Melody M. McDowell is president of MELODY’service, a communications firm that she founded in 1981. MELODY’service specializes in marketing, promotions, and public relations and boasts a client base that includes corporations, small businesses, not-for-profits and more. The firm’s many honors include Illinois’ Media Cornerstone Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce – Minority Business Development Agency on the local level and for the ten-state Midwest region. She is also the recipient of three Kizzy Awards. In October 2007, she was hailed by Who’s Who in Black Chicago as one of Chicago’s Ten Most Interesting Black Chicagoans. In 1998, she was profiled in Essence Magazine as an entrepreneur of note. Ms. McDowell is also a freelance writer and has written articles for Crain’s Chicago Business, Black Enterprise, Quirk’s Marketing Review, N’Digo and more. She is also editor of Chicago’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. A proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, she is the Immediate past Chairman of AKA’s Communications Committee and the immediate past Chief Information Officer. She is immediate past president of the Homewood-Flossmoor Chapter of Toastmasters and past winner of the Area Toastmasters Evaluation contest, one of the organization’s most demanding competitions. Melody graduated from Spelman College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English. She was also the recipient of the Virginia Chase Prize as the hardest-working graduate. She holds a master’s degree in library science from Chicago State University.For a list of clients/projects and more information, log on to www.melodyservice.com