Adam Torres and Melissa Miller Young discuss Melissa’s new book.
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Show Notes:
New book alert! In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Melissa Miller Young, Team Leader at Women Connect4Good, Inc. Explore the new book Melissa released with Dr. Nancy O’Reilly and Mission Matters, Mission Matters: Mission-Based Leaders Share Inspiring Stories on Power and Purpose (Women Leaders Edition, Volume 1).
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About Melissa Miller Young
Melissa works to keep the issues pertinent to Women Connect4Good at the forefront and loves helping women find the tools they need to support one another and lead empowered lives. She enjoys coordinating with and contributing to the efforts of the Women Connect4Good team and finds the opportunity to connect with thought leaders in the field and share their messages a dream come true. A journalist turned marketing and communications professional, Melissa has spent over 25 years in the field, working in organizational, corporate, and freelance settings.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you’d like to apply to be a guest of the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today I have a very special return guest coming on the show. So I have Melissa.
Miller Young. She’s a team leader over at Women Connect for Good, and I’m proud to say an author in our most recently released Mission Matters book that we put together with with Dr Nancy and with Women Connect for Good. Melissa, welcome back to the show. Hello. How are you? Thank you for having me. Oh, my gosh.
So how, how does, how do you feel like we’re in 2025, it’s January, we’re just getting started late. Like, how are you feeling so far this year? I feel an energy, like I haven’t felt since probably before COVID just there’s, there’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of things moving and a lot of them are moving in a really positive direction.
So that’s exciting. Yeah. Well, let’s let’s get this episode started the way that we start them all with what we like to call our Mission Matters Minute. So, Melissa, Mission Matters, as you know, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives and experts. That’s what we do.
Melissa, what mission matters to you? Gender equality, that’s the big mission. I want my daughter to grow up and be able to use her voice and have the same rights, if not more, than what I experienced when I was her age. I think that passage of the ERA, gender equality, those are all, those are all within our grasp, and I think that they should be a non issue.
Yeah. I mean, equality is equality. We’re all human beings. We’re all here on earth. So that’s, that’s my, my big focus right now. And a lot of our focus through women connect for good. Yeah. So for those that maybe haven’t caught some of our, our previous work together, maybe go a little bit further into women.
for good and the mission there. Okay. Women connect for good is a 501 C three as Dr. Nancy, our founder and president likes to call it a social profit. We’re not a nonprofit, we’re a social profit. And our work is to support organizations that have programming that benefits women and girls. Whether that’s job skills training, leadership training things for younger, the younger women, I mean, everything that we do is, is to raise up women and girls and that’s really important because less than 2 percent of all philanthropic dollars are currently earmarked for organizations specific to women and girls.
Less than 2%. That’s crazy to think about. Mm-hmm . And that 2% number also carries over. Less than 2% of venture capital dollars are given to women-led startups. Less than 2%. Even though, even though the return on investment is generally higher when it’s a woman led startup, it’s still less than 2%. I believe Catherine Gray, who has Angel Investor, she invests.
I would have to look up the name specifically, but it’s, it’s 1. 9 there as well, which is crazy. I mean, some of that remaining 98. 2 percent in the philanthropic community. space is for all people, and some of it is just for boys and men. But there are certain organizations that only benefit women and girls that aren’t getting nearly the funding that some of their male counterparts are.
And how long have you been with the organization now? So how long? So the organization for 11 years, I’ve been the team leader for since 2019. So, and what makes you lean into this? I don’t want to assume because now that I’ve got to know you better, I have no, I’ve got to know Dr. Nancy better. I met your daughter, like, like what makes you lean into this so, so passionately?
Well, I’m a woman. I have a daughter, but it really, it pulls on the, the social justice. You know, heartstrings for me a lot to I started out as a journalist back in the nineties, and I did a lot of work in social justice, a lot of reporting work there. And so I’ve always had a desire to tell the stories that need to be told and to share, you know, share those stories and then also to be a voice for the voiceless.
