char·rette
/SHəˈret/ (noun)
A focused period of problem solving in which a diverse group of stakeholders collaborate to resolve conflicts, map solutions, and imagine the future.
We hope to impact the barriers leaders face when they have a powerful idea, but lack the right bank balance, race, or gender to get it growing.
Many leaders become successful because they have enough money to hire top talent out of the gate, or pay expensive design studios to incubate their ideas. They can wait for years to launch something while doing extensive research. They have networks full of friendly experts from every industry willing to share free advice over drinks.
Which is to say that the best talent, expertise and insight shines disproportionately on the ideas and problems of the privileged few.
We can’t make progress that way.
Charette wants to support leaders hungry for progress. Think of us as your secret weapon — a co-conspirator with executive-level expertise, broad industry experience and relentless optimism nimble enough to tailor each engagement to what you actually need to grow.
We can help you better understand your market, discover latent demand and vet ideas quickly so you can choose what to build with less risk and better information. We can show you your brand through the eyes of your customer — helping turn the volume up on the stories that are resonating and edit out what’s getting in the way.
We work with our clients as partners. Instead of long slide decks, oversized, expensive teams and mic-drop ‘big-reveal’ moments, we facilitate and explore ideas collaboratively, alongside you and your team of industry experts.
Free ideas:
hello@charettestudios.com
About the Founder
Melissa is an experienced strategy and design professional with a deep curiosity about people. In her role as founder and CEO of Charette, she puts her 15 years of experience combining behavior, emotion and mindset into innovative, successful experiences.
Before to founding Charette, Melissa has worked in publications, finance and management consulting. Her work has included the definition of digital publications like Vogue.com and Time Inc, translating the in-car experience of SiriusXM into a cross platform digital experience, where where she helped modernize the online and advertising experience of Vogue.com, led the re-imagining of the digital experience of SiriusXM radio across iPhone, android and web platforms, reinvented online store experiences for Time, Inc and more. She has had the privilege to design experiences for IBM, American Express and S.C. Johnson.
Most recently, she has been an executive leader at Ellevest where she started as the 5th employee, building and defining the product, helping scale the company to over 100 team members and leading the definition of three strategic pivots.
Her work has been recognized by FastCo while winning awards for user experience, brand, website design and being recognized as an Innovator by AdWeek. She was featured along with the leadership team of Ellevest on the cover of Money Magazine. * Before her time at Ellevest, she led teams as a creative strategist at award winning design companies Code and Theory, SYPartners and Smart Design
Previously, Melissa was a founding member of Pie Lab — a community pop-up turned pie shop & community center in Greensboro, Alabama. After receiving a grant from the Obama administration, the team built a space for a divided community to come together over something we can all agree on — pie. The space was nominated for a James Beard Award for restaurant design and more importantly, continues to be a resource for the community to build business skills.
Melissa spends her free time chasing her 13 month-old son, Oscar, painting, and trying to find time to practice yoga.