Melanie Nix - Transformational Speaker

Be prepared for your attendees to be inspired and uplifted by Melanie's bare all and humorous style. She provides messages of survival, reconstruction, overcoming obstacles, braving change and winning. She delivers empowering messages of hope that offer actionable steps for transformation, especially after devastation. Melanie is a 14-year triple negative breast cancer survivor, transformational speaker and author, and cofounder of Breast Cancer Comfort Site. She has spoken to audiences of 10 to 10,000+.

Melanie speaks about (prophylactic) mastectomy, (BRCA1) genetic mutation, prophylactic oophorectomy, balancing motherhood while enduring cancer treatment; health care diversity and inclusion; loss, grief and survival; braving change and winning. Her messages are highly regarded, profound and timeless.

A corporate sabbatical, cancer diagnosis and subsequent layoff after a return to corporate were the seismic events that forced Melanie to muster her resilience, fortitude and moxie when defining her new normal. A masterful storyteller, her candor and strength are hallmarks of her timeless messages - about managing change, reconstruction and resilience - to diverse international audiences including businesses, universities and non-profit organizations. Guided by her manifesto, Soul of a Survivor, she shares her transformational and empowering lessons. From caregiver to patient; from breastfeeding to breast cancer, cancer can change your life in an instant. Melanie has endured a life changing cancer “instant” in every decade of her life beginning at age eight with her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, her mother’s recurrences and ultimate death and Melanie’s own triple negative breast cancer diagnosis at 38 when her son was four years old and her daughter was 19 months old. Once inhibited by her surgical and treatment scars, she now proudly wears her scars as a symbol of fortitude and resilience. In addition to her dedicated social media following, she has written for different publications and been profiled by several media outlets including NBC Nightly News and earned invitations to the Obama White House and Vice President Biden’s Residence.
Armed with her pen, pad and shoe laces, she began the road to recovery that would ultimately ignite her resilience coaching and motivational speaking on regeneration and being an indefatigable combatant against devastation and destruction. Since childhood, Melanie loved to write, always keeping a pen and pad handy. After her cataclysmic events, her pen and her pad paved a road to healing as she blogged, cowrote a survival journal, and penned her manifesto, Soul of a Survivor. A companion to her writing, she delivered speeches about survival and winning. Moving forward, she stopped walking and began running, becoming a post cancer distance runner benefitting from the health and wellness aspects of running while sharing the lessons about the discipline of training and preparation to cross the finish line as requisite skills for personal and professional achievement. A fan of pushing boundaries, she promotes a healthy balance between living for the moment and preparing for the future.
A movie and music lover, some of her top stress relievers, she is easily transported by uplifting lyrics, a soul stirring monologue or comforted by the humor of an irreverent comedy. She loves to travel and enjoys the serenity of being oceanside. Running is part of her daily routine and she considers restorative naps an imperative. She became a post cancer distance runner whose #Exercising4MyLife campaign highlights the health and wellness benefits of running and offers lessons on training and discipline. A carrier of the BRCA1 genetic mutation and fifth generation breast cancer patient, she serves on numerous health advisory councils and boards.
Melanie credits her late mother with inspiring her to write and speak through prodding, support and encouragement throughout her youth and she continues to share her story in keynote addresses and lectures. She polished her public speaking skills during her 15+ year corporate career and holds an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business – University of Maryland, College Park and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia. Melanie resides in the Washington, DC area with her husband, Raymond: son, Carter; and daughter, Kennedy. Blessed with a fun-loving family and almost a decade of survival, she continues to buck conformity and live unapologetically with lots of champagne toasts…because she can!

Minimum requirements include: Lapel microphone, overhead projector and screen.