Melissa Appleton Email & Phone Number

After the last decade of a career as a LGBTQI+ female in executive and operations management in the cis male dominated field of general contracting, I am pleased to be in a position in life where I can focus on my true passion: helping others in a DEI setting. Throughout my life, in both personal and career aspects, I have continuously maintained this same focus of helping others. However, as a single mother, my focus had to be mainly on supporting my children, rather than a career I was passionate about. With each position I have held, I have incorporated, implemented, and strived for progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion, with my most recent position as Director of Operations for a minority woman owned general contracting firm. In this position, I was able to oversee Section 3 and M/WBE compliance, reporting to the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency for HUD regulations. This opened up a whole new realm of possibility (and Passion!) for me.As assisting “Historically Underutilized” businesses and furthering the advancement of the historically disadvantaged has always been my passion, I founded MAPSCO, LLC with the intent of focusing my energy on furthering the success of small businesses, namely Minority and Woman Owned. Having my own experiences as a child, and briefly as an adult, as a low/very low income resident, Section 3 staffing and utilization has also become a main focus.