Melissa Fleming
{{Short description|United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Melissa Fleming
| image = Melissa Fleming (2021).jpg
| alma_mater = Oberlin College
Boston University
| occupation = Journalist, author, communications professional
| employer = United Nations Department of Global Communications
| notable_works = A Hope More Powerful than the Sea (2017 book)
}}
Melissa Ruth Fleming is an American journalist, author, and United Nations official. She has been head of the United Nations Department of Global Communications since 2019.
She is the author of ''A Hope More Powerful than the Sea.'
Education
Melissa Fleming holds a bachelor's degree in German studies from Oberlin College, Ohio and a masters degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University.{{Cite web |title=Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications {{!}} United Nations Secretary-General |url=https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/profiles/melissa-fleming |access-date=2023-01-05 |website=www.un.org}}
Career
Fleming started her career as a journalist. Between 1989 and 1994, Fleming worked as a Public Affairs Specialist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich.{{Cite news |title=Melissa Fleming: How Do You Make The International Community Care About The Refugee Crisis? |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/04/01/472447754/how-do-you-make-the-international-community-care-about-the-refugee-crisis |access-date=2022-08-21}} From September 1994 to January 2001 she was head of the Press and Public Information Team at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna. In January 2001 Fleming took over as Spokesperson and Head of the Media and Outreach at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, a post she held until June 2009.
From July 2009 to 2019, Fleming worked as Head of Global Communications for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva and as the Spokesperson for the High Commissioner. Her comments on the 2015 European refugee crisis gained attention across the continent.{{Cite news |date=2016-05-23 |title=European border closures "inhumane" - U.N. refugee agency |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/humanitarian-summit-europe-idINKCN0YE23N |access-date=2022-06-19}}{{Cite web |date=2016-09-15 |title=Interview with Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the UNHCR |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/people/interview-melissa-fleming-spokesperson-unhcr |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}} At UNHCR, she led campaigns, social media engagement{{Cite news |title='Perfect' outreach tool for relief groups? UNHCR's Melissa Fleming on social media |url=https://www.devex.com/news/perfect-outreach-tool-for-relief-groups-unhcr-s-melissa-fleming-on-social-media-76253}} and a multimedia news service{{Cite news |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Special Features |url=https://www.unhcr.org/special-features.html |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=UNHCR |language=en}} covering stories designed to generate empathy and stir action for refugees. In 2017 she wrote A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea book about Syrian refugee Doaa Al Zamel's experiences leading up to and during the 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck.{{Cite news |last=Solel |first=Hannah |date=2017-01-20 |title=A Hope More Powerful than the Sea by Melissa Fleming — on the refugee crisis |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/d3f92c94-dbda-11e6-9d7c-be108f1c1dce |access-date=2022-08-21}}{{Cite news |date=31 March 2017 |title='I had a feeling of death before me': A refugee's survival story of 4 days floating at sea |work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-march-31-2017-1.4047940/i-had-a-feeling-of-death-before-me-a-refugee-s-survival-story-of-4-days-floating-at-sea-1.4047975}} She began hosting the UNHCR podcast, Awake at Night, and carried the podcast over to the UN in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Nations |first=United |title=Awake at Night |url=https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=United Nations |language=en}}
From 2016 to 2017, she served as Senior Advisor and Spokesperson on the incoming United Nations Secretary General's Transition Team. On September 1, 2019, she was appointed an Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, taking over from predecessor Alison Smale as head of the UN Department of Global Communications.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-02 |title=UN chief names Melissa Fleming as UN communications chief |url=https://apnews.com/article/9e80bdd1c3cf40ae991b2227365e5155
|access-date=2022-06-19 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}
References
External links
- [https://medium.com/@melissa-fleming Melissa Fleming's Medium Blog]
- [https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night AWAKE AT NIGHT Podcast with Melissa Fleming]
- [https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2021/12/03/melissa-fleming-and-jeremy-heimans-on-countering-vaccine-falsehoods Melissa Fleming and Jeremy Heimans on countering vaccine falsehoods]
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/24/wealthy-nations-must-act-prevent-global-vaccine-apartheid/ Melissa Fleming and John Whyte on vaccine equity]
- [https://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_fleming_let_s_help_refugees_thrive_not_just_survive TEDGlobal, Let's help refugees thrive, not just survive, October 2014]
- [https://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_fleming_a_boat_carrying_500_refugees_sunk_at_sea_the_story_of_two_survivors TED, A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea, The story of two survivors, 2015.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Melissa}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Oberlin College alumni
Category:Boston University College of Communication alumni
Category:21st-century American journalists
Category:21st-century American women journalists
Category:American expatriates in Austria
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:20th-century American women journalists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:American expatriates in Germany