Uncrowned Community Builders

Melody M. McDowell is president of MELODYââ?¬â?¢service, a communications firm that she founded in 1981 after realizing that her six-year stint as a teacher was not the career path she wanted to pursue.

MELODYââ?¬â?¢service specializes in marketing, promotions, and public relations and boasts a client base that includes corporations, small businesses, not-for-profits and more. She also promotes special events, conventions and conferences. The firm's partial client roster includes Ben & Jerryââ?¬â?¢s Ice Cream, The Museum of Science & Industry, Radio Station V103, a major crime-prevention initiative called Black on Black Love, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Chicago, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, The Daniele Development Company, Chicago Dramatists, the U.S. Department of Commerce - Minority Business Development Agency, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

The firm has won numerous awards and was honored with Illinoisââ?¬â?¢ Media Cornerstone Award in 2003 from the U.S. Department of Commerce ââ?¬â?? Minority Business Development Agency. She later won for the ten-state Midwest region and was a finalist for the national honor. She is the recipient of three Kizzy Awards. In October 2007, she will be hailed by Whoââ?¬â?¢s Who in Black Chicago as one of Chicagoââ?¬â?¢s Ten Most Interesting Black Chicagoans. In 1998, she was profiled in Essence Magazine as an entrepreneur of note. In the full-page article, she sums up her formula for success, which is, ââ?¬Å?Be nice to everybody!ââ?¬ She is also devoted to the Four Rs by being Reliable, Resourceful, Responsive and putting strategies in place that yield Results. She says this leads to the ultimate ââ?¬Å?Rââ?¬ ââ?¬â?? Repeat Business.

Ms. McDowell is also a freelance writer and has written articles for Crainââ?¬â?¢s Chicago Business, Black Enterprise, Quirkââ?¬â?¢s Marketing Review, Nââ?¬â?¢Digo and more. She is also past editor of the trade newspaper, Chicagoââ?¬â?¢s Minority Business the trade newspaper of the Chicago Minority Business Development Council and past editor of The Ivy Leaf, the official publication of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, of which she is a member.

In July 2006, she was appointed Chairman of Alpha Kappa Alphaââ?¬â?¢s Centennial Communications Committee and was named Chief Information Officer for the Sorority. In these dual roles she leads a committee and Region Information Officer network charged with branding the sorority, getting its message out and shaping its image.

She is immediate president of the Homewood-Flossmoor Chapter of Toastmasters and has used the platform of the Club to hone her speaking skills. In 2006, she shocked the organization by winning first place in the Area Toastmasters Evaluation contest, one of the organizationââ?¬â?¢s most demanding competitions. It was the first time sheââ?¬â?¢d competed and, in winning, she beat out several veterans. She characterizes that victory as one of the high points of her life. In 2007, she plans to defend her title.

Ms. McDowell spends her spare time reading, playing tennis, walking and playing bridge, a ââ?¬Å?sportââ?¬ where she has earned master points. She also loves cats.

Melody graduated from Spelman College where she earned a bachelorââ?¬â?¢s degree in English. She was also the recipient of the Virginia Chase Prize as the hardest-working graduate. On the day of the awards ceremony, Ms. McDowell was not present because, predictably, she was working. She holds a masterââ?¬â?¢s degree in library science from Chicago State University.

She lives in a south suburb of Chicago where she hosts an annual Memorial Day BBQ that attracts hundreds each year.