Melissa Daar Carvajal joined the Schott team on January 11, 2020 as the Director of Communications. In this role Melissa designs the foundation’s communications strategies and oversees communications across all platforms as well as supports its grassroots network of Black-and brown-led organizations working for racial and education justice.
Melissa’s education justice advocacy is grounded in her local experience. As a proud Mission High School mom and teacher’s wife, Melissa has collaborated with her school communities to promote racial and education justice, helping to secure new state and local legislation to safeguard resources for public education students. In her leadership role, she advocates for cross-racial cooperation, bringing multi-lingual and multi-racial school communities together to support students and families.
As founder of the MDC Network, Melissa and her creative collaborators have assisted many organizations, such as The Early Learning Lab, Oakland Literacy Coalition, SF Bay Area Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and the Packard and Thrive Foundations. Her work for the Center for Youth Wellness includes one of the first campaigns to flip the frame about “bad behavior” and bring awareness and treatment for children with toxic stress and trauma—which brought thousands of moms, caregivers and pediatricians into the Center for Youth Wellness’s networks.
In her recent work with Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Melissa led the communications strategy for the foundation’s most successful census campaign. She also spearheaded a multi-foundation-supported training, “Asset-Framing in A Time of Crisis,” exploring the power of narrative frames to support racial justice.
Earlier in her career, Melissa held senior positions at the Stuart Foundation, Fenton Communications and Full Court Press. She founded PlazaCuba, a company for musicians and dancers to study in Cuba.
Melissa has a Bachelor of Arts from Clark University.