Jones Briggs helps people show up more effectively and responsibly in their leadership roles. She elevates leaders’ power and presence by combining research from the fields of social science with the practical application of performing arts techniques. Her approach is experiential, creative, and supported by leading and emerging social and psychological research.

Outside academia she designs and directs global leadership programs for corporations, NGOs, academic and federal institutions. Melissa speaks, coaches and leads inclusion initiatives for emerging and established leaders and teams navigating complex power dynamics. She addresses challenges of power and presence with students, executives, creatives, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, and political leaders around the world.

She serves as an associate fellow of the Oxford Character Project at the University of Oxford. She also teaches executive students in the flagship Stanford Executive Program, among others, and she co-directed the Stanford Executive Program for Women Entrepreneurs. Melissa taught at Stanford’s ‘d.school’ the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, and guest lectured at London Business School in the UK, Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland and the United States Naval Academy. An honors graduate of Wake Forest University, Melissa also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the Actor’s Center Conservatory in New York, and the Coaches Training Institute in San Francisco.