Testimonials
“Melissa is a smart and dedicated professional with a great work ethic. She is a passionate speaker full of innovative thoughts, with a sharp vision for a sustainable future. She was a great pleasure to work with. Her keynote to our Board and Scientific Committee was very interesting and great food for thought.”
— Olivier de Matos, Secretary General, European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals, Brussels
“Melissa is a smart, thorough and devoted scholar and professional with a great work ethic and enthusiastic, proactive spirit. She is a conceptual thinker to be admired for her approach and creativity.”
— Editorial Director, New York
“Once again thank you a lot for your fantastic speech! Lots of positive feedback from our clients... the best speech of the evening, fascinating, perfectly presented - how do you manage to creative this positive atmosphere around you, it's just wonderful.”
— Executive, Aegis Media
“Reputation, professionalism and experience are just three factors to consider when selecting speakers for events and Melissa excels in all three. She is inspiring and thought provoking and I would highly recommend trying to get her on your agenda.”
— Head of Conferences, The Drum, London
“Melissa was very knowledgeable and the architects and designers present thought it [her keynote] was very insightful.”
— Managing Director, Methven
“Melissa participated in a panel discussion about sustainable design alongside other well-known design commentators and experts at Ecobuild 2011, during which she spoke with passion and clarity as she described her ideas about how ‘design’ and designers can adapt in a world where sustainability is imperative. Her engaging style and creative content played an important role in delivering a lively and informed debate which was very well received by the designer / architect audience.”
— Managing Director, Ecobuild, IBE Ltd, London
“inspired, challenged and entertained.”
— Lux Magazine
“Melissa has been a beacon for me in the past few years. She is one person who puts her money where her mouth is which is refreshing, invigorating, and all too rare. She is a one-woman fountain of knowledge; Well-researched, superbly distilled information is literally a constant - and she gives generously of herself to others with her copious wisdom and clear, informed, and astute vision of the future. More words and phrases that come to mind - smart, incisive, clear-headed and representative of best practices in approaching global business, design, innovation, sustainability, and social policy. Most of all, she's One to Watch and should be on everybody's go-to list.”
— Co-Founder Show Love LLC, New York
“Melissa's ambitious projects aim to create the kinds of change that could plausibly help us out of some of the most serious environmental challenges we face as a society. A rare combination of a visionary perspective with excellent organisational and networking skills. I think we can count ourselves lucky to have her helping us design and build a sustainable future”
— Director, EcoLabs, London
“Melissa gave a talk to scientists and engineers from the flat glass industry at the NSG European Technical Centre, Lathom in April 2011 as part of a series of lectures on sustainability in the building industry. Melissa spoke with great passion about her ideas for using nature as inspiration for designing buildings and cities with a view to being able to withstand and possibly adapt to environmental changes and even natural disasters. Some of her ideas are controversial and there was a lively debate during the Q&A session which would have lasted all afternoon but for time constraints. I would recommend Melissa for any lecture series related to sustainability as her ideas would have interest and appeal to a wide-variety of audiences.”
— Senior Technologist, NSG Group
“Melissa's brief was to present a 'provocation' around participation and media. She provided an intelligent and focussed speech which got the whole group thinking in new and innovative ways. She is well informed, well connected and open to new approaches”
— Director of Catcher Media and Curator's of Inter.ACT
“Melissa gave a head to head interview themed ‘Start-up Meets Sustainability’ at the b.Tween Interactive Media Forum 2009, held at FACT in Liverpool and broadcast live to remote audiences in Manchester, Sheffield and Bristol. Smart, creative and possessing an encyclopaedic knowledge of sustainability, she guided a young digital entrepreneur and the audience, comprising interactive media executives from leading PLCs, NGOs and government organisations, through the key environmental and social issues shaping tomorrow’s digital industries. Insightful without being evangelical, she is able to both illustrate the opportunities, as well as the challenges sustainability presents. A month later Melissa chaired the ‘Policy Futures: Towards a Framework for Sustainable Economies’ panel, featuring panelists Professor Takeda Shuzaburo – Executive Director of The Business University Forum of Japan, Nicky Gavron – Londonwide Assembly Member and David Shaw - Director of Industry and Public Sector at Alcatel-Lucent, at the Smart City Futures conference held at The Lowry Centre, Manchester. Simultaneously engaging both a live and remote audience, using digital technologies including Twitter to source real-time questions and audience feedback, Melissa chaired the session with aplomb. Not afraid to field challenging questions and encourage panelists to dig deep into the issues, her style was perfectly suited to the progressive style and ambitious aims of the conference.”
