Melissa Romero

Colombian by birth, Dutch by coincidence, citizen of the world.

At the age of 17, Melissa’s family was forced out of Colombia due to the violence, which taught her the meaning of taking responsibility of her own destiny: After graduating as Industrial Engineer at the age of 20, she set on an adventure that took her to living in 7 countries, learning 5 languages, leading a 250 million dollar business in a Fortune 500 company and co-founding Lean In | Netherlands.

Melissa is living her purpose of giving others a voice by leading the team of 35+ volunteers at Lean In Netherlands, that together have for mission “Shaping a new definition of leadership, where everyone can thrive by being 100% themselves”. They do so via their programs and corporate advisory in Diversity & Inclusion. Some of the programs Lean In Netherlands offers are 1) Lean In Circles, 2) “50 ways to fight bias” (developed in partnership with Stanford University) and the acclaimed 3) #IamRemarkable program designed by Google, to help women and minorities feel comfortable with self-promotion.

Melissa is a passionate self-made woman and an engaging speaker.