MELANIE MAWEMA
Director of Administration, West Region
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Melanie Mawema has more than two decades of experience in legal and non-legal personnel recruiting, employee relations, and aligning employee performance and rewards with companies’ strategic goals. She began her career as a human resources coordinator for a law firm in Century City.
Mawema serves as a member the Barnes & Thornburg’s Racial Justice Committee, which pledges to take meaningful action to address the issues of racial equity and justice in the communities where the firm has offices and throughout the country. The committee works within the firm, with clients, and with other partners to create short- and long-term change and invests time and resources to advance its mission of equal opportunities and justice for people of color.
Through this involvement, Mawema played a key part in supporting the firm’s $50,000 donation to the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI), a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the education, health and well-being of youth and communities of color. Following the donation in 2020, she led initiatives to create a partnership with SJLI, resulting in volunteer opportunities for members of the office at SJLI’s site in Inglewood.
Similarly, Mawema was actively involved in researching and facilitating efforts surrounding the firm’s $50,000 donation towards RISE in San Diego this past January. RISE is an organization that aims to elevate and advance urban leadership through dialogue-based civic engagement, dynamic nonprofit partnerships, and direct training and support to increase the capacity of urban residents to effect meaningful community change.
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