About — Melissa Narvaez

Untitled design (15).png — Hi, I’m Melissa

I am a marketer and community builder who went from working with oil cargo ships in a small town in Venezuela to running regional marketing at one of the top software companies in the world. I have 12 years of experience in B2B software sales and marketing in Latam and the US, and today I’m Marketing Director at Dataiku, a data and AI company in New York City. My personal story inspired me to create Venezolanas in Tech, a nonprofit on a mission to inspire and empower women to pursue a career in tech. I’m currently working on a memoir, dedicated to my firstborn, Luca, who passed away after giving his best fight against Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, at two weeks old. This experience has made me an advocate for grief, infertility, pregnancy and neonatal loss awareness.
Today, I am also a mama, who went from experiencing three miscarriages to losing her rainbow baby, Luca, and now I am learning to live again, as I navigate through grief and continue on our trying-to-conceive journey.

My life is straight out of a telenovela—full of stories and unexpected twists. I used to say this almost proudly. Now, it’s a bittersweet reminder that unexpected isn’t always good.

I’m Venezuelan-Nicaraguan, born and raised in Venezuela, but I also call Morocco, Spain, and Argentina home—all places I lived before making my way to San Francisco, and now New York. As a Latina and globe trotter, I’m very passionate about translating my personal experiences into advice and help others advance their career and see obstacles as opportunities for growth.

I was raised by my grandma after my parents passed away. I spent most of my childhood figuring out how I could make mom and dad proud. I think I was also waiting for a hero to rescue me from the life I was afraid of living without them. Until I found out that hero was me.

So maybe this inspired my early career dreams to be a superhero. I’d dress up as Wonder Woman on every carnival and always ran to the rescue when a friend needed help. This was an early indicator of my passion for helping others.

As I started to grow professionally and get access to different platforms, I started to use my voice and personal experiences to create awareness around different challenges faced by underrepresented communities. From educating on why it is necessary for companies to update the “talent checklist” and include more diverse candidates, to leveraging my network to empower other Latinxs to advance their careers.

I created Venezolanas in Tech, a non-profit community dedicated to inspiring and empowering Venezuelan women to pursue a career in tech and support them through their journey as migrants breaking into a new workforce. I built our mentorship program from the ground up, and in less than a year it grew to 40 global mentors and mentees, with a waitlist that continues growing.

In my free time, I am dedicated to inspiring and uplifting others to overcome adversities. My life is no short of stories of resilience, from being an orphan to most recently going through a long journey of infertility and loss. I’m dedicated to sharing my infertility journey to support other women and raise awareness. I love sharing my experiences as I continue to learn from obstacles and pursue my version of happiness.

Even though I don’t wear my Wonder Woman costume, my 4-year-old self still leads my heart and my purpose: to help others.

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