Melissa's profile
Melissa Moore is a thought leader and advisor in social entrepreneurship/innovation, community engagement, and social justice communities locally, regionally, and in Canada. She is an independent community worker, social entrepreneur/innovator with a multi-faceted interdisciplinary background as a Science and Math educator, product/curriculum/systems designer, multi-disciplinary artist-musician, and community activator. She graduated from St. Mary’s College of Md. with a B.A. in Biology. She has 10 years of experience as a Science/Math teacher and 1 year as an art teacher using a Contemplative Education framework in a variety of educational contexts. Moore has been advisor to numerous community organizers, social impact organizations, and early stage initiatives in the past 4 years of actively working in these communities. From 2004-2012 she was also an active organizer in Baltimore’s art, design, and music communities, having helped organize large local events, including High Zero Experimental Music Festival and Transmodern Performance Festival along with other smaller arts events. She has curated arts shows, including University of Maryland Stamp Gallery, held artists residencies nationally and internationally, and has exhibited and performed locally, regionally, and internationally.
After her tenure as a teacher, she founded Nikkuu Design, a product design consultancy and small-scale manufacturing company, specializing in lighting, furniture, home goods and jewelry. In a year and a half of starting Nikkuu, she developed a product line that was accepted into New York International Gift Fair 2010, one of the largest design tradeshows in the U.S., secured large clientele, and was featured on well-known design blogs including Designspotter. Nikkuu was also accepted as an exhibitor in Wanted Design NY 2013, Interior Design Show Toronto 2014, and One of A Kind Show in Toronto 2014 along with numerous designer-craft markets in NY, Philadelphia, and Toronto. Moore was a 2013 OSI Community Fellow, a 2014 Echoing Green Semi-finalist, and was awarded a Deutsch Foundation grant and SNAE grant 2014. She was most recently selected as a 2015 Warnock Foundation finalist for Social Innovation. She is the founder/director of a small community-based social enterprise called Holistic Design Village/Y.LLEAD, a design-artisan studio for adult youth in Baltimore City. Their mission is using design-artisan apprenticeship as tools for small/mid-scale manufacturing, youth leadership development, youth entrepreneurship development, workforce development, and craft skill development with a focus on healing/contemplative mind-body frameworks. Their current crafts of focus are weaving/textile design, woodwork, woodturning, and digital manufacturing. Moore is inspired by the intersectionality of healing/spirituality, racial justice, solidarity economics, and youth co-designed alternative learning spaces.
After her tenure as a teacher, she founded Nikkuu Design, a product design consultancy and small-scale manufacturing company, specializing in lighting, furniture, home goods and jewelry. In a year and a half of starting Nikkuu, she developed a product line that was accepted into New York International Gift Fair 2010, one of the largest design tradeshows in the U.S., secured large clientele, and was featured on well-known design blogs including Designspotter. Nikkuu was also accepted as an exhibitor in Wanted Design NY 2013, Interior Design Show Toronto 2014, and One of A Kind Show in Toronto 2014 along with numerous designer-craft markets in NY, Philadelphia, and Toronto. Moore was a 2013 OSI Community Fellow, a 2014 Echoing Green Semi-finalist, and was awarded a Deutsch Foundation grant and SNAE grant 2014. She was most recently selected as a 2015 Warnock Foundation finalist for Social Innovation. She is the founder/director of a small community-based social enterprise called Holistic Design Village/Y.LLEAD, a design-artisan studio for adult youth in Baltimore City. Their mission is using design-artisan apprenticeship as tools for small/mid-scale manufacturing, youth leadership development, youth entrepreneurship development, workforce development, and craft skill development with a focus on healing/contemplative mind-body frameworks. Their current crafts of focus are weaving/textile design, woodwork, woodturning, and digital manufacturing. Moore is inspired by the intersectionality of healing/spirituality, racial justice, solidarity economics, and youth co-designed alternative learning spaces.
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