A former education writer turned marketer and communications professional, Melissa has spent her career advocating for public schools by telling and amplifying their stories in a compelling way.
Before joining the Holdsworth team, Melissa worked as a senior account lead at The DeBerry Group, a full-service marketing and communications agency based in San Antonio. She led publicity strategies for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards, a program that rewards outstanding educators in Texas public schools, as well as a first-of-its-kind marketing campaign called Go Public that works to promote San Antonio’s public school districts. Melissa also led successful campaigns featuring standout teachers, students and programs in San Angelo ISD and Tomball ISD through video storytelling and digital amplification.
She led recruiting and awareness campaigns for the Centers for Applied Science and Technology, or CAST, a series of industry-led, career-themed schools backed by H-E-B and other San Antonio based companies and developed in partnership with local school districts.
In 2017, Melissa led publicity for the initial announcement of The Holdsworth Center, which quickly grew into a full-blown communications strategy including development of the center’s blog and advertising for the center’s ElevatEd conference in Dallas.
Prior to the DeBerry Group, Melissa spent six years covering higher education at the San Antonio Express-News, garnering national beat reporting awards from the Education Writers Association and from Hearst Newspapers. She began her career as a journalist covering politics, courts and K-12 education at the Austin American-Statesman. She holds a bachelor’s in English from Trinity University in San Antonio and a master’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.
Melissa is also a musician and fronts the pop/Americana Melissa Ludwig Band with her husband.