Melissa Tomassini is an enthusiastic young professional experienced in public diplomacy, international cultural relations, inclusive and sustainable development with an ambitious vision for more human-centered and ethics-oriented governance.
Drawing her inspiration from the belief that shared prosperity and just society within an environmentally-sound framework can only be achieved by boldly stepping up multi-stakeholder partnerships and community empowerment, she is currently assisting the UNIDO Office in the Philippines with the Country Programming for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development and advocacy work.
Melissa is also collaborating with the European Commission’s Information Center Europe Direct Marca di Camerino (Italy) and is Survey Director and Research Specialist for the “Triple Threat Academy” Arts Envoy cultural diplomacy mission between the U.S. State Department ECA Bureau, The Canales Project, and the Jakarta Performing Arts Center.
Prior to this, she interned as Parliamentary Assistant at the European Parliament, where she followed policy developments of the ENVI (Environment, Public Health and Food Safety) and ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committees, at the U.S. State Department, and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Melissa received a MA with honors in Public and Cultural Diplomacy from the University of Siena (Italy) and a Master’s in European Studies from the Belgian-Italian Chamber of Commerce (Belgium). Fascinated by ordinary citizens’ potential to become drivers of change in the policy-making process, she is a Rising Professional Member of the Washington D.C.-based Public Diplomacy Council and its affiliated entity, the Citizen Diplomacy Research Group.