued to grow (today she has almost 800,000 followers on Facebook) and then McDaniel began to envision an online plan of her own.
Annie and Daryl debuted Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen in September 2021 and today it continues to grow. It includes an active website featuring easy meals and snacks and effortless home decorating hacks (missannieshomeandkitchen.com). She’s on all social media platforms including Instagram and TikTok. She publishes new recipes three times a week and also publishes cookbooks. Daryl makes special appearances to show followers how to make dump meals for extra busy nights. “Sue and I share an office, and we each have four cookbooks, and Angela runs our social media… God just worked it all out for all of us. We see it as a ministry, and especially through Mama Sue’s cancer journey we recognize that these are more than cooking pages.” McDaniel is transparent on all of her platforms about her struggles, and she often stresses how important faith is to her life. As a result, she’s been blessed by those who listen and follow her message. “When I put those signs up in my house all those years ago, I had no idea that our experiences would ultimately help other people.”
A Future Built on Faith. McDaniel said she plans on retiring soon from her work in schools, but that she knows she has a bright future online. While it will be hard to leave her work with school children, knowing that she can serve in a ministry capacity through her Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen venture is exciting. She and Daryl recently moved back home to Columbiana, Ala., and are currently renovating a historic downtown home. They share the home project on their platforms. “We’re about to build a workshop, and Daryl will be able to share through that,” she said, noting that he works as a network engineer for the University of Alabama but has a first love for woodworking. After Daryl’s stroke recovery, McDaniel said that they both had to reset their priorities. They spend more time doing things they love like fishing, kayaking, woodworking, and being with their family. The parents of three grown daughters (Shannon, Ashley, and Madison) and nine grandchildren, McDaniel said that their life is sweet and fulfilled. “I was raised in a Christian home and when the stroke and everything else happened, I never had the feeling that God was far from me. He was so close to me, and I just turned everything over to Him,” she said. “I knew that whatever happened would happen and that His will would be done.”
-Cheryl Wray
