TEDxDuluth speaker Melissa Fors Shackelford has spent her career using marketing to support people rather than just sell to them. With more than 20 years in healthcare and a focus on mental health and addiction, she sees communication as a way to reduce stigma, build trust, and help individuals and families find the care they need.​

Mission-Driven Work in Healthcare

Melissa describes herself as a mission and purpose driven professional who has consistently sought out roles in healthcare, allowing her work to directly support people’s wellbeing. In mental health and addiction especially, she has seen how stigma keeps many from getting help, which is why she speaks and writes often about naming that stigma and challenging it openly.​

For her, marketing in this context isn’t about spin; it’s about making services visible and approachable so people and families feel safer reaching out.​

Purpose, Values, and the “North Star”

A central theme in Melissa’s thinking is the relationship between purpose and values.​

She frames them this way:​

• Purpose is your “North Star” – what brings meaning to your life and gets you up in the morning.
• Values are what you believe is important and function as the roadmap that helps you move toward that North Star.

Melissa encourages people, especially those early in their careers, to take time for self-reflection so they can name both. Once you’re clear on your own purpose and values, she says, you can seek out organizations that genuinely align and “interview” them just as much as they interview you. That alignment, when it happens, is what she calls “gold” for both employees and employers.​

Marketing as a Force for Good

Beyond stigma, Melissa is deeply interested in purpose-driven and ethical marketing, and how culture and values should shape everyday decisions. She has built much of her public speaking around topics like:​

• How to build trust in your marketing.
• How organizational culture and clearly defined values can guide communication choices.
• The ethics of using AI and balancing efficiency with honesty and transparency.

She notes that AI can either help or harm trust depending on how it is used, and she urges leaders to anchor AI decisions in their purpose and values rather than chasing whatever is “hot” at the moment. In her view, marketing is fundamentally “talking to other people,” and it becomes most powerful when rooted in empathy and respect rather than manipulation.​

Small Steps and Courage Over Fear

Melissa sees fear, especially fear of failure, as a major reason people hesitate to act on their values. She stresses that most meaningful change starts with small, manageable steps rather than dramatic, all-or-nothing moves.​

She shares how an early decision to move overseas right after college, despite the risk and uncertainty, became a touchstone for her confidence later. Looking back on that experience reminds her she can handle big changes and helps her push through fear in new situations. She encourages others to do something similar: recall past moments of courage as evidence that they can take the next step too.​

Loneliness, Connection, and Real Life vs. Curation

Melissa also touches on the current loneliness epidemic, which she finds especially striking in a time when technology makes it so easy to connect across distance. She sees a tension between our digital tools and our emotional reality: video calls and social platforms can connect us, but over-reliance on them and constant comparison to others’ carefully curated lives can deepen isolation.​

For her, two things help counter that trend:​

• Investing in in-person, real-world relationships.
• Engaging in work and causes that align with your purpose so your days feel meaningful, not just busy.

When people know what fills them up and take even small actions in that direction, she believes, they are less likely to slip into apathy or endless scrolling.​

What to Expect at TEDxDuluth

At TEDxDuluth, Melissa will explore how clear purpose, aligned values, and ethical, trust-centered marketing can change not only organizations but also how individuals feel about the work they do. She will invite attendees to think about their own North Star, how their values guide daily choices, and how tools like AI can be used in ways that honor, rather than undermine, human connection.

If you watch the full Zoom clip, you will be able to see Melissa and I nerd out over how we both think marketing is meant to be a tool helping others. That tests and grows your capacity for empathy. 

Link to full unfiltered conversation here.

TEDxDuluth speaker Melissa Fors Shackelford has spent her career using marketing to support people rather than just sell to them. With more than 20 years in healthcare and a focus on mental health and addiction, she sees communication as a way to reduce stigma, build trust, and help individuals and families find the care they need.​

Mission-Driven Work in Healthcare

Melissa describes herself as a mission and purpose driven professional who has consistently sought out roles in healthcare, allowing her work to directly support people’s wellbeing. In mental health and addiction especially, she has seen how stigma keeps many from getting help, which is why she speaks and writes often about naming that stigma and challenging it openly.​

For her, marketing in this context isn’t about spin; it’s about making services visible and approachable so people and families feel safer reaching out.​

Purpose, Values, and the “North Star”

A central theme in Melissa’s thinking is the relationship between purpose and values.​

She frames them this way:​

• Purpose is your “North Star” – what brings meaning to your life and gets you up in the morning.
• Values are what you believe is important and function as the roadmap that helps you move toward that North Star.

Melissa encourages people, especially those early in their careers, to take time for self-reflection so they can name both. Once you’re clear on your own purpose and values, she says, you can seek out organizations that genuinely align and “interview” them just as much as they interview you. That alignment, when it happens, is what she calls “gold” for both employees and employers.​

Marketing as a Force for Good

Beyond stigma, Melissa is deeply interested in purpose-driven and ethical marketing, and how culture and values should shape everyday decisions. She has built much of her public speaking around topics like:​

• How to build trust in your marketing.
• How organizational culture and clearly defined values can guide communication choices.
• The ethics of using AI and balancing efficiency with honesty and transparency.

She notes that AI can either help or harm trust depending on how it is used, and she urges leaders to anchor AI decisions in their purpose and values rather than chasing whatever is “hot” at the moment. In her view, marketing is fundamentally “talking to other people,” and it becomes most powerful when rooted in empathy and respect rather than manipulation.​

Small Steps and Courage Over Fear

Melissa sees fear, especially fear of failure, as a major reason people hesitate to act on their values. She stresses that most meaningful change starts with small, manageable steps rather than dramatic, all-or-nothing moves.​

She shares how an early decision to move overseas right after college, despite the risk and uncertainty, became a touchstone for her confidence later. Looking back on that experience reminds her she can handle big changes and helps her push through fear in new situations. She encourages others to do something similar: recall past moments of courage as evidence that they can take the next step too.​

Loneliness, Connection, and Real Life vs. Curation

Melissa also touches on the current loneliness epidemic, which she finds especially striking in a time when technology makes it so easy to connect across distance. She sees a tension between our digital tools and our emotional reality: video calls and social platforms can connect us, but over-reliance on them and constant comparison to others’ carefully curated lives can deepen isolation.​

For her, two things help counter that trend:​

• Investing in in-person, real-world relationships.
• Engaging in work and causes that align with your purpose so your days feel meaningful, not just busy.

When people know what fills them up and take even small actions in that direction, she believes, they are less likely to slip into apathy or endless scrolling.​

What to Expect at TEDxDuluth

At TEDxDuluth, Melissa will explore how clear purpose, aligned values, and ethical, trust-centered marketing can change not only organizations but also how individuals feel about the work they do. She will invite attendees to think about their own North Star, how their values guide daily choices, and how tools like AI can be used in ways that honor, rather than undermine, human connection.

If you watch the full Zoom clip, you will be able to see Melissa and I nerd out over how we both think marketing is meant to be a tool helping others. That tests and grows your capacity for empathy. 

Link to full unfiltered conversation here.