Her Story
About Melissa
Melissa Mickey is an award-winning communications and marketing professional serving as Communications Manager for the City of Cape Coral, Florida. With approximately 15 years of experience, primarily in the public sector, she brings expertise in strategic communications, media relations, social media, and public information. She began her career in television news, working with local FOX and NBC affiliates, before transitioning into government and public-sector communications. At the City of Cape Coral, Melissa has played a key role in developing and leading the city’s Communications and Marketing Office. She has built and guided a collaborative team while overseeing communications planning, internal communications, media strategy, and emergency communications, including efforts supporting residents during hurricanes and other crises. Her leadership and contributions earned her the Rising Star Award from the Florida Municipal Communicators Association in 2023, recognizing her exceptional skill, dedication, and early-career achievements in municipal communications. Beyond her professional responsibilities, Melissa is committed to helping others and strengthening her community. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Florida, drawing on her previous experience with the Florida Department of Children and Families and her personal connection to foster care. She holds a degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Florida and is pursuing graduate studies toward an MBA at Florida Gulf Coast University. Melissa is passionate about developing communications professionals, fostering respectful and supportive workplaces, and using communication to make a meaningful difference in the communities she serves.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Melissa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the support that I've had from my family. From both my mom and my dad and also from my husband. I couldn't have succeeded without their support. There are some people who would have said just stay with this one career path, get vested, get a pension don't take risks. But I didn't do that and the support from my family to spread my wings and take risks was really special.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've had was my friend telling me "you will learn more from a bad boss than you will a good one." It wasn't what I wanted to hear at the time, but it has stuck with me for years. And I do remind myself of it whenever I'm in a situation where I'm dealing with an employee related issue, I stop and think how I would want to be treated if I was in the employee's shoes.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The best advice that I could give somebody who's young that's starting out is to really pay attention to what the world is communicating to you. Life will send you in a direction. Pay attention to what life is telling you and when you start feeling like you're going against the current or you're dreading the going to work or doing the work, pay attention to that. Ask yourself questions that will help you figure out if you're on the right path. Realize and remember that everyone around you is human and they've got other stuff going on in their lives. You can control your own life and you need to take responsibility for your own actions.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the toughest challenges in the Communications field right now is especially with regards to social media, there's so much misinformation and disinformation and it all spreads faster than you can correct it. What I find helps with facing challenges is knowing you're not alone. I participate in a monthly call with a group of local communicators from different agencies. We discuss different obstacles, challenges and wins. It's a great way to connect, give insight and ideas and see how others in the same field are handling things.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My big focus right now is protecting my peace. Whatever role you're in whether you're the employee or the boss protecting your peace is important. As a boss the responsibility is always so much greater and you have to be available to your employees, but at the same time they can be draining. I have to remind myself each day to make sure that I'm shutting my door for a few hours each day. I also try to think about protecting my people's peace when they're away from work. You have to have down time. So if I need to tell them something after hours and it can wait until the next day, it does. I often email myself so I remember to tell them the next day at work. I've had bosses who send me texts, emails or calls after hours and they expect a response even if the issue is not emergent. But that time at home is important to recharge.
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