Melissa Fleming
UN communications chief and author
Melissa Fleming is an American journalist and author who leads global communications at the United Nations. She wrote A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea, the story of a young Syrian refugee.
1 summary 20 min of listening
American Born in the United States
About Melissa Fleming
Melissa Fleming has headed the United Nations Department of Global Communications since 2019, as Under-Secretary-General. Before that she spent ten years as Head of Global Communications at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Earlier senior communications roles were at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. While at UNHCR she traveled to war zones and refugee camps. She also told the story of Doaa, a 19-year-old Syrian woman, on the TED stage. A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea follows Doaa, who survived a boat wreck that killed 500 refugees, along with a baby she saved. The book was published by Flatiron Books in the US and in more than 15 countries. Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams optioned it for a motion picture. Fleming also hosts the UN podcast Awake at Night, and she studied at Oberlin College and Boston University.