Melinda Zou

As a Special Projects Associate at Human Rights First, Melinda helps support strategic, programmatic, and operational initiatives within the Executive Office and across programs.

Prior to joining HRF, Melinda gained various experiences across the business, social impact, and human rights sectors. She served as a Social Impact Assistant at Berkeley Public Health, driving strategic initiatives for the Chief Social Impact Officer, and as a Sales Strategy & Business Operations Intern at Salesforce, where she streamlined budget approvals across multiple departments.

Her experience also includes intern roles at Tableau, Baidu USA, and the National Institutes of Health, where she honed her skills in market research, product growth, and UX Research. In university, she co-led a team at the Human Rights Center to expose violence against Women Life Freedom protestors in Iran.

Melinda earned a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Political Economics from UC Berkeley. Go Bears!