And, and to help those who don’t have a voice find it. And so it really, it really is the perfect job for me because I’ve always been, I’ve always been social justice leaning and this, you know, gender equality is just, where do I sign up? Yeah. Let’s let’s talk a little bit about the book. I mean, the book we’ve been, we’ve been working on this for the last year, year and a half.
Maybe talk a little bit about the project, how it came together. Well, the project, I don’t even, I, it was your, I, I think that you and Dr. Nancy decided this would be a great idea. And I had the good fortune to work with Jeff to bring in the coauthors, which was wonderful. And then at the 11th hour, you guys were like, Oh, by the way, you’re going to contribute a chapter to this book too.
The thing that was so humbling about this is that every coauthor in this project, I mean, there’s 12. Are women who I know and respect. I mean, these are mighty, mighty women that to have my name on the cover of this book with them is, is incredible. Maybe, maybe talk about a couple of them. Just draw a name or two, a name or two.
And don’t worry. And for everybody watching, by the way, there’s going to be a link. There’s going to be a link in the show notes and you can pick up a copy of the book and we’re not going to name and or go into all every author, but just a couple, throw one or two out. Gloria Felt. Wow. Talk about a hero in the, in the gender equality space and in just in women’s rights.
And, you know, she was the head of Planned Parenthood for 30 years. And then in her retirement founded a powerhouse organization called Take the Lead Women. Her goal is gender equality in leadership. And to open more doors for women. Her her power model is so perfectly inspiring. She talks about, you know, the old way to lead and a lot of men and this is nothing personal, but like they lead to have power over a situation or power over a person or a department and women tend to want to lead to have the power to make change to make things easier for their families or their co workers or their colleagues.
Thanks. And so she’s just someone that I have such personal respect for and to bring her into this project, you know, her and Dr. Nancy are close. And so that was a no bringer or no brainer to bring her in, but just getting to work with her in the process has been really exciting. And then, gosh, I could go on about every single one.
I know. I already know. That’s why I said, for everybody watching, we’re not going to list them all. We’re going to definitely get it to your chapter as well. Give me two more. Go for it. Go for it. Dr. Sheila Robinson. Are you kidding me? That woman is a powerhouse. What she’s built with Diversity Woman Media is, should be an inspiration to us all.
I mean, she is incredible. And I just was able to attend her annual National Women’s Festival. Business leadership conference in DC in November. And it was the first time that our, my schedule had aligned to be able to be there. And it was the best conference I’ve ever been to. I mean, she’s a world class speakers and it was just, it was just incredible.
And so to have her voice on this and to have her support with this project is super. Inspiring to me. And then I would also have to say Zakiya Thomas to have her on board with this. She is incredible and her work with the ERA coalition and her background and her passion and her power. It’s just. It’s one of those moments where I think, how is this my life?
Like, how am I, how am I just sitting here talking to this person? But it’s, it’s, yeah, to have her involved with the project was, it really took it to a, to a different level. So I am just in awe and crazy for every single one of these people. And just to bring them all together in a project like this was just really, it’s one of those moments where I think, how is this my life?
How is this what I, What I’m doing. How is, how did little Missy Miller grow up to be able to do these things? And it’s grateful. I love it. I love it. And, and I, and you brought up Dr. Sheila Rob, you brought up Dr. Sheila Robinson. So I have to bring up I understand a little, a little birdie told me that you were recently at that conference, I believe awarded or made the power 100 list.
So first off, congratulations. And tell me about it. Well, it, it wasn’t at the conference. It was just, it’s a blurb in the magazine, but to be included with a hundred, to be identified as someone to watch was once again, what and it was such an honor to be asked and it was, it was funny. I was on the highway when the email came in and yeah.
I saw it and I was like, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. And then I thought I don’t have a headshot and I had to get everything in. And I had my, my foot in the cast and hobbled in and got a headshot from a friend of mine and was able to pull it off in time, but it was just like all the things happening at once.
