Member Since February 2021
Skills
About
Melissa L. Bradley is a co-founder of venture-backed Ureeka, a community where small businesses gain unprecedented access to the expertise needed to grow their business. The Ureeka mission is to democratize economic opportunity by enabling community and by reducing the cost and risk associated with growing a small to medium business (SMB). She is also Founder of 1863 Ventures, a business development program that accelerates New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. In this role she created a community of over 10,000 New Majority entrepreneurs in three years. Melissa serves as General Partner of 1863 Venture Fund, Venture Partner at NextGen Ventures and serves an advisor the New Voices Foundation and New Voices Fund, as well as the Halcyon Fund. She is also a member of the Fast Company Executive Board, Square & Forbes Small Business Advisory Team, as well as the Target Accelerators Entrepreneurs Advisory Council. Melissa is the former Co-Chair, National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was recently named one of The Most Entrepreneurial Women Investors in 2018. Melissa is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies and innovation. She recently received The Ideas Worth Teaching Award which celebrates exceptional courses that are preparing future business leaders to tackle society’s largest challenges and create a more inclusive, just, and sustainable version of capitalism. She is also a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Sidecar Social Finance, a social impact agency that provides impact investing advisory and capital services to individuals, institutions, and social enterprises. Melissa's educational background includes graduation from Georgetown University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the School of Business, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing from American University in 1993.
Melissa Bradley
Published content
expert panel
If you want to ensure you and your team have a healthy work-life balance, try these strategies for shortening the amount of time you’re devoting to your desk. While work-life balance has always been important, it hasn’t always gotten much serious attention; but since the COVID-19 pandemic, the human need to step away and recharge has increasingly become a topic of discussion. Many professionals at all levels have reported working even longer hours since moving to remote work arrangements—when the office and home become a single location, stepping away can become even harder. Whether you and your team are working exclusively from home or showing up to an office building one or more days a week, developing a healthy work-life balance is essential for everyone’s mental and physical health. To help all professionals add a bit more personal time back into their week, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board have shared ways to structure and make the most of your “work” hours so you can have more time for your personal life.
expert panel
Hiring a truly diverse workforce begins with looking in all the right places for talent. There’s more to a smart recruitment strategy than ticking a list of skills boxes. In many businesses, needed skills can be learned on the job. However, lived experience is a unique factor each candidate brings to the table. When recruiting new talent, it’s not just important to know how to find candidates with the desired education and qualifications—you’ll also want to ensure those candidates are coming from diverse backgrounds and bringing unique perspectives to the table. True diversity in a company or organization can’t happen if job postings don’t reach a large, diverse audience. Developing strategies to reach a broader pool of candidates is essential. To help, 10 experts from Fast Company Executive Board share strategies you can employ to ensure your job postings reach a diverse group of candidates.
expert panel
Anticipating challenges rather than just reacting to them puts you a step ahead in overcoming them. With every problem—whether it’s personal or professional—you’re given a choice to respond either proactively or reactively. A proactive approach allows you to get in front of the issue before it escalates, while a reactive approach is usually focused on cleaning up the aftermath. It's easier for business leaders and their teams to overcome challenges when there's a plan in place even before they appear. To help you develop a proactive mindset and business culture, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their experience and the strategies that work for them.
article
What can investors do to support Black founders? Here are some strategies for consideration when prospecting Black founders.
Company details
Ureeka
Company bio
Ureeka is a single platform where Next Wave entrepreneurs have access to the people, programs and connections they need to grow. Leveraging their experience, access and desire to help, our founders built Ureeka to be available for all, specifically with underserved entrepreneurs in mind. What makes Ureeka unique is the Community we’ve cultivated and the people who show up and bring themselves to the table each and every day. We’re a Community that doesn’t just talk about change – we make it happen.