Melissa Shea

Current

Owner at English Living Abroad
Owner at Iron Daisy Design

Past

Director of Communications at New Canaan Nature Center
Program Director at Common Cause Texas

Education

Austin Community College

Connections

17 connections

Industry

Civic & Social Organization

Websites

Melissa Shea’s Summary

While living in Dresden, Germany in 2005 I was over-whelmed by how difficult it was to assimilate into a new country. As a web designer, my first impulse was to go to the web to find answers to my huge list of questions. Unfortunately I could find very little information about living in Dresden. After several months of learning everything the hard way, I decided share what I'd learned by creating a website to help expats transition to living in Dresden.

During this process I realized that I was passionately committed to this project and decided to expand it to more cities. I created a site for Dresden at www.EnglishLivingAbroad.com and will be adding 7 addtional German cities plus sites for Vienna, Budapest and Prague by the end of 2008.

Melissa Shea’s Specialties:

Specialities include providing information about local businesses to expats living in cities around the world.

Melissa Shea’s Experience

Owner

English Living Abroad

(Civic & Social Organization industry)

May 2005 — Present (4 years 8 months)

EnglishLivingAbroad.com is a website for expats living in Dresden, Germany. The website provides information to help expats assimilate into German society and connect them with other expats and local businesses. This is a new business and I am currently working on launching additional sections for Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt, as well as Prague, Vienna and Budapest by the end of 2008.
Owner

Iron Daisy Design

(Graphic Design industry)

January 2002 — Present (8 years )

Iron Daisy Design provides web and graphic design services for small to medium size businesses.

I create corporate identities for businesses that include coordinated logo, print and website designs. I also enjoy creating promotional materials that include advertising layouts, promotional banners, flyers, postcards, sell sheets and trade show displays.
Director of Communications

New Canaan Nature Center

(Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

January 2006 — May 2008 (2 years 5 months)

Work closely with five environmental education departments to create marketing plans, implement media placement, and produce promotional materials and stage events.

Managed the distribution of press releases to regional media outlets. Designed all promotional publications and created a new database driven website.
Program Director

Common Cause Texas

(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

January 1995 — June 2000 (5 years 6 months)

Implemented national citizen lobbyist program, researched ethics and campaign finance laws, created media events and coordinated board members and volunteers to lobby for Common Cause issues.

Melissa Shea’s Education

Austin Community College

AAS , Communication and Design , 1997 — 2001

Additional Information

Melissa Shea’s Websites:

Melissa Shea’s Interests:

Connecting expats from around the world, European travel, reading historical fiction and biographies.

Melissa Shea’s Groups:

German American Chamber of Commerce
Business Network International

Friends of Germany- Germanic Culture. AC4GC.org , Arizona Center for Germanic Cultures
German-American Relations
GACC South - German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States
Friends of Germany
I like Germany
Germany Business and Professional Network
German American ExecuNet
USG People