Speaking & Appearances

Melissa Berton, Academy Award-winning film producer of the documentary short, Period. End of Sentence.; producer of the documentary short, Long Line of Ladies, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival; Founder & Executive Director of The Pad Project, a non-profit organization with global reach; recipient of the 2019 Eleanor Roosevelt Global Women’s Rights Award; and a Forbes Magazine 50 Over 50 Women Making Social Impact honoree; is a sought-after speaker on gender equity, education equity, female empowerment, social entrepreneurship, youth activism, and civic engagement.

Her involvement with the Commission on the Status of Women held annually at the United Nations, and her collaborations with Girls Learn International, The Feminist Majority Foundation, and other global non-profit organizations and grassroots NGOs gives Melissa meaningful and wide-ranging expertise on issues that affect girls and women, nationally and globally. 

Melissa speaks at global conferences, universities, and public and private institutions to sound the rallying cry for gender equity and the end of period stigma worldwide. She has delivered keynote addresses for organizations such as The American Federation of Teachers, Planned Parenthood, The Saint Helena Forum for Innovation & Creativity, The Feminist Majority Foundation, Orange County Grantmakers, The United Jewish Federation, Nexus Global Summit, and Women of Warner, to name a few. Melissa passionately believes that when we–individually or collectively–take risks in pursuit of education, equity, and empowerment, we better our own lives in the present and bolster the generations that will follow.

Melissa has made guest appearances on numerous national and local news programs and talk shows such as ABC’s The View, Good Morning America, Spectrum News 1, Good Day LA, and WLNY; a guest on countless radio programs and podcasts nationwide, including NPR; and has been featured in a broad range of print and online media outlets including CNN, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, HuffPost, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Refinery 29, USA Today, Yahoo!Lifestyle, and others.

When Melissa is not accepting an award, engaging philanthropists, influencers, and world health organizations in the quest for menstrual justice; traveling to Abu Dhabi to attend the Forbes 30/50 Summit; delivering a keynote speech; or being interviewed by the ladies at The View, she’s inspiring students at Oakwood School in North Hollywood where she has taught English for over a decade.