Melissa Schiller – Episode 9
Melissa Schiller is an innovative philanthropic leader in the sports industry. As Director of Community Relations at The National Football League (NFL), she leverages the NFL’s platform to raise awareness, inspire engagement and make an impact throughout communities across the US. Melissa role entails overseeing the NFL’s core corporate social responsibility strategy and national partnerships. She also leads her team in developing and directing community impact plans and engagement events around the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and NFL Draft each year.
Outside of her position with the NFL, Melissa's passion and commitment lies with youth-focused charitable organisations where she volunteers her time. In 2014, she was introduced to a non-profit that provides orphan care and education to children in Haiti and has since traveled to Haiti 25+ times. In addition, Melissa serves on the Associate Board of Covenant House New York – an organisation committed to the life-saving work of serving youth experiencing homelessness, the Advisory Panel for Beyond Sport – an organisation supporting sustainable social change through sport, and the Pat Tillman Foundation Selection Committee – which invests in military veterans through academic scholarships.
Melissa was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and in Spanish from Pennsylvania State University. In 2016, she earned an Executive Certificate in Sports Philanthropy from the George Washington University School of Business. She resides in New York City and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree from the NYU Stern School of Business. Melissa incredible work was recently recognised as part of her inclusion in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in addition to receiving Penn State College of Liberal Arts’ inaugural “Outstanding Young Alumni Award” in 2019.
In this ninth episode of In Her Corner, we’ll talk to Melissa about the power that American football has to change lives, the NFL’s renewed focus on advocating for players in their stand against social injustice and how Melissa has paved her way to becoming one of brightest young stars in the sports industry.
You can listen to the trailer for Melissa’s episode using the player below:
Melissa’s full episode will be released at 1pm BST on Wednesday 26 August and will be available to listen to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major streaming platforms.
Podcast theme track by Wayne Urquhart and Mix Engineering by Nick Murphy.
