Otherwise, her career may have taken her on a very different path.
Melissa (who goes by Mel) grew up by the ocean and for a time wanted to be a marine biologist. She says living near the ocean definitely sparked that interest, and she later went on to get her diving certification. “It would have been an amazing career… but it turns out I am much better with people than I am at science.”
Mel eventually went on to receive a BA in Marketing and Communications and worked in finance for a few years before realizing she wanted to return to the marketing world. She says managing a portfolio of clients with millions of dollars invested has helped tremendously in her current position, and she was able to bring over those skills and apply them to her work at Solutions 8.
Mel is a master of multitasking.
She has to be, as both a senior client manager and the team lead for the SMB client managers. But that’s where all those people skills truly shine. “I think of myself as a relationship builder,” Mel shared. “I love getting to know my clients and working with the rest of the team to help them build their businesses through paid advertising.”
Part of Mel’s dual role includes overseeing a group of four account managers. In addition to helping them navigate their client relationships and uncover growth opportunities for each business, she acts as a cheerleader for all the awesome things they do. As a self-described chronic people person, she says being a good listener makes her particularly good at her job. Her favorite part about working at Solutions 8 is definitely the people—both her clients and her coworkers.
Most Fridays, she and teammate Andrew Terpstra exchange a fun playlist to set them up for a productive day. It started a few months ago when Mel shared a playlist she thought he would like, and it has since become the best part of the week and something they both look forward to. “It is amazing how finding a great playlist or song can change your whole mood and set you up to power through the day.”
She's also not afraid to step outside of her comfort zone.
Another thing that makes Mel great at her job is that she is always eager to learn and try new things—a trait that extends even beyond her professional career.
Two summers ago, she decided to try something way outside of her comfort zone: mountain biking. She says it is not only physically challenging (a lot of uphill) but also mentally challenging. “There is a lot of mental strength involved in keeping yourself calm and not panicking when you’re riding through rough terrain trying not to end up flying over your handlebars (which has happened on occasion),” Mel admitted.
She says she is not an extreme sport type of person, but there are so many lessons to be learned from trying something like mountain biking. And the best part? “When you make it through a trail or an obstacle course without biffing it, it makes you feel like you could do anything!”
What makes Mel so fearless? She says she learned from her parents the value of doing things that scare you, because that is where growth happens. “Like most people, I have had my fair share of hard decisions to make in my life. And although the fear of doing something new is still there, I have the faith and confidence in myself to try. Even if it doesn’t work out or I fail, at least I took a step forward and learned something.”
Fun fact: Mel grew up in a (literal) Hallmark Christmas movie town.
Though she currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta with her soon-to-be husband and three fur babies, Mel says her heart will always belong to Nova Scotia, on the beautiful east coast of Canada. She grew up in a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Nova Scotia is actually home to a handful of them) and says her small town is truly magical. Hollywood must agree, because the movie Christmas Island was filmed there last summer.
“I always said it would make an excellent town for one of those movies,” Mel told me. “It has even been featured in Netflix series such as Locke & Key and The Sinner. If you were to visit, there is only one thing you must eat… and that is as much seafood as humanly possible. My favorite restaurant is called Beach Pea. They have the most amazing lobster pasta!”
Growing up in such a beautiful place, Mel has oodles of good memories. One of her favorites is making strawberry jam with her cousins and her nan. Every year, they would go to her grandparents’ house and all the cousins would get together and go strawberry picking. They would then form an assembly line in the kitchen of cutters, mashers, and the canners at the end.
Outside of Canada, Mel loves to travel and says her passport is definitely one of the things she would grab if her house were on fire (along with her laptop and her prized Dutch oven).
One of the most eye-opening experiences of her life was when she was able to spend a few months traveling in Iran in 2017. Mel journeyed from northern Iran to the southern island of Kish and says the food, the culture, and the people were all so beautiful. As someone who loves to cook, she especially enjoyed learning how to cook Iranian food—which she says to this day still holds up to her Iranian friends’ cooking.
Life away from work is never dull.
Mel says she has taken on quite a few hobbies recently, so in her down time she might be doing anything from mountain biking to horseback riding or heading to the gym.
On quieter weekends, you can often find her at a coffee shop with her financé, both of them buried in the books they are reading. A book that she read recently and absolutely loved (and has recommended to countless friends) is Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life beyond Your Wildest Dreams by Gabrielle Bernstein. “It basically helps you remember that you can attract the life you want by aligning your energy in the right places in your life.”
Sounds like a must-read!
Pamela Sapio
