Episode 40: Blk on the Scene with Melissa Potter

We are delighted to welcome Melissa C. Potter to the Blk on the Scene fam this week! Melissa is a New York native and an expert at the issues of Race, Identity, Culture, Equity, and Social Justice, which she masterfully manages moments of crisis with her unflappable and vibrant style. Just peep her Instagram to see the fabulous eyewear and fashions! Melissa is a thought leader with a proven track record of creating meaningful social change through her expertise in spearheading social impact strategies and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across non-profit organizations and global brands. 

Currently, she serves as the Vice-President, Strategy and Impact at Paramount Global, where she supervises each brand’s commitment to the long-term social impact of cultural shifts in society. We get to learn how she got her start as a teenager “interning” with a family friend who was a DJ, leveraging that hustle, curiosity and passion to being a college record label rep at Northeastern University in Boston at the height of the explosion of Hip-Hop and Rap to learning the business from OGs like Mona Scott and Chris Lighty. She witnessed first hand the impact that entertainers such as Method Man, 50 Cent and more had when they hosted their community focused events which served as early inspiration to the field of social impact. Melissa openly shares her trajectory from the music industry to the political and social impact space where her ingenuity led to her winning the prize for Human Rights at the Venice Film Festival plus receiving a 2018 NAACP Image Award nomination as Impact Producer for the film “The Rape of Recy Taylor”. 

Potter received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Northeastern University and Masters in Corporation Communication and Public Relations from New York University. She serves as the first woman and the first African American Chair of the Board for the National Job Corps Association and is Chair of the Board of Directors of Fostering Change for Children. She was awarded “Change Agent of the Year” in 2018 from the Digital Diversity Network, is a Webby Anthem Awards juror and a Diversity Committee Member for Transform Films. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Melissa’s RECEIPTS and her story from a self described “little bossy girl” to being an all around BOSS is just the inspiration we all need to trust our vision and keep the faith!

Thanks for listening to Blk on the Scene. We hope that you will tune in for more exciting guests and conversations from this season. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and rating.

Episode Mentions:

Melissa C. Potter - https://melissacpotter.com/

Content for Change - https://contentforchange.paramount.com/

Mona Scott - Young - https://www.instagram.com/monascottyoung/?hl=en

Violator Records - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violator_(company)

Northeastern University - https://www.northeastern.edu/

Alpha Kappa Alpha - https://aka1908.com/

Style Eyes Optical - https://styleeyesoptical.com/