Are your marketing & communications driving impact?

“Melanie is a leader with tremendous breadth and depth. When Melanie joined Worldreader, the function was limited to a collection of loosely connected tactics without an overarching strategy. Melanie set a global strategy, strengthened the global marketing team, and developed the function across four regional teams in the Global South.

Under her leadership, the brand transformed both in messaging and visual identity, while media coverage more than doubled including coverage in The New York Times.

Behind the scenes, Melanie played a key role in developing a new organizational strategy to get children reading. Melanie would be an asset to any organization.”

– Chris Capossela, EVP & CMO at Microsoft and Worldreader Board Chair

“Melanie has the rare ability to holistically manage the strategic communication process from conception through production, including budget and contract provision.

In our two years working together at UCSF she was able to create an interwoven story across communities in Africa and the United States, driving communication across a range of stakeholders to support further funding of initiatives.

She skillfully managed multiple projects, international requirements in terms of logistics, and internal complications with purchasing, to produce a body of work that demonstrated the value and impact of the research endeavor. She is a pleasure to work with, and an asset to any team.“

– Saiqa Qureshi, Head of Reporting, Fiscal Affairs at Stanford University SOM

“I loved working with Melanie. She's one of the best communications experts I've had the honor of working with.

She's also so much more than "communications." As my first executive hire at Breakthrough, she was my go-to advisor on many critical decisions in front of us, as well as served our entire national organization as a trusted and thoughtful colleague. Among her many amazing accomplishments, she co-created our first-ever strategy review process and did it with aplomb.

She also drove our first-ever branding initiative, getting buy-in from tradtionally fractious groups resulting in an approved new brand identity system. Melanie sees the whole picture, the key players, and tells it straight. She's an all-around rock star!“

– Joshua Lachs, CEO at Moneythink

I have had the pleasure of working with Melanie on a number of occasions, as the Executive Director of the PaperSeed Foundation and as a Board Member of the Angel Island Conservancy. Melanie has greatly assisted both organizations in a number of ways, including written communications, marketing collateral and grant-writing. She is a thoughtful and talented writer, organized and punctual collaborator, and has always been easy to work with. She did a stellar job articulating messages for both organizations and was very kind in working with our short turnaround time and non-profit budget. I would absolutely recommend Melanie to any organization that needs assistance communicating their message, whatever the medium. Thank you for your great work!

– Aliyaa Mattos, Commissioner, Marin Women's Commission and former Executive Director, Paperseed Foundation

As a small, non-profit arts organization, we seek true partners to help communicate our mission, vision and values to expand our reach and impact. Melanie's deep understanding of the non-profit and grant writing space, her strong writing skills and her intrinsic understanding of our unique programming have made her an invaluable resource for the Ashland Independent Film Festival.

– Anne Ashbey, VP of Marketing at Backroads and former Executive Director, Ashland Independent Film Festival