Freelancer"I first worked with Melinda when I was External Affairs Manager in the Marketing Department at Mindjet, a San Francisco startup. I was struck at first by how upbeat and fun she was to work with—even though she had an uncanny ability to juggle an avalanche of marketing tasks.
At ChatWork, Melinda contracted me as a freelance writer. I love that she really “gets” how to work with freelance writers and, in my case, a remotely located one. Her streamlined process is particularly helpful during the two most challenging milestones a contract writer must pass: gaining access to subject matter experts and surviving the group-editing process. Melinda does a good job of quickly identifying, locating and introducing me to just the right people to add depth to a piece of content. When it’s time for editing, she does an outstanding job of keeping me engaged and informed. She always knows where the document is as it moves through the company, when the editing has passed enough internal eyes and when it’s time for an independent perspective. She manages the internal politics, allows me to focus on my role and makes it an overall enjoyable process to write and work together. " May 3, 2016 Hobart Swan, Freelance Writer Melinda hired Hobie as a freelance writer at ChatWork. Client“Melinda has helped us to plan and design a global tell-a-friend program for the luxury tour operator Distinctly Deutschland. She demonstrated in-depth knowledge of user dynamics and most effective incentive schemes in social networks. Her expertise helps us tremendously to make our huge Facebook marketing initiative so successful. Melinda is highly reliable and committed to a strict customer perspective.”
August 1, 2012 Mark Muschelknautz, Head of Marketing Mark hired Melinda as a marketing and PR consultant. Colleague“Melinda is a social media guru with creative energy and killer marketing instincts. She always brings fresh, exciting ideas to the table--her knowledge in this field has been a huge benefit to Resource Media.”
August 12, 2011 Sian Wu, Program Director, Resource Media Sian worked indirectly for Melinda at Resource Media Colleague“As the Mindjet Customer Advocate, Melinda proved that she really cared about the needs of Mindjet customers. Because of her follow-through and persistence on many occasions, she was able to prove to customers and partners that Mindjet cares about them.”
September 11, 2008 Michael Scherotter, Solution Platform Product Manager, Mindjet Corporation Michael worked directly with Melinda at Mindjet. Customer/Evangelist“Melinda and I collaborated on several projects as well as opportunities that she presented to me as a customer/evangelist.
She has a great command of the big picture view and works tirelessly to get the job done. She brings strong knowledge to her work and benefits all those who work with her.” January 15, 2009 Stephanie Diamond, President, Digital Media Works, Inc., blogger, author Melinda worked with Stephanie as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured her into an evangelist. Customer/Evangelist“As an independent MindManager advocate, encouraging writers and marketers to adopt Mindjet's software, Melinda played an important role in helping channel my efforts in directions that benefited both me and Mindjet.
Her ideas and communications were always focused, friendly, and relevant, and she took time to explain the what's, why's, and when's as clearly as possible. It is great to work with a professional like her.” January 18, 2009 Roger Parker, Founder, Published & Profitable, author Melinda worked with Roger as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured him into an evangelist. |
Client"I worked with Melinda on multiple strategic customer advocacy and video engagements. She added strategic firepower while at the same time rolled up her sleeves and got things done well and on time. She collaborates well with team members, and helped build rapport with executives at many of our key customers. Melinda's got a great sense of humor and is fun to work with. She produced high quality customer video content that was repurposed for a myriad of marketing uses including high volume customer advocacy and thought leadership. She's an experience marketeer that has a keen sense of social and digital media."
May 2, 2016 Derek Kober, Director of Communications, Adaptive Insights Derek hired Melinda for Social Scouters' customer marketing services. Freelancer"I have worked with Melinda over several years, for a variety of different clients and across a range of content deliverables. She is the consummate professional, able to balance attention to detail and message with creativity and innovation. She clearly communicates overall objectives, project scope and editorial guidelines. It’s a pleasure to collaborate with someone who’s so passionate, personable and engaged!"
May 4, 2016 Kathryn Siranosian, Freelance Ghostwriter, Corporate Reporter, Content Journalist Melinda hired Kathy as a freelance executive byline ghostwriter at ChatWork. Colleague“Melinda is a consummate professional and an absolute pleasure to work with. She has helped to build our digital media practice from the ground up, providing expert advice for staff across a variety of teams. She is always up to speed on the latest technology, and great at synthesizing and sharing new learning. One of the things I appreciate most about Melinda is her visual presentation savvy--she gets the importance of showing not telling, and has helped to elevate the look and feel of all our materials, overseeing a brand refresh for the organization.”
October 30, 2011 Nicole Lampe, Senior Program Director, Resource Media Nicole worked indirectly for Melinda at Resource Media. Customer/Evangelist“Melinda was certainly responsible for me becoming more savvy regarding social media and marketing.
