Dr Melissa Sterry is an internationally recognised authority on sustainability, design futures, and complex systems thinking, whose interdisciplinary work has reached audiences across six continents. Over a 20+ year career, she has engaged with millions through a diverse portfolio of publications, interviews, keynotes, academic contributions, and curated platforms, shaping thought and practice in science, technology, innovation, and ecological design.

Her contributions have been featured in more than 450 media titles worldwide, spanning major international outlets such as Forbes, Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian, The Australian, New York Post, Marie Claire, and Dazed. A conservative assessment of her cumulative reach through these and other media appearances places her gross audience reach at over 450 million globally. When adjusting for potential overlap and syndication, her realistic unique audience reach is estimated between 150 to 200 million individuals, underscoring her broad and sustained visibility across public, academic, and professional spheres.

Melissa has authored and curated work for over 60 consumer, trade, and academic publications, including books published by Routledge, Hachette, and McGraw-Hill. Her academic and professional insights have been cited in research, policymaking, and industry development, while her accessible communication style has seen her frequently called upon by media producers and editors for expert commentary.

Her most recent contributions include commentary to a Business Insider documentary, which garnered over 4.5 million views on YouTube, alongside 45,000+ likes. She has also been interviewed by Neil deGrasse Tyson for StarTalk Radio and cited in his bestselling book, StarTalk: Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond.

Melissa presented Leonardo’s City for BBC Radio 4, and her media influence extends to appearances on Sky News, CBC, talkRADIO, and BBC News, in addition to media figurehead roles for organisations such as Interface, The Guardian/Volvo, and CW Jobs. Her visibility has been enhanced through both traditional media and her leadership of several pioneering interdisciplinary publishing and media initiatives in fields including sustainable innovation, nature-inspired design, and resilient urbanism.

Her influence extends to having delivered more than 100 invited keynotes at conferences and events in countries including the UK, United States, Canada, Australia, India, and more. A measure of her impact is having been voted one of the Top 20 speakers influencing board-level sustainability strategy globally (2024 & 2025).

In the noughties, Melissa anticipated several major publishing and media trends — the rise of participatory media production, open access publishing, and alternative media channels — predictions she published, in among places, the proceedings of influential media conferences. She led technology and strategy with one of the first media production companies to specialise in sustainable innovation, and has mentored several experimental start-ups in the sector. Her current research interests include hybrid communications and content production processes that combine human, and non-human intelligence — both living and artificial.

Bridging multiple domains — from science to storytelling — Melissa amplifies urgent conversations around environmental resilience, technological innovation, and futures literacy. Her reach and influence, underpinned by consistent thought leadership and a unique capacity for transdisciplinary synthesis, continue to expand in both impact and scale. In a heavily saturated international publishing and media market, she is known for her autonomy and honesty, and for working with journalists, editors, and producers to create compelling and original content with the integrity and insight to appeal to audiences of wide-ranging demographics and interests.