Melissa Valliant, Communications Director

Melissa is an accomplished communications leader dedicated to environmental protection, public health, and social justice. She developed a deep respect of nature, the ocean, and local watersheds while growing up around the Chesapeake Bay. Melissa graduated Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications with plans to pursue journalism but found herself drawn to environmental conservation. She’s spent much of her career leveraging her communications abilities to make the world a better place, and her work has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Scientific American, and more. As the plastic pollution and climate change crises progress, Melissa is determined to help policymakers prioritize the planet and people over industry profits.