When Melinda was the cornerstone of media customer advocacy at Mindjet, my colleagues and I relied on her natural abilities to communicate with absolute clarity. Melinda remains to be one of the most effective communicators I have ever come across. With her colleague Gaelen O'Connell, they enabled an open and clear communications culture at Mindjet. An asset to any organization that wishes to be in control, forward thinking and successful. I certainly miss your presence at Mindjet for sure.” July 19, 2010 Wallace Tait, Information Management consultant and owner, Visualmapper.org Melinda worked with Wallace as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured him into an evangelist. Customer/Evangelist“Melinda Venable has outstanding skills in marketing, PR, web-based marketing, creating customer advocacy, leadership, and social media/networking, and communication to list a few. I have had a strong partnership with Mindjet for many years, but Melinda is one of those who I've worked very closely with.
Specifically, I own my own company and am the author of a book titled, "Idea Mapping". This book was bundled with a trial version of Mindjet's MindManager software. Since the book came out in Sept 2006, I have worked a lot with Melinda and her team. She set up webinars that I taught, she included me as a columnist in her monthly newsletter that goes out to nearly 200,000 readers. We worked on the first VizThink conference together and Susi Watson and I delivered one of the sessions together. Melinda knows how to connect people for a cause that mutually benefits both parties synergistically. When the news letters went out or webinars held I could see as much as 30-80% increase in web and blog visits. Book sales were also positively impacted. The exact amount is difficult to measure because my only metric was Amazon. Our partnership was unique. ANY employer will be fortunate to have this brilliant woman one their team. Better get her quick or you're going to miss out on a special opportunity.” January 23, 2009 Jamie Nast, Owner, NastGroup, Inc. Melinda worked with Jamie as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured her into an evangelist. |
Freelancer"In my 20 years of professional experience, Melinda is one of the most dedicated managers. I had the pleasure to know her since 2007, first at Mindjet where we collaborated on designing client communication materials, then at Resource Media, she was my manager who lead a team of writers, designers and developers to create fund-raising campaigns for high profile organizations. She’s shown me tremendous commitment and dedication to all team members and the success of projects. Not only she consistently exceeds what's expected of herself, she also inspires every one of us to set a high par even with tight deadlines. Her incredible work ethic, attention to details, great problem solving skills and ability to communicate complex project requirements are just few of many reasons I continue to admire her as a mentor."
May 13, 2016 Jenny Au, Coder/Designer Melinda hired Jenny for blog design work at ChatWork. Customer/Evangelist“I had the opportunity to work and interact with Melinda on several occasions over the past couple of years and I can say with out a doubt that she would be an asset to any company that is lucky enough to employ her. In my dealings with Melinda, she was always extremely enthusiastic, knowledgeable, fun and fair. Whenever I had a question or problem, Melinda worked hard to assist me and provided service plus one! It is obvious when working with Melinda that she has a passion for her profession and for helping people. It's been a great pleasure to have collaborated with Melinda and to have the opportunity to recommend her, which I do most highly!”
February 3, 2009 Chris Blatnick, Senior IT Specialist - Lotus Software, IBM Melinda worked with Chris as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured him into an evangelist. Freelancer“I had the pleasure of working with Melinda over the last year. She's been great about setting expectations, identifying obstacles, and making sure the resources were in place to get the job done. A great combination of strategic thinker and knowledge expert.”
July 19, 2010 Matt Howes, Principal, Arcadia Campaigns Melinda hired Matt as a freelance digital media consultant at Resource Media. Colleague“Melinda is a dedicated worker with a keen attention to detail. She is an asset to any team, being creative and consistenly bringing in new ideas. Melinda´s strength and effectiveness in working with international team members located remotely from corporate are exceptional. I was always impressed with her high standards and level of professionalism. It would be a great pleasure for me to work with her again.”
February 2, 2009 Antonietta Lomoro, Marketing Coordinator, Mindjet GmbH Antonietta worked with Melinda at Mindjet. Customer/Evangelist“I have had the good fortune of working with Melinda for the past couple years and have found her to be an outstanding person to work with. During this time Melinda has supported my efforts to evangelize the MindManager Suite of products and has always been their to offer her marketing expertise. Melinda was invaluable during the time I was putting together a MIndManager Webinar and helped me to make this a very successful event. Melinda is detail oriented, goal directed and very knowledgeable about social media and marketing. It has been a real pleasure to work with her on the Mindjet Connections newsletter and trust that we will have many more years of productively working together.”
January 15, 2009 Brian Friedlander, Visual Mapping Consultant, AssistiveTek, LLC, blogger Melinda worked with Brian as a customer of Mindjet and nurtured him into an evangelist. Colleague“When Melinda took over Mindjet's PR it had an enormous impact on the sheer bandwidths of our visibility in all markets. She systematically built up a true web2.0 awareness machine successfully merging classic PR, blogger marketing, communities and various affiliate activities. At the same time she impressed me with her comprehension of the differing requirements of European PR work.”
September 22, 2008 Mark Muschelknautz, Director Marketing EMEA, Mindjet Corporation Mark worked directly with Melinda at Mindjet. |