It was. It was something, so, oh, that’s amazing. Well, congrats again. That, that’s an amazing honor. And, and I do know it was definitely honor. Yes. And I do know Dr. Sheila’s publication and what she’s doing over executive women and really a pioneer in media. A pioneer in, in women’s rights and really providing a platform for other women and executives to be heard, which I think is just an, I mean, she’s been doing this for a long time as well.
So for everybody that’s not aware of of Dr. Sheila’s work, I mean, the magazine’s been around like a couple of decades, she’s going into her 20th year, she is a case study on a woman to watch. I mean, you know, you talked about when you’ve got to see it to be at, well, there it is. Watch her. She’s done it and she, she continues to do it.
So I feel like you teed me up to perfect transition there, Melissa. Come on, you’ve got to see it to be it. Like a lot, a lot of, a lot of things that you could have written about based off your career, your life, your background to contribute to this book. Why this topic? Why now? Because I think it’s important.
I think that it’s important for us as women to leave. The road a little easier to travel for the, for the generations that follow. I want to be able to, I mean, there’s certain things that you can’t imagine until you do them. And for me, it was always kind of a panic point. Like I start my chapter out with, I had a baby when I was in college, my daughter was born and I wasn’t, she was such a surprise.
She was such a surprise and I panicked and I thought. Oh gosh. And so I found a friend who had a baby and we also had the same car. She had great hair. It was wonderful. And I could see her. She, she had cleared the path. She had walked the road and she’s thrived. And there’ve been other pivotal moments in my life where I’ve thought, okay, now what?
When I started working for Women Connect for Good, I was kind of a, I was a journalist turned marketing person turned pretty disenfranchised. You know, the print markets had shifted a lot. I had lost some of my outlets for some of the social just, justice work I’d been able to do. And I found myself doing a lot of ad agency work, which was a little different for me.
And When I got the opportunity to start working for Dr. Nancy and for Women Connect for Good, I once again was able to see it. I mean, she is such an example of grace and giving and generosity and walking into a room and being comfortable at the table and bringing other women with her. And so she illustrates the kind of woman that I’m ready to be at this phase in my life.
She just has a personal strength and character that is so powerful. And so that was my latest see it to be it. But I think it’s also important, you know, like with the recent presidential election, we had a woman of color, Democratic nominee. Close, close, close. I mean, she’s already broken so many barriers, you know, Kamala Harris has and little girls all over the world saw her, you know, you always assume president is an old white man or until president Obama, you know, but.
They have to see a woman doing it to know that they can and that’s that’s what’s important And that’s really what my chapter was all about from a personal standpoint and from a professional standpoint I mean it kind of it kind of ran the gamut and Covered the evolution of my life and work to this point.
And so if all women can Continue to push and to break through barriers and to do things that have never been done before. More little girls are going to watch that and say, I could be president. I can be a doctor. I can be a scientist. I can be an astronaut, whatever they want to be. And the women who are in these roles, who are breaking through these glass ceilings, we need to shout their stories to the world.
So other little girls can see him, you know, like the stem Barbies and stuff like that, that Mattel. But out, those are all so crucial because they have to, they have to know that they can some, some little girls are just born with, well, I can do anything. And they grow up and they’re usually the ones that burst through the ceiling, but some of the other little girls are maybe a little more timid or maybe a little more unsure.
And you know, start to doubt themselves or, or to, I remember with my daughter in late elementary school, just to kind of conform with what society thought of girls should be. Instead of celebrate the girl that she is, you know? And so I think that our place is role models is as important as our work.
Reach back to the other generation. How can you help the next generation step forward? How can you share your knowledge with them? You know, and Yeah, so being able to write about that was, was great and being able to write about just the power of the community that I find myself in with these women and with my work is what?
So obviously there’s, there’s a lot of key takeaways and a lot of takeaways from, from your chapter and you, you explain, you know, the overall breadth of it, but what do you hope if there were like some specific takeaways or what, what do you hope the readers Walk away from this work with what do you hope they walk away with from my chapter or the entire from your chapter, my chapter step out of the shadows.
