Melissa Manuel: Investing in Community

Melissa Manuel is a higher education leader, researcher, circus arts entrepreneur, and founder. She has spent much of her career building communities, working across Canada, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, helping create environments where people can learn, connect, and thrive. Whether managing university programs, running studios, or studying organizational behavior, she believes that relationships matter, and communities become stronger when people invest in one another.

Born in Whistler, British Columbia, Melissa grew up in a small mountain town where neighbors knew one another and community was part of everyday life. As the eldest of four children, she experienced firsthand the value of connection, collaboration, and mutual support. She credits that environment with shaping her love of community building. She described herself as a surprisingly cautious child who rarely took risks unless she felt fully confident, often choosing familiar routines over the unknown. She joked that she performed the same move on the flying trapeze for more than a decade. However, at age fourteen she moved away from home to attend a performing arts school and this transition challenged nearly every aspect of her life. Having spent most of her childhood surrounded by the same small group of classmates, she suddenly had to learn how to build friendships on her own while adapting to a very different family environment. The experience taught her independence and helped her realize that growth often comes from saying yes to opportunities that initially feel uncomfortable.

Melissa was the first in her immediate family to go to college and the first among her cousins to pursue a master's degree, originally entering university intending to study history, a subject she loved, but she eventually discovered psychology and became fascinated by understanding human behavior. For most of her degree she worked full-time while studying full-time and was building a life for herself in Canada. A pivotal moment came when she accepted an opportunity to work in Qatar. At the time, she had what many would consider a stable future ahead of her. She owned a home, had a long-term partner, a wedding date planned, and a predictable career path. Instead of continuing along that route, she chose to move halfway around the world. The decision launched an international journey that would ultimately reshape both her career and her understanding of people, culture, and leadership.

During her years working in Qatar and later Saudi Arabia, Melissa also continued pursuing her passion for movement and community building. She attended circus school in the United Kingdom, expanded her professional performance network, and launched the first pole and aerial studio in Doha. Operating under the name “Vertical Fitness” to navigate cultural perceptions, and structured more like a community non-profit than a traditional business, the studio created opportunities for women to learn, train, and build community together. Later, after moving to Saudi Arabia, she established another studio and helped support the development of additional studios in the region. For Melissa, these ventures were opportunities to create welcoming spaces where people could connect, learn, and support one another.

Working in higher education in different environments she had the opportunity to see varying levels of commitment. She shared an experience involving a university orientation program that she believed could be significantly improved for the students' benefit. After investing considerable time developing practical recommendations, she was discouraged when a supervisor essentially dismissed the effort, arguing that employees would leave within a few years anyway and that the existing approach was good enough. The experience frustrated her because she believed students deserved better and reinforced her growing interest in leadership, organizational behavior, and workplace culture.

Today, Melissa's doctoral research examines the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among North American professionals working in higher education institutions in the Middle East. Her work explores why employees remain in organizations even when they are dissatisfied and how workplace structures influence motivation, engagement, and long-term commitment. The research reflects many of the questions she has observed throughout her own career.

Melissa emphasized the importance of giving people the benefit of the doubt. Drawing from both personal experience and her academic background, she believes people often judge others without understanding the circumstances they may be facing. She tries to approach situations with empathy and reminds herself that everyone is navigating challenges that may not be immediately visible.

She shared a story from a recent trip to Sri Lanka. While traveling through a small community, she noticed a young girl enthusiastically waving and smiling at passing visitors. The moment reminded her that kindness and happiness are not dependent on wealth or status. For Melissa, experiences like this reinforce the idea that meaningful human connection can be found almost anywhere.

Her international experiences also exposed her to the ways status and hierarchy can influence behavior. She observed that people sometimes act differently when they believe they hold greater power or privilege, reinforcing for her the importance of self-awareness, empathy, and treating people with respect regardless of position.

"When you show kindness and demonstrate that you're investing in somebody else's life, you're investing in your own life."

Melissa Manuel is a higher education leader, researcher, entrepreneur, and community builder whose career has taken her from a small mountain town in Canada to leadership roles across the Middle East. She is someone who brings people together, creates welcoming spaces, and offers support without judgment. Keep an eye out for more interviews.