Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation
Global Talent Development Leader driving scalable coaching impact across 350+ coaches
Builder of high-impact leadership and coaching programs
Executive Coach delivering measurable career outcomes (25%+ conversion lift)
Data-driven talent strategist optimizing performance and engagement
Enterprise facilitator influencing leaders and cross-functional strategy
Masters Degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University
This is my story
I help organizations and professionals navigate growth, leadership transitions, and meaningful career development with clarity and confidence.
I’m a Career Advisor, Executive Coach, and Learning & Talent Development leader with over 10 years of experience designing scalable coaching and development programs across higher education, workforce education, and corporate environments. Currently, I’m a consultant, providing individual career advising to mid level managers up to SVPs on career transition, job search strategies, and salary negotiation. Prior to that, I led coaching operations and coached development for a global network of 450+ coaches, ensuring quality, consistency, and measurable client outcomes at scale. My work spanned program design, facilitator enablement, performance standards, and leadership coaching.
Previously, I served as a Career Coach within higher education and workforce learning organizations including bootcamps and university-affiliated programs. I coached students and career changers through the full career development process, clarifying direction, strengthening resumes and portfolios, preparing for interviews, and navigating complex job searches. I designed and facilitated career education workshops and partnered with employer-facing teams to align student readiness with hiring needs. I have also worked as a recruiter, gaining first-hand experience with the full hiring lifecycle.
That perspective continues to inform how I advise professionals and design career programming, bridging the gap between talent development and real-world hiring practices.
I Partner With:
People who:
- are navigating career transitions and want a clear, strategic path forward.
- are ready to grow into leadership roles but need support positioning themselves effectively.
- want to take ownership of their career growth and make intentional, aligned decisions.
Professionals who:
- are ready to step into leadership with clarity, confidence, and strategic direction.
Leaders who:
- are responsible for coaching, developing, and elevating others while continuing to grow themselves.
- want to align their personal growth with broader business and talent strategy.
My Coaching Approach
Across all of my work, I focus on practical, behavior-based growth. Whether coaching a senior leader stepping into broader scope, advising a student exploring career paths, or developing coaches and facilitators, I translate strategy into action.
My foundation as a professional opera singer and music educator continues to shape my approach to leadership and learning. Performance, presence, storytelling, and disciplined practice are skills that can be developed. I bring those principles into coaching, facilitation, and curriculum design to help professionals lead with confidence and authenticity.
Testimonials
“Melissa is a great career coach/mentor. She really and truly cares about helping people find meaningful work, I have recommended friends to her services and will continue to do so! She is attentive and always tending to concerns/questions. She is also very insightful about the work industry.” – Adebimpe Oyeyemi, People Operations Professional
“Melissa has been a key component in my job search. She is extremely easy to talk to and asks very insightful questions to start you on a path to finding a career or position that aligns with your values and goals. From there, she was pivotal in guiding me through what is now a very different application process than what I was used to. She gave great recommendations on how to go about networking and creating contacts down to specific templates to help when doing outreach. She is super responsive on email and LinkedIn messaging and is always thinking about ways to help her clients. This is an incredibly difficult time to be job hunting and Melissa makes it much easier to stomach. I highly recommend her services if you need help in your search.” – Krystyna Karmol, Creative Project Manager
After a year looking for a job and scores of resume submissions with little interview return, I approached Melissa for help. Melissa was so friendly and forthright on our first phone call, very clear on what she suggested I needed help with and her plan to get me there. She then came to our first zoom meeting with my cover letter and resume completely revamped! What was taking me hours and hours to research and complete she did for me! Over the next several weeks Melissa coached me on which career roles/companies I should be focusing my efforts on, how to network and connect with those who have input on hiring and most importantly how to prepare for interview questions. Her coaching was very clear and straightforward – DEFINITELY FOR THE WORKING MOM! I followed her advice and plan and within 3 MONTH, I was getting called for dozens of interviews, made it to several final rounds and just ACCEPTED AN AMAZING JOB (with pay increase)! Melissa even called to congratulate me! I’ve already passed her information on to several friends who are looking to transition from their current places of employment. – Marisa C. Steward, Program Management
“At the beginning of the year I was impacted by a layoff. I made it to about 2 final round interviews with great companies but didn’t get an offer from either. This was highly unusual from my past experience and I felt that I needed to make changes and get guidance. That’s when I reached out to Melissa! I felt my resume needed to be updated but I wasn’t sure how. She made it look so much cleaner and less wordy so a recruiter can scan it easier. As a hiring manager she confirmed and challenged my thoughts on the interview and job search process like should you really have more than one resume and tailor it to every job? Yes! Do you really need a cover letter? No! Every answer had a very reasonable explanation. She really helped me prepare for my interviews, picked apart my answers, changed how I presented myself on camera and other things that you don’t really think about in an interview that actually impact someone’s decision to hire you. She gave me templates that I still use and have been super helpful! Probably the best part of working with Melissa for me is how she says “you got this!” It makes you so much more confident (and amped!) to nail that big interview. Since I started working with Melissa I had an interview almost every week, went to more networking events (sometimes she would find them which was great!) and felt super confident about interviewing for a dream company. After about 2 months I landed a director level role which is where I should be in my career. During that process she helped me negotiate salary which I never did before. She helped me by validating why I’m worth a more reasonable amount. Now I have the highest paying job of my career. I highly recommend Melissa as a career coach!” – Austin Carter, Music Business Operations Leader