Her first degree may have been in Philosophy, but eventually it was the world of marketing and communication than won her over and for which she has worked for over 10 years, assisting many brands to become established and known. Always a volunteer, ready to offer help to various charities, she recognized the need for their existence as well as their difficulties to remain sustainable, in order to accomplish the relief of social problems.
Social entrepreneurship is exactly what fulfills her! It is incredibly important to work and offer simultaneously. To be able to maintain a degree of sustainability and offer a solution to an important social problem at the same time… hence “Wise Greece” was born. A social enterprise that on the one hand promotes top quality Greek products and on the other uses the profits from sales in order to buy foods in bulk and donate them to soup kitchens, children, families and the elderly in need, hence essentially having 2 important missions; promoting all that makes us Greeks proud and at the same time offering to unprivileged people their most basic need, food. Today Wise Greece works with over 100 small producers who offer over 2.500 products; exports to 8 countries, has donated over 50 tons of food to orphanages, soup kitchens and charitable institutions, has received important awards, among which is the prestigious award from the President of the Greek Republic “Models of Excellence”, as well as the Start Up award for sustainability and social contribution, the European Social Challenge Award 2018, the Innovative Fundraising Award by the British Council and the BeMed Award by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
Melina often presents Wise Greece and its model of Social Entrepreneurship at international congresses and conferences aiming to inspire young people to create their own social enterprise. She is a mentor to emerging social entrepreneurs and has spoken at Forums that support female entrepreneurship. She is also a keynote speaker at international seminars on social entrepreneurship, an Ambassador of the “Think Young Entrepreneurship School”, a TEDX Speaker, an IVLP Alumna in the program of Social Responsibility and Innovation funded by the US Department of State, a co-builder of the international “World Human Forum”, a Young Emerging Leader 2018 by the European-Australian Forum and a Young Innovative Leader 2019 (YTILI Fellow) by the German Marshall Fund and the US Department of State.
