Bio
Professional consultant with social influencer expertise
When Melissa Hunter takes on a new challenge, she doesn’t do it in half measures. Instead, she attacks the task from multiple angles, not just succeeding at it, but excelling all the while. When Multiple Sclerosis sidelined her from her high-powered job in midtown Manhattan, she found a new outlet for her drive and creativity with a little help from her son: the world of YouTube. In the 12 years since she first started her successful YouTube channel – and, 10 years since launching a family-friendly YouTube network – she’s learned the social media/social influencer marketing world inside and out. Melissa has also become an expert on family-friendly content, the toy industry, and its brands, and she has become a much sought-after speaker and presenter on these topics for events and conferences across the country.
“If you are trying to reach families, you really need to be on YouTube,” says Melissa. “YouTube is where people go for information, for entertainment, for news, to vent their frustrations, and to share experiences. YT is more than just videos – it’s also a community. There is more going on than just the videos.”
Melissa has made it her mission to educate anyone she can on this topic, speaking on panels and giving presentations at places like Clamour Summit, Toy Fair, ChiTag, Golin, Children’s Media Association, Sweet Suite, and others. She also consults for major toy companies on their social media and influencer strategies. “I have the ability to connect quickly with an audience and put them in a comfortable place where they’re able to receive the message in a way that is just humorous enough to make the message sticky,” says Melissa of her public speaking and consulting engagements.
“I’m an excellent advocate for social media influencing, family-friendly content, and YouTube because I’ve lived the life of a successful creator,” Melissa continues. “It’s spun off to become a whole separate business with a network where I’m working with other channels and teaching them how grow and expand their business beyond YouTube.”
Melissa and her son started on YouTube in June of 2012. The goal was simply to have fun together reviewing dolls that they loved and collected. Known for their catchphrase, “So profesh,” their enthusiasm, humor, and unique mother-son relationship quickly won the hearts of viewers, and the channel grew to become one of the top destinations for fans of toys, games and doll lines, with over 750,000 subscribers and over 500,000,000 views. Now working as a solo act on the channel renamed My World, Melissa continues to create and enjoy the world of social video.
While she grew the her channel, Melissa realized the need for a family-friendly YouTube network, and Family Video Network was born in 2014. FVN is a highly curated collection of child-focused and family-friendly influencers providing content that is both advertisers safe and entertaining for children and their families. FVN Founder Melissa is dedicated to using both her business brain (prior to her forced retirement, she worked at several Fortune 100 companies) and mother's heart to support the network’s roster of channels, help them grow, and connect brands with the content creators in an ethical fashion. FVN’s roster includes some of the top talent, as well as new, exciting, up-and-coming creators, in the Toy Review, Education and Family Vlogging genres. “The best part,” says Melissa, “is that we aren't just a network of family friendly influencers, we are a family of content creators supporting each other and building relationships that transcend the digital world.”
As a former competitive public speaker, debate team coach, on-air radio personality, and public speaking teacher, Melissa is a pro who can give talks to any type of audience – be it a room full of millennial moms, brand employees, social media influencers, media, or corporate executives. “What you get if you hire me is a very engaging and relatable speaker who is not overly slick,” Melissa says. “I can relate to people at all levels. I’m able to move the dial in my presentation to fit the audience that I’m in front of. I know how to speak to them, and I know how to hit the hot buttons of all the different groups that I see in a room so that everybody will walk out having connected with me in some way and having heard the message that we want them to walk away with.”
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See me in action
In the studio
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Just the facts
NYC-area based, and also willing to travel for speaking engagements
speaks on panels and gives presentations at places like ClamourCon, StreamCon, ChiTag, Golin, Sweet Suite, and others
advises and consults with major brands about social media and influencer strategies
member of the Toy Insider Parent Advisory Board, creates regular video content for their website focusing on the intersection of parenting, toys, and life on YouTube
2016 Women In Toys Wonder Women Awards Social Influencers of the Year
Toy Industry Association consultant
YouTube content creator:
- 750,000 subscribers
- 443,000,000 views
- 132,000 Instagram followers
- 23,000 Twitter followers
- 25,000 Facebook followers