Melisande is an equity and inclusion strategist and works at the intersection of disability justice, LGBTI equality, gender parity and racial justice. She is the CEO of A BILLION REASONS, a social impact incubator to identify, invest and scale universal design solutions and disability-centered innovations to achieve the SDGs.

Prior to this she worked at the World Economic Forum, where she established and led its global and intersectional workstream on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice that uses the power of business leadership to create social change. In this role, she originated the Forum’s Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers, co-authored publications such as the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit”, created action initiatives such as “Partnering for Racial Justice in Business” and spearheaded the Davos 2019 Disability Inclusion campaign, resulting in the launch of the “The Valuable 500”. Before the Forum, she led the inclusive business work with Chinese SMEs at Globethics, the social justice in education work at the World Council of Churches, and was part of the interfaith delegation on climate justice at COP21 in Paris and COP22 in Marrakech. Melisande holds a Master in Theology from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and is currently a PhD candidate in Ethics at the University of Basel, Switzerland.