Melissa DePino is an activist, author, speaker and explorer.
After her 2018 viral video of two Black men unjustly arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks sparked an international conversation and prompted the coffee chain to close 8,000 stores for implicit bias training, Melissa dedicated herself to activism. She co-founded a national movement to desegregate the public conversation about racism, writes extensively about the individual’s role in antiracism work, and has spoken to hundreds of audiences globally to create awareness and inspire action toward equality and justice. Her work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, Radio Times and Code Switch, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, AM Joy, Red Table Talk, and in numerous television, print and online outlets. She is at work on a forthcoming book, UNCOMFORTABLE.
Melissa has published works of fiction, narrative nonfiction, op-eds and essays. In 2016, she co-authored the novel Pretty Little World with Elizabeth Laban, which was published on the Lake Union Imprint of Amazon Publishing. Her memoir/short read “Neighbors” was selected to be part of the inaugural collection of Amazon Original Stories’ “The Real Thing,” alongside authors Jade Chang, Wednesday Martin, W. Kamau Bell, Samantha Allen, and Eddie Huang. She has published essays in The New York Times, CNN, Bustle and on Medium.
Since 2022, Melissa has been traveling and living throughout the U.S., exploring history, gathering stories and writing about justice, equality and how racism obstructs perspective and progress.
