Like Wallace Stevens and T.S. Eliot, Melissa is a poet who has a job (similarities end there). And it has given her an almost magical ability to weave together seemingly disparate ideas and messages to create meaningful public relations opportunities for a variety of industries.

When we say variety, we mean it. Melissa spent the early days of her career working in the music industry at Drag City records, doing marketing and PR for artists like Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Silver Jews, Neil Hamburger and Joanna Newsom.

From there, she moved to the SEM world at companies such as ShopLocal and DoubleClick Performics where she was instrumental in establishing marketing and public relations practices. By combining consumer research and online behavior insights with key industry trends, she positioned these companies as thought leaders in the industry and with the media.

She also worked in the beauty industry, directing marketing communications and research, where she did it all, from focus groups with German hairdressers in Berlin to producing a fashion show with a broken foot. Obviously, Melissa likes a little variety. And Cramer-Krasselt (C-K) likes that too. In her role as Vice President, Director of Agency Communications at C-K, Melissa’s critical thinking and insights are applied internally and externally across employee initiatives and client work, bringing attention and accolades to the agency’s interconnected, multi-disciplinary approach.

Melissa holds both a Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry. Her parents never discouraged this and she’s grateful.