Title: “Embracing Ambiguity: My path as a social entrepreneur”
Description: Melissa will be sharing about the untraditional and sometimes circuitous career path that she has taken to get to what she is doing now. Melissa will illustrate to attendees how pushing through ambiguity is actually a key piece in paving a new path that others may not have trodden.
Bio: Melissa is Founder and CEO of Ethik, a wholesale marketplace for ethical handcraft that connects global artisans with conscious companies. She considers herself an “accidental entrepreneur” who never set out to start a business but was concerned with the economic challenges women in developing economies face and found a viable solution in building a bridge with the global handcraft sector. She has spent much of the last decade living and working in communities around the world with the driving philosophy that when people have access to fair pay and consistent work, they thrive. Melissa is a founding member and former president of the Social Enterprise Alliance of Utah and has taught classes in public health and international development at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. Beyond her professional pursuits, she loves any excuse to get outside to rock climb, mountain bike, or backcountry snowboard, take to the road via Sprinter van with her husband, and is loving her new role of mother to baby Stella.