Melissa is currently the marketing lead of the Americas for NBCUniversal global subscription streaming service, hayu. She is deeply passionate about uniting brands and people through unforgettable experiences. Her leadership style is “hands on” to flex easily from vision to execution. She has built and led cross-functional and highly productive teams to push brands into market-leading positions, enabling target achievement.
She has over 20 years of leadership experience in media and branded content. Melissa’s career started in NYC publishing and included roles at Time Out NY, Entertainment Weekly, and George magazines. Love brought her to Toronto where she continued a career in publishing with St. Joseph’s Media, Fashion and Wish magazines. She then received an offer that she could not refuse, being part of the brand new LOULOU team at Rogers Media. The move to Rogers proved fruitful, with a twelve year tenure at the company and the final few years as Group Publisher, Fashion & Beauty brands. Brands included Flare, Hello Canada, and Cosmetics.
Melissa is wife to Dr. Bruce Ahlstrand, and mother to teenaged Ava and dog Mikko. Melissa has a place in her heart for magazines, but also is a streaming queen.
