About Me
Innovative, Empowering, Authentic, Strategic, Resilient
Melissa Stefani-Bolin is a brand and marketing executive, dynamic strategist, thought leader, and innovator with over 20 years of experience transforming brands, businesses, and ecosystems. Known for her fearless curiosity and knack for connecting the dots in complex industries, she specializes in crafting data-driven strategies that align brand, marketing, and communication to drive meaningful outcomes.
Trailblazer in Brand and Marketing - Her philosophy, "Evolve Brands. Empower People. Move Forward.," is more than a tagline: it’s a call to action. She leads brand transformations across industries by combining data-driven insights with creative innovation. Her approach prioritizes understanding audiences’ explicit needs and hidden desires, crafting strategies that deliver results and inspire loyalty.
Champion of Strategic Communication - Melissa believes communication deserves a seat at the C-suite table. Her leadership philosophy emphasizes breaking down silos, aligning stakeholders, and leveraging strategic storytelling to connect with audiences. Across industries like CPG, healthcare, and finance, Melissa has demonstrated how communication fosters trust, transparency, and collaboration to transform organizations.
A Healthcare Visionary - With experience redefining healthcare through patient-first, demand-driven strategies, Melissa is passionate about reshaping healthcare into a patient-centered ecosystem. She critiques the sterile, transactional nature of today’s systems and advocates for solutions that empower patients. Melissa envisions a future where patients own their health data, value-based care becomes the norm and gamification and personalization drive transformation. From her critiques of current EHR/EMR models to exploring AI’s ethical role in healthcare, Melissa’s work challenges the status quo and inspires action.
AI Advocate with a Human-Centered Lens - As an AI enthusiast, Melissa embraces the power of technology while advocating for ethical, user-first applications. With frequent discussion with AI advocate groups like, she cuts through AI hype, urging the development of innovations that truly add value and foster equity. From improving healthcare models to envisioning an AI-powered future, Melissa’s perspective is rooted in the belief that technology should elevate humanity, not replace it.
A Nonlinear Journey - Melissa’s career is anything but linear, and that’s her superpower. From NYC high fashion to leading healthcare marketing strategies, she has built a rare ability to decode industries, understand their inner workings, and strategically navigate their complexities. Growing up in Kobe, Japan, she developed an innate adaptability, shaping a leadership style rooted in diversity, inclusion, and forward-thinking innovation. This multidimensional experience gives her an edge, connecting dots others don’t see and driving transformation across industries.
Sapient Leadership and Empowerment - She believes in empowering individuals and teams through wisdom, empathy, and decisiveness. She fosters cultures where innovation thrives, guiding teams through ambiguity and aligning people, processes and objectives for maximum impact.
Life Beyond Work - She’s a golfer, loves tennis, is a bocce enthusiast (she’s an executive producer of the Hi-Dez Bocce Invitational in Pioneertown), dabbles in drumming and loves cooking, living a vibrant life with her chef husband and their Welsh Corgi, Lil DeeBs. Her zest for life also extends to community involvement.
The Next Chapter - Melissa is working on a book inspired by her tagline, offering insights into brand evolution, leadership and empowerment. Through powerful storytelling and vulnerability, she inspires readers to embrace transformation and thrive. Melissa Stefani-Bolin’s mission is clear: evolve the systems we work in, empower the people driving them and move forward to a brighter, more inclusive and innovative future.
Curious about my purpose, passion and perspectives? Jump over to my blog for insights on brand, AI, innovation and digital transformation.
Case Study: Crafting Opportunity, Strategy and Market Disruption for an Emerging Tequila Brand
In 2024, as Chief Revenue Officer, I crafted an investment opportunity, brand strategy, and GTM plans for a premium tequila brand, launching a refined Blanco Rosado and a bold, category-defining Peanut Butter tequila. Despite a fully developed, execution-ready strategy, the founders’ failure to meet basic business and financial obligations stalled activation. The good news? The frameworks remain a testament to my expertise: ready for the right partners or organizations seeking game-changing brand leadership. Whether you need strategic expertise or a VP of Marketing who delivers results, this case study proves my ability to build and execute market-defining brands.
Click HERE to read the full case study.
Hoag Health Care System
Brand Strategy | Marketing & Media Leadership
I partnered with Hoag’s senior leadership to navigate the complexities of a physician-led healthcare system, driving strategic marketing, digital transformation, and data-driven decision-making. By identifying market opportunities and mitigating threats from new entrants, my leadership fueled double-digit revenue growth, increased market share, and strengthened brand recall. The result? A transformed healthcare experience, enhancing patient outcomes while positioning Hoag as an industry leader.
AMERICAN EXPRESS BONVOY BRILLIANT: BRAVE THE WORLD
Sr. Experience Strategist, Campaign Positioning, Audience Development, Customer Journey, Paid Media Direction
The Ask: Create an omnichannel brand platform introducing the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card and newly merged Marriott/Starwood Preferred hotel loyalty program in an inspiring way to American Express loyalists in the luxury segment.
Our campaign speaks to citizens of the world, the avid traveler who wants to take on, brave and explore the far corners of the Earth to further enrich their lives with experiences. Inspired by the personal elements of journaling.
Power Up with the United States Marine Corps
Insights & Strategy, UX/UI, Media Strategy and Execution, Analytics & Measurement
Alongside the Launch Forth team, I led a digital marketing team to effectively drive engagement and activation of co-creators for the USMC Modular Logistics Vehicle project. Leveraging audience insights and research, we crafted targeted personas to guide our strategy. Our efforts yielded increased project memberships, design submissions, and community interaction through multi-channel campaigns. With a data-driven approach, we surpassed goals and optimized budgets, ensuring dynamic campaign adjustments for maximum reach and impact on the Launch Forth platform.
EIGHTHNOTE
Co-Founder. Vision, leadership, data & analytics, brand, product development.
Together alongside my co-founder, we launched Eighthnote, a pioneering wellness journey application, born from in-depth research and development, that redefines personal health and well-being management. By merging intuitive navigation with advanced biometric tracking, the app meticulously analyzes unique data alongside qualitative experiences, providing personalized insights into individual physiologies and wellness routines. Enables users to take informed control over their health, ensuring a more informed, empowered, and enjoyable wellness experience.
Allianz: Breaking Records With Adaptive Sports Technology
Insights & Strategy, UX/UI, Media Strategy and Execution, Analytics & Measurement
Allianz Super Human Sports project, aims to advance technology for adaptive sports. I led a team who worked to develop a competition targeted at an audience of tech-savvy, boundary pushing co-creators, that encouraged innovation in designing solutions to enhance the capabilities and participation of athletes with disabilities through an omni-channel, digital first engagement and activation approach.
Batch 64: Double Digit Growth in a Global Pandemic
Role: Director of Strategic Growth & Business Development
The regenerative substrates business was looking to reimagine their business model to stay competitive in a growing industry. Utilizing an updated brand strategy, growth models, disruptive strategy frameworks, ERP system integration, COVID-19 supply chain contingency planning, B2B selling strategy, team capacity evolution and agency management to grow 5x.
ALVARADO STREET BAKERY
The Ask: Introduce the brand to a newly positioned audience without alienating a dedicated older audience.
Using social listening, data analysis and other customer development channels we were able to successfully craft paid and organic media campaigns that generated brand awareness/lift, captured a new type of customer target, drove traffic in-store (and online channels as a pivot during COVID-19) and continued LTV of current customers through a new, multi-channel journey approach.
Content Strategy, Social Strategy & Execution, Paid Media, Creative Direction, Integrated Marketing & Experience Strategy, Audience Development
Agency: Veneer
Mommy’s Bliss: This is Bliss Campaign
Digital Campaign, Media Strategy, Paid Media Execution, Paid Social Media, SEM/SEO, Leadership Brand and Marketing Consulting
When you’re a new mom (or dad), things can be a wee bit overwhelming. Is he sleeping enough? What’s that weird face she’s making when she poops? Will he ever stop crying? Mommy’s Bliss gets it. The goal of this digital campaign was to remind parents that even when things aren’t going exactly as planned, you can find a moment of bliss (Mommy’s Bliss can help). The integrated “This is Bliss” campaign included endemic ad placements, ambassador outreach, paid social advertising and boosted post campaigns.
Agency: Veneer
Workday: Designing a Compelling Product Narrative for a Disruptor
Product Insights & Strategy, UX/UI, Media Strategy and Execution, Analytics & Measurement
Redesigned Narrative Framework: Focused on showcasing Workday's app design, the new framework improved the company and product narrative, addressing unorganized information architecture and ensuring compatibility across multiple devices.
Enhanced User Experience: Enabled users to manually input, self-scan, or have their badge scanned, self-select digital materials (eCollateral), and receive them via email, streamlining event marketing and integration with marketing automation.
Logical User Flow: Updated the information architecture for a more intuitive content flow, unifying the storytelling across different sections to provide a comprehensive overview before diving into details.
Mobile-First Design: Optimized the site for mobile devices, ensuring a native and unique experience for mobile users.
The redesign focused on user engagement, logical navigation, and a cohesive narrative that supports business development and marketing efforts.