Melissa Fleming

I lead communications for the United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For my job, I travel to war zones and refugee camps to give voice to the millions of people forcibly displaced from their homes. I told one remarkable refugee story on the TED stage: https://go.ted.com/CLTR about an extraordinary young Syrian woman who, with the baby she saved, was one of the only survivors of a boat wreck that killed 500 refugees, including her fiancé. My book on the story, "A Hope More Powerful than the Sea": hopemorepowerful.com, will be published in January. I grew up in Marblehead, Mass. and have spent my adult life in Europe working for international organizations that promote refugee protection, nuclear safety and non-proliferation, democracy and human rights and free media.I live and work between Vienna, Austria (family base), Geneva, Switzerland (UNHCR Headquarters) and New York (United Nations).