Nell Merlino

Personal life

Nell Merlino married artist Gary Conger after meeting on a blind date in a Union Square café. Nell Merlino is the daughter of the late New Jersey State Senator, Joseph P. Merlino and Molly Merlino.

Career

Merlino began her career in the laborer movement, organizing women in unions such as the Amalgamated Clothing Textile Union and the 1199 National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees. Her passion for working with women was sparked as Merlino witnessed the founding of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. Nell Merlino continued her work in women empowerment when she was named a Fulbright Scholar in 1976, where she studied the role of women in the British National Healthcare System.
Merlino worked for two state governments, in New Jersey for the Department of Human Services and in New York for the State University Hospital in Brooklyn. Merlino has spearheaded a number of campaigns to promote women's advancement in the workplace through Strategy Communication Action, Ltd. (SCA). She has worked to empower women entrepreneurs, especially veterans, through her books and partnering with organizations such as the United Nations and YMCA. Nell Merlino was a member of the Women Business Owners Advisory Board at Walmart.

Strategy Communication Action, Ltd.

Nell Merlino is founder and President of Strategy Communication Action, Ltd. (SCA) in New York City, a firm specializing in the creation of public education campaigns that motivate people to act, including Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Earth Day, .

Campaigns

The campaigns designed by Nell Merlino through SCA are the following:

Advocacy

Merlino created Take Our Daughters to Work Day, which moved more than 25 million Americans to participate in a day dedicated to giving girls the opportunity to dream bigger about their future. She was inspired by her own experience going to work with her father. Through that initiative, Nell Merlino saw a need for an organization that directly helped women entrepreneurs grow their business, which is why she created Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence. Founded in 1999, Count Me In was the first online micro-lender for women business owners. Today, Count Me In is fueling a mindset of success and a movement that changes the landscape of small business and how women entrepreneurs impact the national economy, benefiting all Americans and their families. Nell Merlino’s organization has directly impacted over 50,000 women to grow their businesses from small businesses to million dollar enterprises.

Advisor

Internationally, Nell Merlino serves as a Judge for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, which identifies and supports young women entrepreneurs globally, who are solving critical problems with their products. For Coca-Cola, Nell has designed the pilot for Coke’s 5by20 women’s empowerment program in North America. Merlino was a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP), and served as a Pathways Envoy by the U.S. State Department to promote women’s business growth through South and North America during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. Nell also sat on the board of the American Enterprise Organization.

Author

Nell Merlino wrote Stepping Out of Line: Lessons For Women Who Want it Their Way in Life, in Love, and at Work published by Broadway Books in 2009 as a manifesto for women to stop waiting and get what they want in love, work, and the world. Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, and author of Why Women Should Rule the World says, "Nell’s book gives women not just a step-by-step guide to creating the life they want, but a virtual infusion of the energy and optimism they’ll need to get started!"

Nell Merlino also contributed a chapter "Cracking the Glass Ceiling and Raising the Roof" to the MIT quarterly journal publication Innovations special issue on Youth and Economic Opportunity. Merlino writes about the need for women to continue fueling the economy and their empowerment through their businesses. She argues that women must continue to grow as leaders to be role models for other women and girls to go beyond cracking the glass ceiling, and instead raising the roof to create more jobs and opportunity.

Awards

Notable media appearances

Nell Merlino has made guest appearances on The Today Show, MSNBC, CNN’s Your Bottom Line with Christine Roman, Bloomberg TV and many more.