Brand Advance appoints Melanie Lawson-Wall as Director of People and Wellbeing

Business, Creativity, Media, People

Brand Advance, the first global diversity media network, has appointed Melanie Lawson-Wall as Director of People and Wellbeing, as it looks to further support and nurture employees during a period of substantial growth for the business. 

Over the course of the last year, Brand Advance and its sister brands DECA and Sentiment has grown exponentially, with a 520% increase in staff hires across the business. Drawing on her 18 years’ experience in coaching and development, Melanie will be responsible for devising and deploying a new HR and wellbeing framework for the business. The aim is to further support the diverse needs of employees as the company continues to expand, ensuring that each employee can reach their potential in and outside of the workplace.

Having started her career as a performance coach in the education space, Melanie has provided leadership advice to businesses including Deltatre, the sports and technology provider, on how it could improve its wellbeing offering and champion inclusivity. She is also the founder of Assist Coaching and textcoaches, which uses a unique four step text coaching method, a tool that incorporates principles of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to enable clients to take action to address core issues quickly, while also allowing employees an outlet to access support via text.

Melanie is also a part of the CIPD Steering Group which looks to identify the meaning in work and how meaning can help motivate and influence employees in their roles. She has also completed the Senior Leadership Pathway Programme which aims to equip leaders with managing rapid change in organisations, creating high performance teams and creative resource management and strategy. Using this expertise, Melanie will look to build on the inclusive and collaborative culture already present at Brand Advance.

Christopher Kenna, CEO and founder of Brand Advance, said: “I’m delighted to be able to bring Melanie onboard to the senior leadership team here at Brand Advance, during a period of phenomenal growth for the business. Inclusivity and diversity is part of our DNA, and with Melanie’s extensive experience and unique coaching knowledge, I’m confident our employees will continue to flourish within our organisation and be supported in their wellbeing as we continue on our journey.”

Melanie Lawson-Wall, Director of People and Wellbeing, Brand Advance, said: “I’m excited to be joining the Brand Advance team, having closely followed the company since its inception and witnessed it go from strength to strength. I’m here to champion the employees that have been critical to Brand Advance’s success so far, and ensure that they can operate in an environment which encourages them to bring their best selves to the workplace and continues to bring their individuality to the fore”.