Melanie is a marketing and communications leader with more than 20 years of experience in the social sector. She is passionate about working alongside underserved and marginalized communities in the United States and globally to achieve equity in education and healthcare. She focuses on developing marketing and communications strategies that support organizational goals, while building internal capacities to implement those strategies and drive impact.

Over the past decade Melanie has served in leadership positions for several education and global health organizations including senior director of global marketing and communications for education nonprofit Worldreader; strategic communications director for the East Africa Preterm Birth Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco; and chief communications officer for national education nonprofit Breakthrough Collaborative. In addition to her staff roles, Melanie has served dozens of organizations across sectors ranging from healthcare, education, and government to land conservation and the arts through her consulting firm Melanie Wise Communications. She also serves on the board of San Francisco-based nonprofit, Leap Arts in Education and formerly served as board vice president for nonprofit Chooda (founder of the Bike Zambia charity ride, which provided financial support for health and education efforts in Zambia).

A veteran educator, Melanie has developed and taught communications courses to both university students and professionals at San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley Extension, and UC Berkeley’s Learning + Organizational Development program. Melanie holds an MA in English with a certificate in teaching writing from San Francisco State University and a BFA in visual arts from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUarts).