Melissa Curtin

Reinvention Coach

Melissa knows first-hand what it takes to build, grow, and sustain an organization while strengthening a team, managing operations, meeting the expectations of external stakeholders, and the countless other responsibilities that keep leaders awake at night. An experienced and mature leadership coach, facilitator, and consultant, she brings over 25 years of diverse background and skill sets serving in senior leadership roles across the private and social sectors. 

Melissa believes in a partnership-based approach to her coaching and consulting practice. Her strategic, intuitive, and neuroscience-based coaching focuses on mindset, communications, positive and proactive behavior change, leadership, and personal impact through a variety of methods. Her consulting practice includes facilitation, strategic planning, work plan development, performance management, team building, board of directors/committee/advisory council management, nonprofit management, stakeholder engagement, systems, and infrastructure building and refining. Melissa’s reputation as a consummate professional with a strict adherence to confidentiality allows her to build trust and deep, long-term relationships with her clients. 

A Colorado native, Melissa earned the Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of Wyoming and the Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver. She is a Certified Martha Beck Institute Coach and a Certified New Agreements Coach Training and Leadership Institute Coach. She is also an Advanced Certified Emergenetics Associate and formerly a former MD Nonprofits Standards for Excellence® Licensed Consultant. 

Melissa currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Howard County Women’s Giving Circle, where she chairs the Membership & Development Committee. She is the President of  the Gaither Farm Homeowners Association Board of Directors. 

Melissa formerly chaired the Ethics Standards Council for the Standards for Excellence Institute and served on the Boards of Directors for the Maryland Philanthropy Network and Maryland Nonprofits. She is a former Commissioner on the Maryland Commission for Women and served on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Legislative Agenda for Women. She previously served on various national advisory councils, the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond & Tri-Cities, and the. She is a 2010 graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond.  

Abby Nyman

Events & Engagement Coordinator

My name is Abby Nyman and I am the Events & Engagement Coordinator. My roles include planning, events, website development, project management, and more in order to serve our clients as efficiently, effectively, and kindly as possible. My mission is to provide logistical support for Melissa so that she can focus on guiding her clients on their reinvention journey. 

I have always been good at organizing, planning, and saving - time, money, and energy. I am reliable, structured, and grounded. I'm also a good listener and enjoy helping people. Growing up the middle child of three, I watched my older brother test the boundaries with our parents at every turn. I learned quickly that honesty was the best policy and live by this still today. My little sister always had a larger than life imagination that would get her into a pickle every now and then while at the same time, helped me to break out of my structured ways. We are a close-knit family who moved every 2 - 3 years with my father’s military career. These early years and sibling dynamics molded me into the empathetic, grounded, and solution-oriented person I am today. 

I graduated from The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith Business School with a Bachelors’ Degree in Operations Management and Business Analytics. Although business analytics was not my path, it led me to where I am today.

It is essential that I feel connected to whatever it is I am doing, whether it’s my job or decorating my new house. I have to know that what I am doing is making a positive difference, both in my personal and professional life. I am compelled to create structure, listen to understand and respond with empathy to create some order in a chaotic world. I greatly enjoy setting up a plan for our program and events and seeing it come to fruition.