Climbing up the Political Comms Ladder!
Say congratulations to Shana Melius MBA ’09 who has joined the communications team at Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr.’s Washington, DC office.
Strong, determined, smart, beautiful and a force to be reckoned with are just a few of the words you might hear when you are lucky enough to cross paths with Shana Melius. Formerly, the Director of Outreach & Community Engagement at the Office of Rep. Yvette Clarke and Communications & Special Events Liaison Manager to an NYC Council Member, Shana is no stranger to connecting elected officials to media and the community.
Shana is also the CEO of the nonprofit foundation Preserve Our Legacy (POL) along with her husband Brett Melius, professional photographer and construction entrepreneur. Shana put the branding and marketing plan that she developed while earning her MBA in Media Management to work on getting government bills passed that could help save thousands of lives. This is the story of Preserve Our Legacy.
Governor Chris Christie signs Jaden’s Law with Senator Teresa Ruiz, Dr. Poonam Alaigh, Jaden’s family – Sharifah sand Rodney Hilton and brothers Tre Hilton, Joshua Hilton and Preserve Our Legacy founders Eleanor Griffen, Shana Melius and Brett Melius.
Since 2007, POL has devoted its energy toward passionately advocating for under-represented ethnic patients in need of finding an unrelated Bone Marrow, PBSC or Cord Blood match. Jaden’s Law was created by POL to assist in the awareness of the need for diverse ethnic groups to participate in the national bone marrow registry to increase the number of donors. Shana Melius has worked tirelessly to get the law passed, city by city and state by state.
On May 19, 2017, Council Member Andy King implemented a piece of legislation, Jaden’s Law for NYC on behalf of all residents, which will provide educational resources on becoming bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cell and/or cord blood donors online through city government and the NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation websites. Jaden’s Law was established in New Jersey on Aug. 25, 2010.
Shana Melius says about MCNY, “I saw an ad for MCNY on the subway. The school’s accelerated MBA program intrigued me. My husband and I had already started Preserve Our Legacy back in 2007 and I didn’t want to spend two years earning my master’s. The schedule was ideal for me. MCNY gave me the skills and experience I was looking for to manage and grow our foundation, which works to inform and educate individuals, especially in ethnically diverse communities, about the benefits of adult stem cells and treatment options they provide via bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) and/or umbilical cord blood donation. Each of my Purposes (what other schools call semesters) focused on a different aspect: I learned how to conduct market research, how to do a Strength/Weakness/Opportunity/Threat (SWOT) analysis, structure the business and understand the importance of, and how to implement, a branding and marketing campaign. I still use the skills I learned at MCNY every day.”
