Melissa Africano

Staymingo is a tech-forward short-term and extended stay rental company based in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. We help homeowners and real estate investors transform their properties into guest-friendly environments for vacationers, business travelers, and families who need temporary housing solutions. It's our mission to deliver hands-off and worry-free income for property owners and comfortable, streamlined stays for our guests on the Seacoast of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Lead buyer-centric PR programs for AI, supply chain, and workforce technology clients across North America, the UK, and Israel, delivering measurable brand awareness and executive thought leadership impact in the US, with placements in WSJ, Fortune, Forbes, Business Insider, Reuters, and more. Recruited during a period of 2X growth, and continuing to drive business development and growth as agency lead on AI and head of training. I drive talent development, onboarding, and operational scaling as a member of the leadership team. Personally featured in Inc. Magazine for agency leadership culture.

Led PR strategy for five energy and professional services clients, focused on product launches, company milestones, and thought leadership. Served as day-to-day lead for ESS Inc, guiding the long-duration energy storage company through foundational PR and its NYSE IPO. Managed PR for Intersolar & Energy Storage North America, the region’s largest solar and storage event (6,000+ attendees, 350+ exhibitors), handling media strategy, vendor/speaker outreach, and on-site press coordination. Drove integrated plans and media results across top-tier and trade outlets.

Promoted to serve as first-ever Western PR representative of Russia’s largest technology company (10K employees, 34 global offices) with a $20.4B market cap on NASDAQ. Advised executives and provided PR support for the entire AI product portfolio with a 100+ L4 self-driving fleet, the world’s 5th largest search engine, an AI assistant with 45M MAU, and an open-source gradient boosting library, among other intelligent products and services. Partnered with AI leaders, C-level executives, board members, marketing, corporate PR, and business units. Led and coordinated internal team of PR product reps with agency teams in the US, UK, and Israel.

Hired for new dynamic, cross-functional marketing position supporting Western business development. Tasked with generating Western leads and content marketing against an often negative geopolitical perception of Russia. Built RussianSearchMarketing.com content marketing website from scratch, driving 20K monthly visitors and serving as a critical lead generator for the international sales team. Played a key role on 3-person US team that continuously increased SMB business (115% in 2016 to 2017) and coached key Western digital advertisers such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Hotels.com how to enhance their digital ad campaigns on Yandex platforms. Infused cross-cultural knowledge within the business, leveraging Russian language skills and cultural understanding to mentor both US and Russian counterparts on business and social customs. Promoted Yandex at industry conferences presenting to audiences of 300+.

Approached by Duke University’s Slavic Department to develop “Sports, Economics, & Politics in Russia and Eastern Europe” course based on previous interrelated MA thesis. Designed the semester syllabus, organized guest lecturers, and created test materials. Managed the entire 80-student class after the full-time professor took a medical leave three weeks into the course, giving class lectures, supporting students, and delegating tasks to graduate assistants.

Supported the Senior Vice President for Executive Operations, guest, and clients by monitoring projects, organizing meetings, coordinating schedules, handling clerical duties, and documents.

Served as first US Fulbright student in Orhei, working to establish relationships with local authorities and the community. Taught secondary school English with Moldovan colleagues, bringing new ideas and teaching styles to revamp pre-existing courses and encourage cross-cultural understanding. Represented the US Embassy while giving self-designed educational seminars across Moldova. Designed and launched a girls’ soccer program as a sports diplomacy, youth development, and gender equality project.

Initiated a needs assessment project at the Albany schools where refugee students have matriculated. Represented USCRI at the Albany schools to make observations, conduct interviews, and foster a better relationship between the office and the schools. Proposed solutions for the schools and USCRI based on the identified problems.

Organized and initiated group discussions in English with Russian patrons to gain a mutual understanding of American and Russian culture. Worked individually with patrons to evaluate and improve their English language skills.

Minor: Russian Language & Literature