Welcome from Melanie

Hello and thank you for visiting my web site.

I am celebrating my first decade as a full-time professional speaker. I listened to my teachers who said I was a good student, but I talked too much. Now I get paid for talking! That means I make my living by delivering motivational speeches and educational seminars an average of 80 days a year. I have had the privilege to speak to audiences in 48 states, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

It is my hope that, through the words I share, the people who hear them are able to make positive changes toward living a fulfilled life. Simply put, I do what I do to make people’s lives easier.

I am frequently asked, “How did I become a professional speaker?” I started as a teacher, graduating from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science in 1985. I taught Middle School in Windsor, Colorado, and coached high school volleyball and basketball, then completed my Masters in Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley in 1991.

In my first year of teaching, I developed a program that taught able-bodied students to work one-on-one with kids who have special needs. This program attracted lots of attention and I was asked to do a workshop teaching other teachers how to develop a similar program. Attending my first workshop was a gentleman who worked on a grant for the Colorado Department of Education. He asked me to present workshops in different school districts. One workshop expanded into six, then 12, and more. I soon needed to decide whether I would stay in the classroom or move on.

Based on some good advice, I made my decision and didn’t look back. I left teaching in 1992 and founded Higher Ground Training and Development. Within six months of starting this business, CareerTrack, Inc. hired me as an independent contractor. At the time, CareerTrack was the largest public seminar company in the U.S. and also had an overseas presence.

By the time I left CareerTrack in 1995, I had been doing more than 150 full-day speaking engagements a year. I spoke on a variety of topics dealing with the “people side” of business in front of every type and size of audience you can imagine. My experience with CareerTrack proved to be invaluable.

Since 1995, I have focused on nurturing Higher Ground, Inc., offering full-day education seminars, consulting in many forms, and coaching. Over the last few years, I have been invited to do more motivational keynotes, which are between 45 and 90 minutes long.

Though I have always communicated a variety of topics in a variety of formats, the common theme in all of my work is “people living a fulfilled life.” I believe strongly that when you feel fulfilled in life, you will be effective at work. It is impossible to separate the two.

I feel fortunate to really enjoy what I do and am amazed to feel I have the best job in the world: Restoring hope to people by reminding them what they already know.

Life doesn’t get more fulfilling than that.

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