You know, I, I lived my professional career until now, largely the woman behind the curtain, I was the, the arranger, the media person that Journalists in the back of the room. I was never the boy. I remember you telling me that when we first first met, by the way, I remember you telling me that and I was like, What?
And you’re like, Yeah, no, this that and I love it now because now we’ve done multiple interviews with each other. You’re in our book like it’s amazing. I love to see this entire your your your site, all the things you do. It’s wonderful. And I just want girls to realize they don’t need to keep their voices down or, you know, stand in the shadows, step out Step in, you know, step out and do what it is you feel passionate about step, step out and do what you think you need to do to help make a difference.
And so I hope that my chapter gives women courage, and I hope that it leads them to look at the women around them to see who’s. Who’s walking the road that they want to be on and to follow their lead and to in turn lead by example. That’s good. Melissa, we’re in 2025. January 16th is when we’re, we’re we’re doing this live.
So beginning of the year, we’ll say before we know it, we’ll blink and it’ll be December all over again. That being said what’s next, what’s next for you? What’s next for Women Connect for Good? What does the 2025 look like? Well, we just did a blog post of what 2024 was, and that was so astonishing because there’s only a fraction of what we did in this post, and, you know, there are big years, and then there are big years, and 2024 was a big year.
You were busy. You and Dr. Neal, I could not keep up with the conference or where you’re at. You have to DC, I feel like a thousand times. I don’t know. I feel like you too. There’s more of that planned. We’ve got a lot of different things going. We’ve got some, some travel coming up some things that we’re firming up in terms of conferences and support and participation, which is always exciting.
We’re bringing in a youth advisory. We’re building a youth advisory council within Women Connect for Good. Our goal there is to empower the next generation to step up and lead. We’ve had the really good fortune to meet with some younger women and different activists. And it’s, it’s, it’s wonderful.
I mean, we need them. To know that we see them, we want to help them pave the way to step up and lead. So we want to talk to them about the importance of philanthropy, about giving, whether it’s time, treasure, talent, how you can give to your local community, or then we want to help them understand the importance.
of different types of leadership. I mean, what’s it going to be? Is it going to be activism? Is it going to be leadership in the workplace? Are you going to run for school board or state office? You know, I live in a district in a very purple part of a flyover state. And we have a young woman who She’s my state rep.
She turned a red district blue. She knocks on doors 12 months out of the year. She talks to her constituents. She is amazing and she’s young and she’s such an example for all of the young girls in the community. And you think I too could do that. So that’s, that’s very exciting. Just to be able to bring them in and give them the tools.
That they need. And I think that it will be an exciting opportunity for them too, because we hope to not only put, you know, involve them in some sort of a participatory grant program, but also to just expose them to some of our, our friends, different leaders in once a month or once a quarter to talk to them, whether it be, whether it be one of the coauthors from this, this amazing book.
Yes. There’d be other women that we know. that can just help them be well rounded and ready. Well, Melissa, this has been a lot of fun having you back on the show. As always, a pleasure. If somebody’s watching or listening to this and they want to connect and they want to learn more about Women Connect for Good, Dr.
Nancy, your work anything else, how do they do that? Go to drnancyoreilly. com. There, there’s a contact us form that comes directly to me and to Dr. Nancy. So we’re the first, first ones who see it. You can also reach me at melissa at drnancyoreilly. com or on LinkedIn. I’m at word Miller. But yeah, I would love to hear from anybody who wants to talk about these things.
Fantastic. If everybody watching, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links to the website and the, in the show notes. So you could just click on the link and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you. New content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And in the show notes, there’s going to be a link to the book that we’re mentioning today, what we did with the Dr.
Nancy O’Reilly and women connect for good. So definitely pick up a copy of that. And Melissa, again, thank you so much. And looking forward to another great year with you and women connect for good. So thank you. so much.
