Melissa stepped off the stage in 2010 when her body broke down after 30 years as a choreographer and performing artist. Diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Hashimoto’s Disease and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in 2014 and becoming homeless in 2018 has gracefully prepared her to tell a different story.
SPEAKING
Melissa draws on her personal and professional life experience and consults with leading industry researchers, psycho-oncologists and modern day philosophers to deliver messages of optimism. She is passionate about; Leadership and Self-Leadership. Cancer Mental Health; The Future of the Cancer Experience; Social Change and the ‘Why’.
RECLAIMING CONFIDENCE
SELF-LEADERSHIP. CONFIDENCE.
STYLE: Sassy; Professional; Intelligent
Confidence and words like success and empower have been used in marketing so much that you can’t bear to listen to them. Reclaiming confidence is a movement to understand what confidence is and what it is not. You are born with confidence. It is stolen by trauma, addiction and crisis. The pathway to reclaiming confidence doesn’t include ‘faking it’ or ‘boosting it’.
BEYOND THE ‘WHY’
LEADERSHIP. PURPOSE. SOCIAL CHANGE.
STYLE: Professional; Intelligent; Mindful
‘Why’s all over the world have been destroyed, and businesses, charities and not for profits are closed for business. When the allure of making money exceeds the cause, the ‘why’ and the passion project becomes the financial cash cow — drive and excitement die and rest in the graveyard of failed ideas.
When you go Beyond the ‘Why’... failing is not possible.
RECOVERING FROM THE CANCER WAR
THE FUTURE OF THE CANCER EXPERIENCE / CANCER MENTAL HEALTH
STYLE: Professional; Intelligent
Cancer hate, trauma and pain is inevitable for most and it is difficult for a lot of people to understand that there is a better way to experience cancer. But more and more people are talking about the ‘gifts’ and the ‘benefits’ and the ‘post growth benefits’ of cancer. First, we need to recover from ‘The Cancer War’.
CANCER, HOMELESSNESS AND ALL THAT JAZZ
SOCIAL CHANGE, ‘WHY’. LEADERSHIP
STYLE: Sassy; Inspirational; Professional
No one chooses cancer and no one chooses homelessness. Or do they? In a revealing and raunchy look at her life, Melissa takes you back to the day it all started. Almost dying seven times, Melissa has a funny way of making death look good. “Not knowing if you are going to live or die is like sitting in a training room with the best coaches in the world without the $10k a seat price tag.”