Melanie Chen

Melanie is a creative and development practitioner who is passionate about centering the experience and expertise of survivors, women, and youth. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she concentrated in Political and Economic Development and co-wrote a thesis on the ethical engagement of survivors of sexual violence in research and evaluation in conflict zones. With a multidisciplinary background in art and mental health advocacy, she taught art in Kenya for three years and worked with the MIT D-Lab in developing its creative capacity-building curriculum in Rhino refugee camp. Now with Colors of Connection, she is thrilled to further the creative arts as a tool for delivering mental health care in challenging contexts—foregrounding the resilience and agency of girls and young women.

At Woodward Melanie will be working with Christina Mallie through Colors of Connection to create arts curriculum in support of girls mental health in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.