melo was born out of frustration and a deep desire for change.
Like most people, we love our families, but between children, eldercare, careers, and side hustles, life can be hectic and overwhelming at times. There's alot to look after, and it perpetually feels like another dropped ball is around the corner. At the same time, even though we're lucky to live in wonderful, loving, equitable partnerships, if we're honest with ourselves, how we do things isn't always in line with what we would choose. Gendered norms are still deeply ingrained and, these days, useless, and they show up way more than we'd like to admit.
So we had to do something!
If getting better organised was the solution, it would have happened by now. Reducing the chaos and overwhelm will take more than just getting some structure and systems in place, even though that's important. Doing it in a way that works for modern families also has to involve doing things differently, bringing different mindsets, learning new habits, and trying new approaches.
That's what we aim to do with melo: first, simmer down the mental load, but even more importantly, help us all work better as a team in a way we truly choose. We know it's hard, but oh my goodness, it will be worth it!
Maja Paleka
Founder & Director
I have struggled for the longest time to understand the link between
so many different things I have done through my career- starting as an engineer, getting into sales,
then general management and consulting over three different continents, in grad roles to leadership.
But
I think I have finally realised that underneath it all I just love to understand how things work and
then love problem solving to fix when things don’t. This is true now in my work in consulting on the
ways we lead and work for the future, but also in melo.
For the longest time I could not
understand why I and so many of my very clever colleagues and friends behaved so irrationally and
inefficiently at home. So we took the time to understand it a bit more, and melo was born out of the
desire to fix that. Conversations are powerful but they don’t result in behaviour change. But new
habits
do, and melo helps families build new habits on how they run their families. I am so excited and
deeply
committed to do the work to help families re-imagine and redesign a better way to thrive. I look
after
telling the melo story through our marketing, partnerships and communities.
Let's connect on LinkedInRebecca Sebastian
Founder & Director
I have spent 20 years in corporate roles including general management,
leading teams in sales, channels and operations. Leveraging expertise in leadership, change and
well-being, I have embarked on a portfolio career. Consulting, facilitating and coaching makes every
day
different and is a great way to observe changes in the market and develop others across different
industries and functions.
Having three energetic boys and a busy
career I am acutely aware of the mental load. melo was born out of a desire to go from discussion
and
debate on this topic to a solution. The melo team are passionate about giving back and I am excited
to
see how melo will positively impact families, organisations and communities. I look after strategy
and
operations, underpinned by melo’s values and our desire to seek out and grow from feedback.
Let's connect on LinkedInKate Kesby
Founder & Director
There’s a special kind of guilt when a child suffers as a result of a
busy parent missing a memo and I have been that person…..ok more than once! Together with my husband
I
juggle a busy household with 3 kids & pets. I’m an active volunteer, founded an ed-tech start up and
co-run a consulting practice that helps enterprise clients perform at their highest potential.
I love it being busy, it’s just that some
days when my mind is brimming with ideas for clients and how to solve problems and when the dogs
vaccination is due and what the kids are going to have for lunch tomorrow, who's on pick up and
wondering if their singlets are clean in time for training and who has outgrown their shoes…. all at
once - sometimes I worry I’ve missed something, and some days I actually do drop the ball.
Those days I need a brain back-up, I need
nudges, I need to make it easy to ask for and accept help from my village and I need to empower my
kids
to own things for themselves as they mature. At melo, I look after our product roadmap to make sure
that
we’ve got your back, every day.
Let's connect on LinkedInFraser Stirling
Founder & Director
I have spent the better part of a decade in various technology roles
working in and with many different industries. I have been fortunate to have been exposed and hands
on
in many areas of digital technology and seen some creative and fascinating use of it. This has
developed
my passion for automating digital technology to help free up time and alleviate pressures.
I believe time is one of our most valuable
commodities and any extra that we can put into what we want has a huge impact on our mental state
and
other commitments. This plays an important role in how we interact with other people and view
ourselves.
We aim for melo to help build new behaviours by providing a digital solution to automating tedious
parts
of life. I look after the technology implementation of melo and how we can apply it to deliver our
goals.
