About

Melissa James is an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and author.  Melissa is the Founder and CEO of  The Tech Connection whose mission is to help companies make meaningful connections that empower and engage diverse talent in the tech industry for their open job opportunites. The Tech Connection has a strong track record of building high-performing diverse teams for elite companies such as Google, Teradata, the New England Venture Capitalist Association, HubSpot, Wayfair, Carbonite, DataXu, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and more.

Melissa is also the author of  When Are You Going To Get A Real Career: A Guide to Designing a Career You Would Be Proud Of!”,  a roadmap for millennials starting out in their career and for the experienced executive crafting their next move. Shared stories and experiences provide insightful knowledge and steps for anyone navigating different aspects of their career.

She most recently co-founded Hack.Diversity, an intern-to-hire program for Black and Latino students from typically overlooked community colleges and four-year universities to get their first internship at a top tech company.  At the root of her work is a passion for community service. On top of running her business, Melissa is the founder of the Black Tech Boston Meetup, a platform created to celebrate the impact of technology within African-American communities. 

She currently serves on the board for MassVentures, the UMass Amherst Advisory Board and the Venture Cafe Foundation, whose mission is to broaden, connect, and support the innovation community through a public network of spaces and programs to help anyone with an idea succeed. 

She received the U.S. Presidential Service Award, the UMass Distinguished Young Alumni Award, BostonInno’s 50 on Fire Award, the Mosaic Award from the MA Technology Leadership Council,  the 2015 Pursuer award from the African Youth Excellence organization for her relentless commitment to the community. Melissa was born and raised in Boston, MA and  graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

I engage audiences in a thought-provoking conversation about the importance of diversity recruitment, case studies on which companies have done this well, and the future of hiring. Are you looking for a speaker for your next event? Drop me a line.

 If you want to improve your job search, critique your resume, practice for a behavioral interview. I will share with you all the secrets I learned and how I aced my interview at Google.