Diversity / Training Consultant

 

Melle Powers delivers and designs programs in Diversity and Inclusion as well as Interpersonal Communication for audiences within a wide variety of fields and with a wide variety of goals. 

 

She has lead training sessions at Cisco, Estee Lauder, Johnson & Johnson, Abercrombie & Fitch, British Petroleum, Sodexo, Novartis, DLA Piper, Skadden Arps, SECO (SouthEastern Conference of Optometry) and more. She also has extensive experience working with educators, facilitating programs on race and culture for the ADL and the New Jersey State Bar Foundation (among others).  Melle is passionate about story and she incorporates techniques from theater and storytelling into all facets of her work.

 

Melle began her career in Human Capital Development as the Assistant to the Director of Human Resources at American Express, Tax and Business Services. She also co-founded and served as Managing Producer for five years of The Mud/Bone Collective,  a theater company formed for and by artists of color whose original mission was to perform classical works by a cultural diaspora of actors. Most recently Melle delivered a live personal story for the “Family Ghosts” podcast launch about her family history and a journey to  Louisiana’s “Whitney Plantation”.  She is a Facilitator for “The Moth” storytelling organization and an Adjunct Instructor in Voice and Speech at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. 

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Melle is a Certified Diversity Professional and a member of both The Diversity Society of America and The Inclusion Allies Coalition. She holds an MFA from NYU.  Melle brings the full wealth of her experiences to bear in all of her work.