WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT BRUNCH

Her Excellency Mrs. SANDRA GRANGER, First Lady of The Republic of Guyana

**MELISSA NOEL**
AWARD WINNING MULTI-MEDIA JOURNALIST
Correspondent, One Caribbean Television

Melissa is an award-winning multimedia journalist. As a contributing correspondent for One Caribbean television, she covers major news stories out of the Caribbean region and throughout diaspora communities in the United States and Canada.

Most recently this has included policies impacting Caribbean immigrants in the U.S., the business of Caribbean carnivals and ongoing recovery efforts post hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Her work also regularly appears in outlets such as Caribbean Beat magazine and across NBCNEWS.com where she created the innovative story series ‘Black and Undocumented’ as well as the award-winning ‘Love In Barrel’ series about Caribbean migration and mental health.

Melissa’s commitment to bringing attention to the often-under reported stories has earned her accolades including the global media award for excellence in reporting from the International Labor Organization; being named a 30 under 30 Caribbean American emerging leader by the institute for Caribbean studies and a 2018 salute to excellence award in digital reporting from the national association of black journalists.

She was named an International Center for Journalists ‘Bringing Home The World’ reporting fellow and a University of Southern California Center for Health Reporting Fellow in 2017. Melissa is also a grantee of the esteemed Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting. She now regularly works with the Pulitzer Center’s education programming to bring international issues to classrooms throughout the United States.

Melissa is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Howard University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism and holds a Master of Arts degree in journalism from The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism, where she specialized in broadcast media and urban reporting.

She is a proud first-generation Guyanese American based between New York City and the Caribbean region.

KOJO NNAMDI (Moderator)

*The Kojo Nnamdi Show* airs Monday through Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. (ET) on WAMU 88.5, the NPR member-station in Washington, D.C. The live magazine program highlights news, political issues and social trends of the day .

Kojo Nnamdi is host of The Kojo Nnamdi Show, a live talk show produced by WAMU 88.5 that airs weekdays at noon. On Fridays at noon, Nnamdi hosts The Politics Hour on WAMU 88.5.

“Maybe the best radio interviewer in town” according to The Washington Post, Nnamdi welcomes a lineup of interesting and provocative guests who offer new perspectives about current events, political issues, social policy, art, science and other topics. The show encourages listener calls, creating a dynamic dialogue about issues that are important or interesting to the Washington, D.C., region.

Nnamdi is a native of Guyana who immigrated to the United States in 1968 to attend college and explore the civil rights movement. From 1985 to 2011, he hosted Evening Exchange, a public affairs television program broadcast by WHUT-TV at Howard University. From 1973 to 1985, Nnamdi worked at WHUR-FM, where he served as news editor and then news director, producing the award-winning local news program The Daily Drum.

In 2003, the Library of Congress selected Nnamdi as the keynote speaker for African American History Month, and in 2001, he was honored as a civil rights hero by the National Council for Community Justice.