— Founding Director Just.b Productions
“Melissa participated, alongside other experts including Trevor Baylis OBE, in a panel debate about Eco-design during the first pioneering UK AWARE event in May 2008. Her knowledge and expertise in this field were only surpassed by her ability to communicate her ideas to the audience in a fun, straightforward and engaging way. I would thoroughly recommend Melissa for any speaking engagement of any kind.”
— Director, UK Aware, London
“Melissa is one of the few people I know who truly understands the meaning of collaboration. When I first bumped into Melissa, a fellow Future 100 entrepreneur, she was a breath of fresh air and a person I instantly warmed to with a genuine positive energy. Never afraid to speak her mind, Melissa talks sense. She is one of the best creative minds I have had the pleasure of working with. Melissa's contributions have been some of the best we have had. I would never think twice about picking up the phone to ask Melissa for strategic advice when making creative and/or business decisions.”
— Founding Director, The Creative Coop, London
“I was fortunate to have Melissa as my dissertation supervisor earlier this year and I could not have asked for a more professional and dedicated person to supervise my work. She always offered unparalleled competence, shrewd judgement, quick response to my lengthy emails and thorough feedback. Although my project took a couple of turns she remained a partner in my journey, her advise never prescriptive or limiting and her intervention always balanced perfectly to enhance my learning while making sure progress is steady. Melissa is a wonderful and supportive mentor who listens, who is able to bring out the best in people and makes every conversation a delightful and insightful experience. She is the type of person who would go out of her way to help in a variety of ways.”
— Masters Student, Ravensbourne, London
“Melissa is incredibly creative and switched on. She has the ability to come up with fantastic ideas AND make them happen. Plus her industry contacts are legendary!”
— Managing Director, Mickey & Mallory, Manchester
“…the conference kicked off with renowned keynote speaker Melissa Sterry. Melissa opened the proceedings with an inspirational talk on bio-futurism, the connection and reconnection of nature in the design of everyday human life. From growing furniture to bioluminescent chandeliers to reducing waste through compostable clothing Melissa captured the audience’s imagination and opened their eyes and minds to futures possible both in Cornwall and beyond.”
— Acceleration Through Innovation [ATI], University of Plymouth
“Nothing but good things to say! Melissa arrived promptly, delivered a great talk, stuck around after and mingled with the clients and was generally a lovely person!”
— Events Manager, Akin Gump LLP
“We also heard insights into the most innovative science taking place right now, thanks to systems theorist Melissa Sterry. Among other mind-blowing sustainable ideas, she highlighted a pioneering project growing organic pieces of furniture...”
— CEO, Bathroom Manufacturers Association
“Melissa is not only a huge source of inspiration to creatives within the fashion industry, she is also a visionary with innovative thoughts, ideas and concepts. Melissa is a true pleasure to work with and has a great deal of integrity, passion and focus. With projects such as the Iconique Societas Awards she has successfully managed to create a platform to both reward and acknowledge some of the most talented creatives of our time.”
— CEO, Red Carpet Green Dress
“I've worked with Melissa on many different projects in the years I've known her, and every one has been a pleasure and a success. The first time I met her was just after I'd released Medium Magazine in 2005. She picked up a copy in the ICA bookshop and contacted me about founding an international arts competition, the Creative Graduate Prize. Five years on, both projects are going strong thanks to Melissa's tireless, professional, proactive approach to working. She is dependable and always sees things through to completion.
This is Melissa's greatest talent in my opinion, she makes things happen. The fact that she's as approachable as she is smart makes her an inspiring person to work with. I can't recommend her highly enough. Let's just say that if I was an American teenager this recommendation would simply read, 'Best. Colleague. Ever.'.”
— Laurie Cansfield, Digital Marketing Consultant, Copywriter, Cofounder of projects including the Creative Graduate Prize