Melissa Waggener Zorkin

Melissa Waggener Zorkin is the founder and global CEO of We. She has grown the company into one of the largest independent communications agencies in the world, with more than 1,500 employees in over 100 international markets.

Melissa has cultivated partnerships with revolutionary brands including Microsoft, Pfizer, General Mills, Nike and others guided by a simple formula for success: Always put people and purpose at the heart of every decision.

With a mission to use the gift of communication to inspire positive action, Melissa and We. have made a substantial impact in the communications industry across the globe. She is an inductee of the PRWeek Hall of Fame, the PRWeek Hall of Femme and the ICCO Hall of Fame, and a repeat PRWeek Power List honoree. Under her leadership, the agency’s work perennially contends for and wins top awards, among them PRovoke North America’s Technology PR Agency of the Year, PRWeek’s Best Places to Work, the Human Rights Campaign’s Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, and PRWeek’s Outstanding Agency Practice for US Healthcare Award.

Melissa makes mentoring a personal and agency priority. She serves on the boards of the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Public Relations and ColorComm. The agency founded the Global Young Changemakers Award in partnership with PRovoke Media to celebrate women from underserved communities who have the power to revolutionize the industry. We. also partners with the United Negro College Fund on the We. Communications Catalyst Scholarship Fund, providing financial resources to students of color in Washington state and Oregon. 

Through work with local and global nonprofits, Melissa has helped women entrepreneurs start their own businesses, amplified female and BIPOC voices, and championed social impact initiatives in communities from North America to Africa.

When she’s not working, Melissa enjoys traveling and outdoor activities near her home in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.